Evergreen, upstate NY for the 4th of July

It has been well over a month since my last update!! I probably can’t even remember all of the things we have done. Let’s see ………. Our good friends Brian, Theresa, Ella and Sylvia moved up to Evergreen. They have a beautiful house up there with trees and all. They aren’t around the corner anymore but they are close enough to hang out with. We made a little day trip up there in late June and had a picnic on Evergreen Lake. The girls had a blast playing in the park and my buddy Brian brought his canoe so we could do some fishing. After setting up base camp Brian and I tried to bring Ella and Morhéa for a little canoe trip around the lake but Morhéa was a little scared.

Side story – Growing up in upstate NY one of my best friends, Karl, and I would go fishing every day of our summer vacations. I would ride my bike down to his house and we would fish the same stretch of a creek that ran between his and mine every day for the entire summer. We fished it so much that we would know where the fish were before they knew we were even there. We would net for minnows and spend our days looking under rocks for crayfish and then sell them for 5 cents a piece to the local bait shop. I can’t even remember when that started but we had to be around 8 or 10. Karl’s dad was also a VERY good fisherman and hunter who taught us the tricks of the trade. He had all of these really cool canoes. He had aluminum ones, plastic ones and even one he built by hand. We were never allowed to use the hand made one because we would surely sink it. When we turned 16 (and got our drivers licenses) he and I pooled our money and bought our very own canoe. Being young and athletic we opted for durability over a streamline canoe. We got a Coleman canoe. There was no stopping us after that!! We took that thing everywhere. Karl built a rack for his car and truck and we traveled near and far with that thing. Since it was durable we would take it white water canoeing. Every year we would get a warm spring day that would melt all of the winter snow we used to get back home. The temperatures might have been in the 60’s but the water would be in the high 30’s or 40’s and the creeks were several feet high. That was when we excelled!! Nothing could stop us. We would drop in with Karl in the back and me in the front. We would hit rapids, waterfalls and ice but it would never fail that we would have just made it through a fast rapid and as we rounded a bend at top speed that a tree branch that used to be 3 feet over our heads would now be just clearing the canoe. I could always bail back into the canoe but we always seemed to end up with Karl taking one in the chest and both of us ending up in the water and into the 30 something degree water!! We would both swim to shore and get out cold as a salmon in Alaska. We would stay there long enough to look at each other, then the canoe (which was both sinking and floating away) and then have to dive back into the water and save our canoe!! It was worth it though. We brought our canoe everywhere. We brought it to our creek, Oak Orchard, the Britt’s camp (near Redfield, NY and if you know where that is I am impressed), Black Lake, Canadice Lake, Hemlock Lake and many others. We did this crazy backpacking trip in the Five Pond Wilderness Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ponds_Wilderness_Area) in the Adirondack Mountains. We would paddle upstream for a day or 2 then hide our canoes and backpack into the hills for 3 or 4 days to these lakes in the middle of nowhere and then back out. Other times we would bring no food or money to the camp and try and live off the land survivor style for a week. We would catch pan fish to start and then fillet them and tie the remains to some fishing line and throw that into a stream while we went out for the day doing things. If we didn’t catch or kill some kind of food during the day our backup plan would always be that our string of dead fish would usually attract lots of crayfish. If we were careful we could slowly pull in our line and have 50+ crayfish. Then we would have a crayfish boil. We didn’t know the sucking the meat out of the tail trick though and would usually use toothpicks and thus it would take us 3 hours plus to eat that many but it was worth it. When we went to college we stored the canoe in my parent’s barn. When I moved to Colorado my parents brought me out the canoe. It still resides under my deck but I haven’t busted it out in over 12 years!!!

But I digress ……… I am thrilled that Brian asked me to go canoeing and I even dusted off my spinner reel as I hear there are muskie in Lake Evergreen.

Someone got the brilliant idea to stock a trout lake with a predator fish like a muskie!! Anyway, after pushing off the beach and a couple of wobbles I soon settled into my usual front seat of the canoe. I grabbed my fishing pole and off we went. We spent the next 45 minutes touring around the lake and even though I didn’t catch squat, I had the best time I have had on a lake in 12 years. Just like the good old days!!! Thanks Brian (and Karl)!!! When we got back the girls were ready for some food so we had a barbecue and played until the sun went down.

Then we were off to Rochester and Syracuse for the 4^th of July. A much needed break from the daily grind. As usual it was a non-stop party. We arrived in Rochester on the 3^rd of July and just missing my cousin Paul’s wedding. It was okay though because he hosts our annual 4^th of July Hoefen family reunion. All of the staples were there. We had white hot dogs, Kit’s meat hot sauce, Dan’s wilted cabbage salad, Dad’s German potato salad and everything else we have had as long as I can remember. Morhéa is old enough to go off and play with her cousins and she also enjoyed the fireworks on the beach with Grammy.

The next day we had a baby shower for Heather!! My brother Jeff and Heather are having a baby!! I think the Hoefen family met for 3 days in a row on that stretch. We had a great party for them at Dad’s house. The Hoefen’s, The Hagenbach’s and even the Parker side of the family were all there. It was nice to be home. Seeing my grandmothers sister, Aunt Millie, was especially nice!

After a quick 2 days we headed to Syracuse to see the Buytaert’s. Aunt Steph, Papy and Meme were all present. I missed the 1^st night as I got a hall pass to hang out with my brother. The next day we went to the Syracuse Zoo which has become a staple in our visit. It is a nice zoo and Morhéa was impressed with the elephants there.

The next day was one of the days I don’t miss back east. HOT and HUMID!! I think that there might not have been any wind as well. To make things better for me we decided to go to nearby Green Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lake_%28New_York%29) . It is really a green lake! For anyone interested Green Lake is a meromictic lake known for its euxinic conditions at the bottom of the lake. That along with its biochemistry make it green. Just read the link and you might understand. I went there once when I was young and again as a geology major at Binghamton University. We baked there for a few hours and everyone had a great time. As you all saw in my last blog Morhéa is a fish and loves the water. She played in the lake the entire time. I think we grilled something every night and as things cooled off we ate outside. André has his grilling techniques down pretty darn good!

The next day was hot and humid again but at least this time we had some wind. In the morning Kim, Morhéa and I decided to go to a local park we play at every year. Morhéa decided to try out the monkey bars and much to our amazement went across them like she had been doing it for 3 years. Later that afternoon we decided to go down to Cazenovia Lake. We played in the water there and visited the small town there where we went for ice cream.

Then we headed back to Rochester for the final 2 days to see Dad and Carolyn again. The farm was very nice. I think the two highlights of Morhéa’s time at the farm were the daily tractor rides and the giant tree swing grandpa put up in a tree in the back yard.

Dad planted winter wheat behind the house for the first time. Growing up we had alfalfa, corn, oats and soy beans but no wheat. My Dad mentioned how nice it was to see it grow, how golden it was and how fluid it flowed with the wind. After that I took a few moments to take it all in and he was right. It was straight out of a movie. You can never capture it in a picture as well. Anyway, Grandpa told Morhéa that wheat was used to make bread so every day she would go out back and pick some wheat, eat it and tell us she was eating bread. Very cute.

As usual we made our way to Brown’s Berry Patch (http://www.brownsberrypatch.com/). It is a “pick your own” farm that has all kinds of wonderful fruit and things for kids to do. Dad and I picked blueberries and cherries while the girls fed the goats, jumped on the Barnyard Jump (a giant jumping balloon buried in the ground) and played in the kids area.

After a wonderful trip I think we arrived home to one of the last 80 degree days Colorado has seen. Today we broke a record for most consecutive 90 degree days at 19 (a record held since 1901). Our forecast for the next 5 days is 102, 100, 98, 94 and 91 degrees!!!!!! I don’t think we have gotten any significant rain here in 2 months. It is one of the driest years I can remember. Usually we get monsoon rains from the south but this year we have had a high pressure system hanging out just to the east preventing moisture from coming our way. Great for vacation but bad for the yard.

Kim did another triathlon in boulder a week or so ago. It was an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run). Her next one is going to be a Half Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.09 km run). Absolutely nuts I say but we sure are proud of her and she does love them. It had to be near 100 degrees by the time she finished the Boulder one. Another climate that Todd doesn’t do well in. I don’t care if it is 100 degrees and no humidity. It is still HOT!!!

Happy Reading!!

T