Kayaking took place on Squam (sp?) lake and it was a beautiful day. The lake is large, but has a number of small islands and not too many motorboats, so it was very kayak friendly. That evening, my parents had two of their friends who'd joined us for kayaking come over where we had dinner and drinks. Three bottles of Ithaca wine later, the elders were definitely tipsy, if not downright drunk. Most amusing.
Here is a pic of our campsite at Russell Pond Campground. It's one of our favorites because it's away from noisy roads and has a nice little pond to swim and kayak around in.
We also were often visited by this little chipmunk. He got very bold by the end of our stay and almost climbed up onto our chairs a couple of times. We also had a red squirrel visit often and he actually tried to get into a plastic container of trail mix left out on the picnic table one day. It was quite funny to watch.
The lake. This was taken from the kayak.
In addition to kayaking and swimming, my father and I climed a mountain. Breathtaking views...pics of which are on his camera. Will post if I can get my hands on them. And I spent a good deal of time reading. By the end of the week, I finished Salt: A World History by Kurlansky and Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut. Salt was interesting, I definitely enjoyed some parts of the book more than others (some of the beginning portions can get a bit repetitive...i.e. these people made salt...and so did these people...and these...) but I got a few interesting tidbits out of it. For example, in older times, soldiers were often paid in salt, from which comes the expression "worth his salt" and in the 1700s and 1800s some royalty used to have parties down in salt mines. The salt was carved into spectacular and ornate ballrooms and dining rooms. Cool huh?
Cat's Cradle was a quick read (about 5 or 6 hours one day) and it was great. Scary, but great. Read it, think about it, and wonder if science is really going in good directions.
