Root canal. Zumba. Ditch the workout. Sunshine

Some of you have asked why the blog which suddenly mysteriously ended mid-week.  On Thursday I woke up with severe tooth pain and after a quick call to the dentist, a look at the long weekend ahead, made the decision to travel back all day Thursday (10 hours) so I could get emergency work done the following day. Turns out I needed a root canal.   I snapped the following picture of the Endless Mountains in Pennsylvania on my way through (which seem more endless when you are driving 10 hours, in tooth pain and sad you've just left your vacation).  It's really a beautiful drive this time of year and in the Fall, even more so. I spent the weekend recovering (not so smoothly) from the procedure.  My dentist is gracious and did everything he could to help me out of pain.  Thank goodness.  

Zumba - Ditch the workout. Join the party.

I have been checking out various exercise classes and trying to find something I enjoy and am motivated to go back to. I've tried out spinning class (where you just about die on the bicycle the first time and your legs become rubber and you swear the ground is moving when you step off that bike) and a zumba class (where you're lucky to shuffle out the door).  I arrived home from the office at 7:20 p.m.  Ate a light dinner and 20 minutes later had kept thinking about that zumba class from last week and decided I needed to get there. A good sign I liked the first class since I'm rarely motivated at anywhere near 8 o'clock other than watch my soap opera and get ready for bed. Zumba is a fast-paced class set to latin music and any class with the theme "Ditch the workout. Join the party" sounds like I need to try it. The moves are fast, lots of arms, hip and leg movements and works the abs like I hadn't considered. Tonight's class included salsa, cha-cha-cha, and calypso moves in addition!  I could barely keep up but everyone in the class is laughing, having a good time and getting a workout!  Sort of like a party as the motto says.  So, here's the funny part.  Near the end of the class after you are worked out realy well, you do some moves and touch the floor (a real feat for someone like myself who is not at all physically fit).  The part that was even sadder is what I saw when I looked down at my feet during this move.  I took a picture below.  What's wrong with this picture?  The good news is at least I got a right and  left foot onto my feet and thank goodness I'm an Asics fan so all my sneakers are the same brand.

A few final snapshots from the Adirondacks as the sunshine came out in its glory on Friday. Another mountain peak was found by the guys except this time they took the McCauley ski lift to the top!  Helen had a relaxing time hanging out on the boat reading a book.

Sparkling Lake. Maple Syrup. Pancakes. Blue Mountain.

The lake in the morning looked like it was glittering today with the morning sun sparkling off the water.  Today was "real New York maple syrup" day.  Prepared homemade blueberry and chocolate chunk pancakes for everyone. Yumm.  The weather was rather cool today waking up to 40 degree weather and a high of around 67 degrees. Tomorrow promises to be a hot streak...we may get to 68 degrees.  At least the local newspaper, which predicts snowfall as part of their report even in June, has zero for the next 7 days.

The hearty breakfast prepared the boys for their mountain hike today up Blue Mountain. While thieir hike was underway, Helen and I spent a day just relaxing...reading books, digital scrapbooking, looking at the lake and chilling out. 

Blue Mountain peak is at 3,769 elevation and rises 1,559 feet from the parking lot to the top.  They made it up in 1 hour and 20 minutes.  The trail begins with a normal looking trail with some pretty rocks and there are little streams of water. 

Mason and Eduardo sitting on a giant slab of granite.  This is actually the trail to the peak at Blue Mountain.  It is definitely not a trail you would want to hike on a day with rain.  It is a difficult hike and the view is worth the effort.  At the top, again cell phone service aplenty and Mason called his Grammy and Eduardo called Mom.

The view from the top

Bald Mountain. Lasagna. Blue Skies. Blackberry.

Today we woke thinking it might rain through the day given the weather forecast.  Slowly as everyone woke up, we had scrambled egg breakfasts with the last of our bunch eating at 11:30 a.m. (nearly lunchtime!).  The weather began to clear, while remaining windy and crisp, it became a beautiful day.  Joe led a hike up Bald Mountain and photos are shown down further.  The photo on the left below is of  sunset on Fourth Lake.  It is at the tippy end of this dock that cell phone service can be found.  A zany blackberry mishap occurred with Joe's phone on Saturday.  Somehow the blackberry ended up submerged in the lake.  He promptly went in near the shore, searched around the bottom and pulled it out of the water.  Any BB user knows how much a person can "miss" their phone if they have become accustomed to this extra appendage at all times.  So, after 3 days of mourning thinking it was gone, he put it back together today carefully placing the battery in BB.  I've never seen such a happy face as this morning when the blackberry came back to life without harm and intact.  How weird. For those wondering for this BB addict, I only had a chance to look at mine yesterday while at Old Forge (10 miles away) as that's really the only place with AT&T service.  My internet access remains from the cabin and I remain nearly secluded from work emails. The usual trek for ice cream and a bit of service continues with the great excuse to also see the beautiful sunset.  

Fourth Lake on left with waves at sunset
Seventh lake on right in mid-afternoon with beautiful blue skies.

The other place for cellphone service is the top of a mountain. Today, several of our bunch hiked to the top of Bald Mountain. There's an old fire tower there and a great view of one of the 3,000 lakes found in the Adirondacks. Joe's sister and I stayed behind to do laundry, prepare a late lunch and just hand loose for a while. Helen makes the absolute best lasagna on the East Coast and brought it with her.  We had this ready with salad and bread for the hikers as they returned and it was really enjoyed.  As an interesting note, there's a seaplane service on seventh lake where we are staying. It's entertaining to watch them get ready, hear the engines, see them come into view in front of our cabin and take off from the water. Today with the wind less than 5 rides went up compared to at least a dozen earlier.