A whirlwind weekend

This past weekend Josh and I visited the Adirondacks for the first time, along with our great friends Pete and Angie. The occasion was our friend Jessica's marriage at Elk Lake Lodge, a place coined by National Geographic as "The Jewel of the Adirondacks." It certainly was beautiful, and reminiscent of the Boundary Waters, but with mountains. All of the guests were provided lodging in the various lodges and cabins scattered on the shore of the undeveloped lake. Jess and Lytton's ceremony was unique because there was no officiant; everyone present married them by contributing a blessing. We then had a cozy evening in the main lodge with dinner, numerous toasts, and a bit of music provided by guests. So many of those present were graduates of Swarthmore (where Jess attended college) and Columbia (where Lytton and Jess are working on their doctorates in medieval literature), so we felt we were in the company of many driven intellects.

The following morning Josh and I took a walk around the east shore of the lake. It was quiet, sunny and beautiful, with lush moss covering much of the path and great strands of birch trees standing over us. We wanted to make our way around the whole lake, but we needed to return to our friends, and then back south to Kentucky.

The second part of this story highlights the amount of travel we packed into this weekend. Josh and I first flew into New York City and upon arrival, we hopped on the M60 bus, bringing us into Manhattan, and then we caught the subway down to meet Josh's sister and brother-in-law to be, and Pete. We all walked over to a Korean restaurant strip near Penn Station and picked a place where we were served a spread of various types of kimchee, tofu, rice, seaweed salad and more. We walked the city a bit, and then Pete, Josh and I took the train our to Long Island, to pick up Angie and began to drive north. On Sunday, we drove the 5-6 hours back south, then Josh and I hopped on the subway for an hour and a half ride to JFK. We caught our flight, landed in Nashville, and drove the hour north to Bowling Green. I walked through the door and continued walking until I fell into bed. It was all worth it, but the next time 'round I think we might take an extra day to make it happen.
Below follow photos taken by Josh:





Lastly, I wanted to end with good wishes for my mum, who is celebrating a big birthday today. This photo features her about 32 years ago. She hasn't changed a bit and I love her so.