Randy and Rachel » Trips

How I Stole From a Monastery

Randy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:30 +0000

So, I have a confession to make.

I stole from a Monastery back in 1998. Not much, but it happened. We stopped at Ettal on our way to Neuschwanstein & I took a little booklet that described the abbey and the monastery. At the time I thought they were free. I didn’t know that they weren’t until we got back on the bus and someone else asked me:

You bought one of those!?

To which I responded “bought?”

Anyway… turns out they were 5 Marks (at the time Germany had not yet adopted the Euro). Herr Stoker told me just to drop a 5 in the donation bin at the next church we went to and I’d be square with the big guy in the sky. Seemed like a good enough Karma move to me, so that’s what I did.

The picture to the left is a scan of the cover of that book, which I still have and will probably keep forever just as a reminder. However; even to this day, I don’t believe I’ve ever read it… *sigh*.

That being said, the Monastery is beautiful so if you’re in the area, I highly suggest it.

The Lone Grave of Benj Miller

Randy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:28:16 +0000

Ran into a strange site while snowmobiling last weekend. The Lone Grave of Benj Miller. At least that’s what I’m calling it…

It’s a single grave surrounded by a chain link fence on the top of a small hill along route 56. The snowmobile trail goes right by it (2 ft away). There’s a small GAR flag symbol and grave posted next to the gravestone so we know he was a (cavalry) soldier in the Union army during the Civil War.

I’ve done some digging on the net and the best I’ve been able to locate is some others who found the grave and were interested as well. According to one of the sites I found there might be some more info in The Story of a Cavalry Regiment but I couldn’t find it.

The gravestone reads:

Benj Miller
Co B 11 NY CAV
Died About 1870
Age About 23 Yrs

I might contact the town to see if there’s any more info. If it happens to intrigue you, and you find any more info than I have, please leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks!

The Pinecone

Randy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:00:26 +0000

The Pinecone is one of those places that is incredibly seasonal. It services mostly boaters and snowmobilers. It’s in Wanakena at the opposite end of Cranberry lake from Cranberry Lake Lodge and there’s only 2 ways to get there on snowmobile: the alice brook trail (a narrow windy mess I don’t recommend) or the river.

This time of year the river is your best bet as long as you’ve got the equipment (a snowmobile and lots of warm wind proof clothing). Just make sure you’re off the lake by dark, and you’re not caught out there in a blizzard. Lots of hazards out there on the ice and it’s a longggggg lake. Just about 10 miles from end to end. If you can’t see the other end, it’s awfully hard to know where you’re going.

The food at the Pinecone is pretty darn good. They’ve got a 1/2 lb burger that worked wonders for my appetite. Their hot chocolate hit the spot too after being out on the lake for that long, although I’m fairly certain it’s just your standard store bought hot chocolate.

Anyway, not a bad place to visit as long as the ice conditions are good (which they were, best I’ve ever seen) or you have a boat. You can doc your boat and eat there in the summer.

Check it out, if you dare.

Perfect Snow & Perfect Bonfires

Randy — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:11:53 +0000

Delayed Post: written 2/14/2010

I don’t know what the Inuit word is for this type of snow (yes I know that myth isn’t really true) but I know mine: Perfect. It’s nice and grainy, packs just a little, blows just a little, isn’t wet (until it melts). Just perfect. We haven’t had a ton of snow up here lately, nothing like what they just got down south. But the stuff we do have is just right.

We ran into a nice couple at the intersection of 81 and the (new?) trail towards Degrasse. A few minutes of discussion informed us of a big bonfire being put on by the Cranberry Lake Snowmobile Club just down the trail from our original destination (the Windfall). Cheap lunch and supporting the club? Sounds good. We said thanks and headed on out towards the bonfire.

Whoa! Talk about fire! And the hot chocolate and hot dogs were free to boot! Met a nice guy named Randy Paige (sp?) who told us about a new 4-wheeler association which is going to make most of the trails we snowmobile on accessible by 4-wheeler this summer. Sweet!

They had 2 groomers there open to let people climb in and check them out. About. 100 sleds, tons of raffle tickets for a gun, a 50/50, and the state raffle tickets for new snowmobiles. Was a good time, put some money in for the 50/50 but they were out of gun raffle tickets. Ahh well, one thing we probably don’t need more of anyway.

After the (free) lunch we headed for the open trail and made our way home.

Miles on the sled this season: 336

1998 Europe Travel Journal

Randy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:48:53 +0000

I found the following Travel Journal in a bag of my old stuff given to me by my mother. It’s from my from my Trip to Europe with school in 1998.

I’ve provided it below, unedited And awesome. I’ve left it mostly intact and punctuation preserved for your enjoyment. Go ahead and laugh, I did.

4/16/1998

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. ~Joseph Addison, Chicago Cultural Center (former library)

I expect Germany will be like country kind of towns with lots of public transportation and then in the big cities more very modern looking buildings and I expect the people will be very friendly.

4/17/1998

The towns here just kind of end. And then there is nothing for miles. Walking in Rothenburg was like walking back a few centuries. Even in the smallest town, which is where we are staying, there is a bus stop.

4/18/1998

Today we went to Dachau. It was interesting. There were many more concentration camps than I thought there were. I guess we only hear of the big ones. I also learned that Dachau’s gas chambers were never used to kill anyone. The gas chambers at Dachau were never used and nobody knows why. It was strange being at one of the Nazi concentration camps where people actually died by the hundreds.

4/19/1998

We had to get up at 5:45 this morning which meant I got about 5hrs of sleep. That stunk. We headed out to Neuschwanstein, Ludwig II‘s castle. When we got there we hiked up the mountain to the castle and toward it. After touring the castle we went up on the bridge that was a few hundred feet high.

4/20/1998

Today was travel day. We have to go to Venice which is about an 8hr trip but we stopped a lot along the way. Our travel plans were sort of changed because of some snow conditions. Instead of going to Innsbruck on the way to Venice we stopped at Salzburg. That was just as good because Mr Stoker lived there for a while and showed us around quite a bit. I bought some spoons there while shopping and a chocolate pretzel which was very good but was so rich I could only eat 1/2 of it. When we got to Venice it was suppertime and we had pasta and then some viel stuff hat I didn’t like at all. After all that just our group went out and walked around the town we were staying in (not Venice but close).

4/21/1998

Today was the best shopping day so far. When we got up we ate (the same thing for the 6th time in a row) and then took the bus to a boat. When we got to the boat we had to wait about 10 minutes before they got started. Then it was about a 15min ride. After that we took a 2hr tour around Venice and saw the “sights.” I imagined Venice to be much better than it was, but it was really a dump. But I suppose if you build a city on top of water it will tend to do that. We had freetime for about 6hrs and then went back to the hotel. The worst part about the day was it rained for most of it. In Venice it normally is quite whet though, so… They even have planks a foot off the ground to walk on in case what they call a (double high tide) happens.

4/22/1998

This morning we left from Venice for Verona and then on to Lucerne. Today for once it’s not raining. Big surprise! It’s travel day and it’s not raining because we’re not doing anything. It took about 10hrs to get from Venice to Lucerne. I only got about 1hr of sleep on the bus. When we got to Luzern nothing really happened, we ate then hung out for a while and went to sleep.

That’s it. Which is really sad, because Lucerne was my favorite part of the trip. I think Switzerland really spoke to the outdoorsman in me. This makes me wish I had kept a real journal of everything.

Our First Climb – Crane Mountain

Randy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:04:14 +0000

In 2005 we climbed our first mountain (Crane Mountain) together. I had climbed a few in the past but this was our first together. We were spending a week in the Lake George area and what better way to explore the region than from above?

While not the tallest mountain we’ve climbed, it was pretty intense with several incredibly steep rocky sections. One of the steepest sections even had a ladder, which was good because being our first mountain together… we didn’t exactly have scaling equipment.

As is always the truth in the Adirondacks, the views from the top were simply amazing. It was on this climb that we really learned how rewarding such a strenuous hike can be. On our way back down we passed by a little pond and it was so hot we were going to take a dip. However; when we took a closer look we realized it was infested with leaches. Nice!

It was really a good choice for our first Mountain Climb. The trail wasn’t that long, but intense, and the views were stunning.

We might go back some day, maybe with the little one.

Crane Mountain will always hold a special place in our memory.

We Came We Saw We Crawled (In Rome)

Randy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:01:14 +0000

When Charles, Rachel and I visited Rome in 2005 the last thing I expected to do was drink until the sun came up.

That’s exactly what happened.

We stayed in the Yellow Hostel in the middle of Rome and, although we didn’t know it until the second night, we were bunking(in the same room not the same bed) with two Australian girls in town for the weekend from their Nanny jobs in Milan. Rachel quickly made friends and what do you know but they both had a thing for partying. They told us about this pub crawl starting at the Spanish Steps they had heard of: $25 for a t-shirt, a drink and deals at every bar/club and a night of spending time with people from all over the world drinking till we forget it happened!? Sweet, where do we sign?

We literally drank until the sun came up and we had to catch the bus to the airport to fly back to London. One of the girls didn’t come back with us. No news on how her night went, but since she went home with one of the guys on the crawl with us, you can draw your own conclusions… Our reward for the night was a shirt that said ‘We came we saw we crawled’ that lasted about 5 washes and a hangover (on the Ryan Air plane) that you wouldn’t believe.

Seriously though, we had an awesome time and have some great stories to share. Getting kicked off city buses in the middle of nowhere, BJ contests in the bar, drinking beer at the top of the Spanish steps, drunken German speak, drunken French speak. Good times.

That said, if you get a chance to pub crawl in Rome, Do it!

Horseshoe Lake

Randy — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:29 +0000

Man I love it up here!

There’s three ways into Horseshoe Lake but I can only recommend one of them in good conscience. Riding the railroad tracks is no fun. Not unless they’re groomed. The first few miles from Conifer to Horseshoe were groomed and beautiful. 55mph was nothing. Then the groomer turned around and holy cow, forget it! We toughed it out but I almost wished we’d turned around right there. Washboard the whole way.

If you want to go to Horseshoe I recommend taking 7A right to the front door.

On our way back up 7A (the way we should have come in) we met Wes and Donald. Kinda funny meeting someone you know miles and miles in the middle of nowhere. We stopped and said hello for a few minutes and then went our separate ways. Back to Diamond by way of

Not sure what I think about possibly taking the railroad to Tupper Lake to get us to Lake Placid for that trip… we’ll see. might have to wait for a day with some fresh snow and hope for a groomer.

A good day of riding, around 100 miles. Horseshoe is a pretty little lake, but I’d stay off the railroads to get there if I were you.

Miles on the sled this season: 198

The Backwoods Inn

Randy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:11:15 +0000

Dad and I got up late today, had a nice ham and egg breakfast and then headed out on the trails with no specific destination in mind.

As is often the case in our neck of the Adirondacks, we ended up only a few miles from The Backwoods Inn (previously known as Ham’s Inn) around lunchtime.

It’s an awesome little local bar/restaurant. The top of the bar has pictures of the locals embedded in a clear coat of some kind. There’s a Newfoundland that likes to wander around inside and out and greets every snowmobiler that comes through the door.

The menu is just typical American food: subs, wings, burgers etc but the food is excellent and their portions are insanely huge. They have a multiple-pound-burger that’s free if you eat it all. Even their normal sized burger is too big for most people. Dad had a regular burger and could only finish half of it. I had a grilled ham and cheese and couldn’t even come close to finishing the fries.

Its located on route 56 in Parishville right near the route 3 intersection. Filled with local flair and great food. If you’re looking for it from the snowmobile trails it’s on 73 on the eastern most section of 7A right along route 56.

Eat there if you get the chance!

The Right Equipment

Randy — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:28 +0000

Well, I did it again. I forgot my boots!

Normally I’m a stickler for the right gear. When Rachel and I go mountain climbing we carry day packs and wear zip-offs and fast drying active-wear clothes because I think it’s important. Our packs are filled with matches, filters, fire starters, emergency warmers, first aid kits and pretty much everything else we’d need in case we get stranded and need to spend a night or two in the woods. All because I believe in the right equipment.

Twice this year Ive forgotten my boots. The first time I had to buy a pair on the way up because I was going to be spending extended time periods standing in the woods (hunting). This time I’ll be snowmobiling which for those of you who don’t do it might sound cold, but it’s not too bad while you’re riding. When you stop it might be an issue but I don’t do a lot of that.

I’m gonna try it with my Goretex semi-insulated L.L. bean shoes and a heavy pair of wool socks. we’ll see…

UPDATE: just as expected it was plenty warm while riding. Stepping off the trail into snow banks is another story however. It’ll be good enough to get me through the weekend. I won’t forget my boots again though.

Randy and Rachel » Trips

How I Stole From a Monastery

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