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| Amazing Timmy Ho's |
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Montreal
Montreal is the second largest French speaking city in the world. It's one of the initial attractions for people coming to Plattsburgh. I remember going to Montreal at 18 to enjoy the great night life that can be found on Crescent Street and Peel Street. As I've grown wiser (and older), I've found many other great benefits of the city. I love food shopping in Chinatown and other great areas, finding adorable clothes on St. Catherine's Street or in their underground mall, and all of the cultural benefits of the city from extravagant churches, like Notre Dame to museums. Jon and I went up last week to say goodbye to Montreal. We went to see a great Sabres games where we won in a shoot out! The next day we went to the Biodome which far exceeded our expectations. They had exhibits from the tropics to the arctic where we could see monkeys to penguins! And most importantly, I got to have some Tim Horton's, the coffee that many Western New Yorkers refer to as crack coffee. It was a great last visit to Montreal as we begin our life post-Plattsburgh.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
A weekend in Long Lake, NY
Location: The heart of the Adirondacks - Long Lake, NY
Our honorable hosts: Brynn & Brian
I spent a good majority of my adult life in Plattsburgh, NY. It's a conveniently located city which is central to many wonderful places. The lively, young, and French city of Montreal. The hip, trendy, and environmental city of Burlington, VT. And just north of the astounding Adirondack region.
My favorite of these three surrounding areas is most certainly the Adirondacks (ADK). The Adirondacks consist of 6.1 million acres of private and state land. Plattsburgh dwelling has really only allowed me to see the northern and eastern parts of the park. Jon and I have hiked many, many, many mountains in that area.
Over the weekend, while visiting friends Brynn and Brian, we were afforded the opportunity to see a new part of the ADKs. Long Lake is somewhat central to the whole park. Jon and I went for a snow-shoeing extravaganza and to spend time with our friends before we embark on our journey. In my eyes, post-resignation has already begun my journey and so I wanted to blog about it now. We snow-shoed up Coney Mountain, which offered beautiful views for just a half minute. We could see stunning mountain views until a strong wind brought us into a very blusterous cloud of snow and gray. The whole group quickly descended.
After a fun-filled weekend, we drove through Saranac Lake and noticed crowds of people walking down the street. We realized that we were driving through for their winter carnival! Since 1898, every year, they build an ice palace. It was an absolute must for us to park and go check out this castle. It was pretty amazing having a huge ice structure bigger than a typical house right there. You could go through and walk around inside of it. They had an ice maze in the back and other mini ice sculptures. It would have been better, if there weren't so many people, but it was a nice ending to our weekend.
Our honorable hosts: Brynn & Brian
I spent a good majority of my adult life in Plattsburgh, NY. It's a conveniently located city which is central to many wonderful places. The lively, young, and French city of Montreal. The hip, trendy, and environmental city of Burlington, VT. And just north of the astounding Adirondack region.
My favorite of these three surrounding areas is most certainly the Adirondacks (ADK). The Adirondacks consist of 6.1 million acres of private and state land. Plattsburgh dwelling has really only allowed me to see the northern and eastern parts of the park. Jon and I have hiked many, many, many mountains in that area.
Over the weekend, while visiting friends Brynn and Brian, we were afforded the opportunity to see a new part of the ADKs. Long Lake is somewhat central to the whole park. Jon and I went for a snow-shoeing extravaganza and to spend time with our friends before we embark on our journey. In my eyes, post-resignation has already begun my journey and so I wanted to blog about it now. We snow-shoed up Coney Mountain, which offered beautiful views for just a half minute. We could see stunning mountain views until a strong wind brought us into a very blusterous cloud of snow and gray. The whole group quickly descended.
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| Escaping down the mountain from the wind that was coming | at us from other way! |
After a fun-filled weekend, we drove through Saranac Lake and noticed crowds of people walking down the street. We realized that we were driving through for their winter carnival! Since 1898, every year, they build an ice palace. It was an absolute must for us to park and go check out this castle. It was pretty amazing having a huge ice structure bigger than a typical house right there. You could go through and walk around inside of it. They had an ice maze in the back and other mini ice sculptures. It would have been better, if there weren't so many people, but it was a nice ending to our weekend.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
February 8 - a turning point in my life
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times; the national unemployment rate is 9% and on February 8, 2011, I resigned from my job. This is either the best decision of my life or the worst decision of my life. You see, I don't even have a concrete plan in mind. I just cut my safety net for the unknown.
Jon and I applied for Peace Corps and we've been nominated to leave in July 2011. The clincher is that it's not set in stone. Something could still happen where we don't actually go. We're probably not going to know much more than we do now until April.
So, why did I quit? Well, in preparation for Peace Corps, in case we do go. Jon and I are taking a huge road trip across the United States. We want to say goodbye to all of our friends and family. We need the time do that. March 15 our lease is up and we are leaving Plattsburgh permanently.
What if we don't get into Peace Corps? We have some back up plans, but no need to discuss that now.
So, from March 14 - July or so, we're homeless and living out of our car around the USA. Check back for more.
Jon and I applied for Peace Corps and we've been nominated to leave in July 2011. The clincher is that it's not set in stone. Something could still happen where we don't actually go. We're probably not going to know much more than we do now until April.
So, why did I quit? Well, in preparation for Peace Corps, in case we do go. Jon and I are taking a huge road trip across the United States. We want to say goodbye to all of our friends and family. We need the time do that. March 15 our lease is up and we are leaving Plattsburgh permanently.
What if we don't get into Peace Corps? We have some back up plans, but no need to discuss that now.
So, from March 14 - July or so, we're homeless and living out of our car around the USA. Check back for more.
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