The Best Remedy

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Comfort Food

Harrison Rec Run by the Lake 5k

It was a blisteringly hot evening, but I ran it for the 3rd time (2014 & 2015 posts) and they ran it for the 4th time! We might be crazy - it's a tough course, but we keep coming back to try it again. I think it's probably for the friendly community we are supporting and the fun to be had running with some of the nicest people we know!

This might be the prettiest salad that I've ever eaten...

Glen Ellis Falls

Amber thought all of that water looked wicked inviting...

It's a good thing my younger son has quick reflexes - he stepped on that rope just in the nick of time!!

Today we hiked Burke Mountain in Vermont...

This is going to be a longer post than what I normally write because I hope to educate others who might be interested in hiking this mountain. It's always hard to find good information on hiking trails and I love it when I do find a good blog that clearly explains where the trail-head is, how difficult it is, etc.

I have also found that there is some misinformation out there regarding this one. This is the review that I pulled up and helped us decide to do this hike:

While I will agree that the views are SPECTACULAR, the hike is anything but easy. We didn't feel the least bit guilty about enjoying the view! I was not physically ready for this hike, but I'm not one to back down or give up, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, (or kept pulling myself up) and we made it to the top after a steady, steep climb. My sons have hiked several of the toughest trails in the Northeast with their father, and they thought it was one of the most difficult climbs that they had encountered. I may not have impressed them with my speed, but I think I impressed them with my perseverance. Turning around did not occur to me!

Here are 2 screenshots from my gps tracker - the first was taken at the top of the mountain, and shows how far & long we had hiked so far; the second was taken when we reached the car, and shows the elevation map of our entire hike:

Now, back to the beginning of our day - you will be looking for the Red Trail. The parking area is located at the far end of the lower parking lot at Sherburne Base Lodge.
(Follow Mountain Road out of the village of East Burke and turn right at the sign for the Sherburne Lodge Road.)

It's a beautiful trail through the woods and we were fortunate enough to have perfect weather for this hike. You may want to consider packing a long-sleeved shirt though, because even though it was a very warm day, it got quite cool at the top of the mountain.

 The trail is well-marked, but it converges with a couple of others, particularly mountain biking trails, so you'll want to keep watching bicyclists(although they are not allowed onto the hiking trail), and also for those 'Red Trail' signs... 

We didn't see any wildlife, but we did find some pretty special plants. Oxalis is one of my favorite houseplants, but I've never seen the wild version until now! 

And, of course it's always great to find one of these rarities: Lady Slippers! 

 Amber's skills at following directions (left, right, stay focused, forward, etc.) helped to keep her on track...she insists on being in front at all times. She got tired, but she loved every minute of this adventure!

  About 2/3rds of the way up the mountain the trees open up and you start to see the view behind you. It's incredible!

There are 2 shelters on the trail for those who might like to do the mountain as an overnight camping trip. 

We made it to the fire-tower! My younger son was the only one in our party who was brave enough to climb it, so he took my phone and captured these amazing images for me: 

Once he had climbed down from the tower, we followed the trail over to the actual summit of the mountain and found the 'official' medallion at the tippy-tippy top. These are always so cool to find...

We saw on the map that the auto road is just on the other side of the fire tower, so we walked over to check it out. This road makes it so that less mobile individuals can experience this view too! How cool is that? (Follow Mountain Road out of East Burke, drive past the lodges and Burke Mountain Academy, and turn left onto the Toll Road.)

 Then, we cut across the top of the ski trails to get back to the hiking trail down the mountain, (this shortened our hike by .2 miles on the way down) and checked out where the mountain biking trails start. Even the boys, who love trail riding on their bikes, admitted that those riders are crazy!

This was how we all felt by the time we reached the campground...

But, we had a really fun day hiking together, and also felt like we had accomplished something. The bonus? Now I feel strong enough to tackle any challenge that comes along!

Kingdom Trails

Balancing Act

We spent a lot of time in the car today, and it was hot outside, so I wanted Amber to be able to swim while we ate our lunch. So, I found a spot to park beside the road and we climbed down the bank to the water. She was thrilled, and that made the challenge of preparing a meal without benefit of a table worth it to me. (The boys weren't as sure about it, but they humored me.)

What?!

Did you know there was a game hidden here? If you tap on the dinosaur he moves across the screen and you have to keep tapping every time an obstacle appears, or else he dies. I had NO idea, until my boys showed me today! For some reason I find this hilarious!!

Rusty must be feeling better...

He's been a bit under the weather lately, so I was surprised to see that he had found the energy to catch a red squirrel. He sure was proud of himself!

A Cluster of Blooms

My Clivia plants don't bloom very often, but boy, when they do it sure is impressive!

Walking through Wildflowers

Oops! I never got around to pulling the 'weeds' around the front steps.

Actually, I'm glad. They turned out to be my favorite flowers - Black-eyed Susans - and I LOVE coming home and walking through them to get to the house!

Fun Dog Day

 Our local animal rescue/shelter, Responsible Pet Care, held their annual Fun Dog Day at the Oxford County Fairgrounds today and we brought Amber to participate. It was a day to celebrate all things dog! She loved it!! 

The first event was a 1/2 mile walk around the facilities. I tried to keep her quiet in the back, but she has run in way too many races to tolerate that nonsense! She insisted that we walk faster than all the other doggies. We won with ease, since nobody else was racing. She made all of the other participants laugh at her eagerness to GO!!

Next up was attempting the agility course. Amber is not particularly graceful, so we kinda 'butchered' the course, but she actually did better than I expected, and was willing to try her hardest at each obstacle! She's such a good girl.

It was a super hot day, so we went to find her a drink...she thought she was supposed to lie down in the water! 

The boys discovered that there really was 'something for everyone' at Fun Dog Day! They got to try out the newest VR technology. They're still talking about how cool that was! 

You can see how impressed Amber was, but at least that concrete was nice and cool. 

After lunch we watched a demonstration of pulling dogs. I have never seen this sport and had no idea how much fun it could be. Since Amber is already familiar with wearing a harness and pulling against pressure, they let her try it out. She did awesome and thought it was great because she loved all the attention and praise! The trainer explained that this is the whole point of the activity and that watching the competitions is quite heartwarming because the dogs try so hard for their owners. Since I'm always looking for fun things that we can do together, we might have to check it out someday... 

 After that we entered our very first dog show! It was fun, but since there was no 'Most Beautiful' category, and since Amber didn't really fit into any of the other categories, we didn't win. It was a fun experience with lots of other great dogs! 

This was such a fun day of visiting with friends and other dog lovers! We can't wait until next year!!