We were supposed to leave Friday morning for Watkins Glen and stay down there, over there, whatever direction it is, until yesterday mid morning.
Well, in true crazymomma fashion- there suddenly appeared about 10 extra activities for Friday, causing our camping trip to be postponed to 5 in the morning on Saturday. Which, would have been completely fine, EXCEPT, have you ever tried to put together four meals for 8 1/2 people for just one night? I literally took the entire day on Friday preparing food items....
But despite all the annoying preparations, it actually is a lot of fun to camp. I know what you're thinking....camping....one tent.....nine people.
Seven of whom are 15 and younger....
So we may have decided it is now time to purchase another tent....
The problem with that one- is who will be forced to sleep away from mom or dad? That was an interesting argument....I'll spare you the details of which ones whined the most about being afraid to sleep without us....but your clue is one of them is going to college in just a few short years and either she's living at home, or she's going to cry every night being apart from us....
So it's time for another tent. Just a six person one would be fine. Ours right now is a 10 person one and it's plenty big enough for a few skinny, tall kids, but it's pushing maximum density and there are a few more who could potentially be over 6 feet tall...
So we arrived at Watkins Glen State park a little before 8 am. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive from our location, so we knew we wanted to be up early. By early, I had no idea the baby would decide that 3:30 was it....so by the time we arrived at the park, I had been awake for 4 1/2 hours... I was ready for a nap...
But there was the tent to put up....breakfast to eat.....and a hike to go on.....
Needless to say, by 11 am, we had eaten, set up, and cleaned up our campsite and were ready to head to the gorge for a hike....
Along with half of New York State....
My son brought his phone to take pictures, so it might be a week or 10 before I get them from his phone to mine....but let's just say, there were bodies EVERYWHERE.... I'll post some pictures of the gorge I borrowed off Al's internet....
| Amazing views |
| Entrance to lower end of Gorge |
| Amazing bridges and tunnels |
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| Funny, same pic as above.... :) |
So we hiked the gorge trail. It was amazing. It was hot. And like I stated earlier- there were at least half of all residents of NYS there, along with several thousand Canadians, New Jersians, and Pennsylvanians....
Which brings me to my next topic of discussion I shall toss in here with my fun, family, camping, hiking weekend blog....
Proper photo selfie etiquette.
No one on this planet knows selfies like I do.
Doubt me? Let me find some pictures from 1981 that I took on my camera with FILM in it and took a selfie with every.single.roll so we would know who's pictures they were. I was a budding photographer, and I certainly did not want ANYONE stealing my pictures.... (as if...)
So to say I'm an expert in the field is a massive, massive understatement....
When one attempts to hike with half of the country on a path that is at greatest two people wide, it's best to just either WAIT, to take your ridiculous selfie every 5 feet, or just come back another day because it's just too crowded...
My oldest had the 2 year old in a back pack on her back. I had the baby in a front pack on me. My awesome hubs was in charge of the two younger girls, and the 12 and 14 year old were bringing up the front and rear.
To say we stopped "often" for what appeared to be the same.people.every.time is being generous.
At one point, I wanted to take a few of those phones and drop them over the gorge....ok. That might have gotten me into a bit of a pickle, but when you're hiking with an extra 20 pounds on your front and your going along behind the person in front of you and they stop RANDOMLY every 5 feet to take selfies- it can make the strongest feel agitated....
Come on people!! Have we become that much of a narcissistic world that we can't walk by 23 waterfalls without putting ourselves in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM?
You think I'm exaggerating.
I am not.
And in 12 weeks, when my son finally gets around to sending me the pictures he took? You'll see.
Now, I'm not against selfies. As I stated earlier, I've been taking selfies since 1981. Yes, that would have made me 8 years old. I got my first camera at age 8. So basically for 12 years I've been taking selfies....
Hahahahahahahahaha..... It's ok, folks. I'm a little tired today....my math and typing skills are struggling a bit and I'm not even going to correct that one because it made me LAUGH OUTLOUD!!! I'm working on very little sleep and not much coffee this weekend....
So I've been taking selfies for several, several decades.... There is a time and a place. If there are bodies, body to body on a path that is already winding, wet, and somewhat dangerous (yes, I'm talking to YOU, who decided to drape your leg over the ledge to capture your 10th selfie in 10 minutes.....my agitation meter might have been about to pop by the time you settled your leg over the edge.....), you need to look past your horse blinders (hold on- I'll post a pic for those who don't know what that is....)
| You know it's a good day when you find what you imagine in your head you want.... |
Did I mention it was every 5 feet?
And while I'm on my tangent. can I just say how depressing it is to actually see so many people with their noses in their phones on this hike? It's like they're more concerned with either posting at that exact moment (God forbid we actually go back to waiting to do things....)
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| Wait? What's that mean? |
I really hope my kids got an eyeful. Here we were at this magnificent site, and not only were people being incredibly rude, but they were demonstrating first hand what my awesome hubs and I have been trying to convey to our kiddos about for years.... what our society is turning into. People are going to walk off cliffs, walk into streets, walk into bears (hey, I've seen that video- let me see if I can find it....) because we are so busy with our noses in our phones we're going to miss the stop sign, the cliff edge, the mighty big bear who just found lunch...
.
There's the video of the bear.....and the dude just texting away on his phone.....society at it's finest...
So the hike went well. Despite that. My kids were in absolute aww of the beauty of the falls and how the water had eroded the gorge down over the centuries, millenniums!
After the hike, the awesome hubs took the older six to the pool, which is an Olympic sized pool that only about a quarter of the world was at.
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| picture doesn't do it justice... |
After that, we headed back, heated up some chicken with avocados, mac salad, and cookies for dessert. It was a glorious day. It wasn't even tough convincing them bedtime would have to be by 9 pm because they were all pretty worn out....
Of course, night time is always difficult for me to fall asleep. I hear every single sound on the planet. My husband claims I have some kind of freaky beagle ears and that I can hear thunderstorms coming from states over.....whatever..... but I do lay there at night and hear everything. I can hear fire crackling in other camps, campers laughing and playing games, giant Sasquatches coming to kill and maim my family..... (ok, remember my overactive imagination a few blogs ago? No? Well, go back and refresh your memory...it explains a lot...)
So maybe there weren't Sasquatches, but there was one strange activity....shortly after everyone had fallen asleep, there was a loud sound (probably coming from New Jersey....) that kept getting louder and louder. A minute later, I distinctly heard people shouting, "It's time for the glow stick wars..."
At first I thought I had to be dreaming, but then I saw out the front of the tent a dozen or so bikes that were completely decked out in glow sticks. Music was blaring and it was CLEARLY after quiet hours....why do people have such problems with obeying laws? Oh, I don't know, maybe because MOM AND DAD CAN'T EITHER?????
Someone shouted at them that it was quiet time and of course, an older person (I'm guessing MOM) shouted, "there's always one in every crowd."
Wait, what? One what? Person who knows it's after 11 and we're supposed to be respectful of other campers AND the rules posted on the camping signs? How trivial.....
I sat there annoyed. My awesome hubs said I should have shouted, "no, there's two...." But of course, that's why he's wittier than I..... Rather, I laid there, annoyed, and apparently made myself fall asleep....
So other than the crazy hike with half the world (yes, I may be exaggerating the numbers), the selfie world gone wrong, and the bizarre midnite glow stick event, the trip was fantastic. The baby slept great. The kids had fun. And the hubs and I didn't lose anyone...
I would consider that a win on all parts....
I loved the video It was hilarious!!!
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