TOP: Judy-Marie with her "Breakfast of Champions"...2 lbs of M&Ms
2nd: The Keuka Lake outlet creek waterfall running full volume. The water was REALLY humming on our hike
3rd: Gary's swimtrunks frozen solid for being left on top of the hottub overnight.
4th: Some of the crew chapel-side on the "Point hike"
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A bunch of us took off last weekend for our annual CARPS winter trip...it was a seriously fun time. This year, we decided to go down to Keuka Lake, on of the Finger Lakes, and rented a house to base out of. I just have to note that the owner was a great guy, and I would rent again from him in a heartbeat.
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The house had everything that you could ask for...slept 20, huge windows overlooking the lake, a hot tub, foosball table, video games, and beer. Well, it didn't actually have beer until Chris arrived with about 20 growlers from the Honeoye Falls brewery, where he works part time. And since it was fresh beer, we had to drink it that weekend else it would spoil. So, we did what we were told. Nothing like a fresh, cold one in a hot tub overlooking the lake!
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Surprisingly, there was almost no snow about this weekend, even though we had just experienced the snowiest Rochester December in recorded history. So we made a hiking weekend of it. Friday we went out for a circumnavigation of the point, the part of the lake that makes the "Y" of keuka. We're about, oh, 45 minutes out, trolling along, and Kathy stops and asks "Why can you hear that train way out here?". Of course, that was a fair question to ask, but it was not the train, it was the RAIN....Massive buckets of wind-swept rain that we were hearing coming across the lake. With nowhere to go, we continued hiking and got totally soaked. It was only the hot tub and fresh beer (did I mention the fresh beer before) that recovered us from hypothermia. Won't be wearing those clothes again this weekend.
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We went out that evening to a lovely little restaurant on the lake hillside. Following a good meal, the owner declared it "free brownie sundaes for everybody" night, and we indulged...chocolate and ice cream was everywhere, like we'd been in bangladesh for months.
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We got back that night and started our world championship of foosball. Well, we pretty much all suck at the game, but there was a prize worth competing for...fresh beer. After a few games, Kathy decides to join in. Now, Kathy and foosball are not usually a good mix...kinda like me and catholic priests. But, she proceeded to walk-on and win 5 straight games with a mix of "spinners" and "out-and-out luck". She walked away with the title and bragging rights...
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The next morning a group of us went out for a long hike along the keuka outlet trail...the creek that drains keuka lake into seneca lake. It was an awesome hike, longside old mills, a destroyed canal (destroyed by Hurricane Agnes in the 70's), several beautiful waterfalls, and, oh, about 4 MILES of total ice! Yes, we hiked mostly arm-in-arm for hours, since none of us could get a foothold on the ice that had formed on the trail from the prior days monster rainfall (remember the train....). We never thought to bring crampons or snowshoes, and what was going to be a 3 hour light hike turned into a 5 hour death march, with people falling like dominos all hike long. We finally made it back alive mid-afternoon, and immediately headed for the hot tub.
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Well, I never thought of a hot tub as being a deadly weapon, but for jan it was. After 8 cosmos she goes to get in the tub, misses the floor of the tub (how one does that I'll never know...), and tumbles head first into the tub. So that's the picture you want to have...me, sitting in the tub with my cold beer in hand, and jan, headfirst under water in front of me. It was just like being in the playboy grotto, except we're old and I think her boobs are real :-)
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Luckily, we were able to dredge Jan from the bottom of the hot tub, and the party continued on. As the night wore on, chris broke out his guitar for some impromtu karaoke. Unfortunately, chris only knew 2 songs..."If I only had a brain" from the wizzard of oz, and johnny cash's "I walk the line". Definitely a fun song collection, but less so after 17 times singing them.
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That evening we headed down to hammondsport (south end of the lake), hitting a bunch of wineries and brew pubs along the way. We had a great dinner at the village tavern, then retreated back to the house for another evening of cards and games. Gary and Peter played "the longest game" of checkers in the history of checker playing, across about 4 hours, interrupted with beers, more karoake, jan falling into other receptacles, and marty's dog baying at the moon...or maybe it was the aforementioned karaoke.
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Anyhow, wonderful CARP winter weekend yet again, even without any snow, and it should take me a few days to dry out.
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"Jan, please keep your head above water" Lumpy out
