The Great New York State Fair

So, as most people know, today was the first year anniversary of Silas and I beginning to date. To us it feels like only a week has passed, so it's amazing to us how much time has really passed. Instead of doing something that didn't quite seem "us", we decided to hit the NYS Fair in honor of the day.

We started out at around 9:15, and arrived to the Fair soon after opening, at around 10:15. For anyone considering Fair attendance - I like to pack 4 bottles of frozen water, as well as liberally applying sunscreen prior to going, which Si of course was objectionable to. At least it wasn't the ice cold sunscreen spray that we used in Cape Cod.

Of course, as we came in the main gate, I noticed my favorite fried dough vendor, right in front of the dairy building, and we started the day out right by splitting a fried dough with sauce. Simply Delicious. We then took the opportunity to wander through the buildings before the crowds got too rough, where we discovered that they had moved the sand sculpture to the Center of Progress building! Spoiler alert! Photo below:

We love the Beatles! 

After perusing the building, where we purchased these really neat things, that are intended to absorb water, and be placed around flowers to not use water - less mess! With me being a klutz, everyone knows how important this is! Pictures to come tomorrow!

After heading down the midway, it was extremely hot! Si won me a so-ugly-it's-cute stuffed dog, and an adorable stuffed bear in the games, and then we went on a few of the rides, where, I obviously beat Si up in bumper cars, even if he'll claim that he "won". What is winning in bumper cars?

After hitting the midway, grabbing a bloomin onion, drinking our way through all the water I brought, as well as some great fair sodas, we started to work our way back to the buildings, and where we came in. We picked up pickles, fudge, another milk, real NYS maple syrup, and started the trek home. 6 hours at the fair, and it was a perfect day!

Here's a photo of us on the bridge walking out from the fair, when I finally remembered to take the camera out of the backpack!

Can't you just feel the heat of the day? So hot!

Day Five - The Begining of the End

At approximately 2am this morning, I woke up feeling like something was crawling on me. How many of you have woken up with this awful feeling? The problem is - mine wasn't just a feeling. Unfortunately, this morning, I woke up to an earwig on my arm, and promptly let out a scream that I'm surprised didn't wake the camp. For those of you unfamiliar with what these disgusting atrocities look like, here is a photo for reference:

Earwig

I've been fighting the bug wars for a few days now. Our tent is pretty secure, but sometimes, things get in, just like this earwig, a few days ago, I had a fight with a daddy long legs.

Daddy Long Legs

Honestly, camping for seven days is ambitious at best. Tired of bugs, and fearful of what the next night's weather report of rain might bring, Si and I talk and decide that it might be best to abandon camp and head home. After I calm down from my recent bug encounter, we try to catch some more sleep so that way the drive ahead isn't so hard. We wake up in the morning, and I beg Si to take us to Hyannis for the morning, as it's the one place we haven't really explored, and he agrees.

Our morning is relatively uneventful, we grab breakfast at this cute little place, and then wander the shops, picking up our requisite ornament, postcards, as well as some taffy and a hooded sweatshirt for myself. Then we head out, feeling good about the things we've seen on the trip.

Click Here to Check out the Complete Photo Gallery of Our Cape Cod Adventure

[Silas]
I have combined all pictures into a final slide-show. Enjoy!

Day Four - Museum of Science

The Museum of Science was an interesting experience. I'd been there once before as a kid on a field trip with school. When we got in, we were so tired and hot after walking the distance from the NEAQ, that we just sat on a bench for a while. Inside, there are interesting exhibits to show people about different types of science, such as Physics, Mathematics, Archaeology, and Electricity. Si's favorite exhibit was the lightning demonstration, and my favorite exhibit was the Triceratops Cliffs.

Lightning Demonstration:
Inside of the MOS, there are two giant globes, surrounded by a cage like area to keep patrons away, where they offer lightning demonstrations every two hours. We were able to catch one of the demonstrations, and the presenter was hilarious. He showed us how electricity is produced, how it can be controlled, and even dispelled an interesting myth for us. Most people believe that the safest place during a lighting storm is within your car, and they will name the reason as being the rubber tires, stating that the tires ground out the lightning. This is actually untrue. If you check out the photo below, you can see a blot of lightning go into the tire and out the other side - which means it does not stop it.


The truth is, you are safe in your car, but it's not for the reason you might think. You are safe in your car because of the metal surrounding it. If you are inside of a metal instrument, the lightning will hit the metal, and not hit you. The demonstrator actually proved this by placing himself into a metal bird cage, raising it up to the level of the giant globes, and then striking it with lightning. He even went so far as to touch the metal! It will not go through the metal. The photos below show the true awesomeness of this demonstration.




Triceratops Cliffs Exhibit
The real reason I liked this exhibit is that I like dinosaurs, not for any other reason pertaining to the exhibit. They had some great skeletons of triceratops, as well as full scale interpretation of a T-Rex. Check out the photos below!

Day Four - Aquarium

Walking into the New England Aquarium, we're completely overwhelmed by the people that are wandering around inside. It's so crowded! Our first stop is the penguins, who even though they love the arctic, seem to be shivering!

Here are some photos that we captured of the most adorable penguins ever!

As anyone knows, I'm completely obsessive over Aquariums in general, and could go on and on about the delights of the NEAQ, but I'll let the extensive photos we've taken do the talking for me. Below is a video slideshow of our photos at the Aquarium.

Day Four - Continued

So, as I mentioned in my previous posting, it rained. It not only rained, but it flooded the streets of Sandwich, and quite unfortunately, our campsite. We abandoned the tent for a short while, trying to wait out the rain that was so vigorously dripping into the tent. We return to the tent to find a few wet spots in the tent, but nothing like what we were expecting. We pull off the wet sheets, put fresh ones on and tried to grab a bit more sleep, as the plan for the day is Boston and back.

Wake up a few hours later, and we get ready to head out to Boston. We're planning on doing the Aquarium and the Museum of Science (perfect place for the nerdy among us). We get into Boston, and end up in a parking garage that seems reserved for the BMW, Audi's, and Mercedes of the world. We don't have to worry about locking the car here!

Get to the Aquarium, and there is a long line ahead of us for entrance. Once we get inside, we're amazed at how many people are milling around!

Check out our dedicated Day Four - Aquarium Post Here!

After the Aquarium, we trek over to the Museum of Science - which is 1.2 miles away! Underestimating how far away that really is, we decide to walk on over.

Check out our dedicated Day Four - Museum of Science Post Here!

After we got out from the Museum of Science, we decided to grab a taxi back to the car, learning our lesson after walking the 1.2 miles in the heat to the MOS. Getting out of Boston at 5:30 on a workday was a little troublesome, but not as hard as we expected.

Day Four - Wet

It is currently 6am. The bit of rain the night before last was nothing compared to last night. it thundered and lightning all night long. Our tent was ok, up until about 45 minutes ago when the waterproof seal gave. not the seams, the actual tent itself starting raining under the pressure. we grab anything important, and run for the car. Once out driving on the streets of Sandwich, we realize the entire town is flooding due to.the massive amount of water. We are only just now heading back to assess the damage.

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Day Three - What is That Smell?

Day three dawns bright and early, with the promise of rain heavy in the air. I run down to the bathrooms, and barely make it back before the rain begins - thankfully, we've been faithfully preparing for rain each night, so we're covered.

I finish up a good book while Si slumbers on, unperturbed by a little rain. Must be the Eagle scout in him. After a little while, the rain lightens up, and I decide this is a great time to make those scrambled eggs on the grill. We try... and fail. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to make scrambled eggs in a frying pan on the grill. Oh well. We get showered and changed and hang out in the tent some more when it starts to rain again. Eventually, we decide to drive down 6A and see what there is to see. I open the car, and find to my surprise - it smells SO bad in the car. I left the fishbones in the car, in a plastic bag, within our beach bag, and it is not a good situation. We air out the car, and throw out the fishbones which seemed so cool at the time. Finally, we're on our way. We stop in quite a few shops, and purchase a great starfish photo frame, and stop in this great new age shop, where we spend at least a half an hour pouring over their goods.

We grab lunch at the Sandwich pizza shop, and continue our trek up the coast. Without a lot to do, we take our time meandering, stopping where we want to, and not stopping where we don't. A few hours pass, and we decide to head back, but not wanting to head back to camp, we're not sure where to go. The Cape Cod Guidebook will tell us!

Apparently, in Sandwich, there used to be a glass factory. Since MA seems to be big on museums, there is a glass museum, which to be honest, Si and I wouldn't care less about - except - they offer a glass blowing demonstration. $5 admission, and we're in. We meander the cases of glass before the real show begins, and we get to see a live glass blowing demonstration. Here are some photos that I took of all the different types of glass they had:

Custom Blown Witching Balls

Very old glass - contains Uranium, and when set under a black light - glows!

How cool is that! Anyways, time for the glass blowing demonstration - have you ever seen one of these? It's insane. Absolutely amazing. This woman was a true artist. Right before our very eyes, she shaped, molded, pulled and pushed this molten glass into the shape of an adorable fish. Since the glass has to be melted down at 1800 degrees, it takes a while to be cooled down. We approached her after the show and told her that we could think of nothing more amazing than to actually purchase the fish that she had made during our visit. She's setting it aside for us, and we pick it up tomorrow!

Following that, we felt triumphant! We walked into a few more shops, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back to the campsite, where we stoked a fire and made smores.

After smore making, we've got a bit of daylight left, so we head for Scussett Beach, were we find... no one. Being the only couple on the beach as the sun sets makes us feel giddy and full of life. We wander around like little kids, collecting shells and chasing the ocean back and forth as the waves crash against the beach. It was the perfect end to a lazy day.

It's extremely windy out, and expected to thunderstorm, so we've packed most things away in the car, with a back up plan ourselves if we become completely overrun with a downpour. Boston tomorrow - can't wait!

Day Two - Fishbones

So, day two. I wake up in the tent, and it is SUPER COLD. Not only is it cold, but I'm basically laying on the ground, as the half inflated air mattress has lost a substantial amount of air overnight. I throw on a sweatshirt, and wake up Silas. I'm SO excited, and I need him to wake up. We wander down to the bathrooms, and the map shows a shower house right next to the bathrooms. There is no showerhouse. There is one shower. In a bathroom stall. For our entire section of the camp. Oh well. We shower up, and get ready to depart. Our plan is to hit the National Seashore, as it's National Parks weekend, so everything is free. Of course, we don't intend on just hitting any old beach. We're heading up to Provincetown!

We make the hour trek, with my natural instincts for direction getting us off course only once, and we get into Race Point beach pretty early. We find a spot, and my next inclination is... seashells. I swear they are one of my only vices. When near a beach, I must collect. I con Silas into going into the FREEZING cold water, and we discover... rocks. Lots of rocks. Beautiful rocks. But no seashells. We return to our blanket, and hang out for a while until I decide that enough time has passed and surely something must have washed up by now. And sure enough, something did. A fish spine has washed up on the beach, completely cleaned by the ocean. I decide that it must be mine, and make Silas return back to the water to catch it, which is a comical display in and of itself. People are looking at me funny as I proudly walk back with my treasure, completely intact bones  of what MUST be a shark, or something equally cool.

Soon after, we plastic baggie the fishbones and assorted sand we found, and head into the shops within Provincetown. May I be the first to say that the atmosphere within Provincetown is extremely open, and while there, a large group of men dressed in prom dresses held a tea party on their front lawn and invited us for a cup of tea. It certainly made for an interesting day. We hang out for a while, and get really exhausted before deciding to head back. At this point, we need to find a grocery to buy food, but have no idea where to go. By the way - there is not an app for that. I looked.

We see a Christmas Tree Shop on our way back, and finding the Christmas Tree Shop workers to be a friendly bunch, we beg them for the nearest grocery location. It's just down the street, so we wander in, exhausted for the fixings for hamburgers. I've brought the hamburger meat with me, and the cooler is still holding its own, in part because of mild weather, and I'd like to think, in part because of my incredibly intelligent water freezing scheme.

We get the fixings, get back to the site, and realize that I've brought hamburger with me (all the way from Rochester) that was expired one day BEFORE we left. Oh Wegmans, how could you have steered me so wrong? We go back out, get hamburgers, and bring them on back where we settle in for the night. It's an early turn in for us, and hopefully, a late wake up.

Cape Cod - Day One

We planned to leave around 11am, which apparently to us means 2pm. Excellent. A couple food stops, some good music, some laughs about a mustache and a car,and my version of artistic photography, and we're there.

Silas in his disguise from the Quarter Machines.

So we arrive around 10, and the camp is... silent. And dark. We roll into our campsite, and from what we can see, it's perfect. We're starving, as the last we ate was around 3, and we need nourishment. But first, we need to set up the tent. Because there are other campsites around, we can't do it by the light of the headlights, so we use the lanterns we brought - which, looked extremely bright when we took them to the basement to test them in our house, but not so bright out here.

We finally get the tent set up, and we know we're after "quiet hours", so we're trying to be quiet, when it comes time to set up the air mattress - seriously, they can make your phone into a computer, but they can't stop an air compressor from sounding like a small aircraft is launching from within your tent? So, we blow up the air mattress what we think is most of the way, praying that the other campers aren't really angry by now.

After that fiasco, we heat up some hot dogs that we brought with us in the cooler (freeze water bottles prior to trip, and use as ice for a no mess, but effective way to cool). Silas cooks them up quick and plops them into hot dog buns. We put our ketchup on, and good to go right? No. I can tell by the look on Si's face that something is wrong. I bite into mine, and I'm treated to a decently chilly dog. At this point, we give up, and go to bed. Our only commentary on this - perhaps when the first day is insane, the second day gets better.

*Photos to come. Our netbook isn't equipped with CR2 to JPG conversion software, and we've been rocking it out with Si's big camera. Many apologies, and I promise to have photos, at least on day 3.

Day 1

So, it's the first day of our planned 7 day vacation. We've made a deal to sleep in a little, as we got to bed extremely late after trying to get a ton done last night. Unfortunately, my brain is still in "work mode", and I woke up at 6:15. Silas does not seem to have the same problem. Anyways, for anyone looking to embark on a 7 day camping trip, here is the list we put together that we *have* to have, and also things to remember to do prior to camping.

Camping List

Campsite: tent, tent stakes, ground cover tarp, fire logs, matches, camp chairs, cooler, lighting (tent light, large camp light), "bug sticks" - mosquito repellent stakes to drive away bugs, air mattress, sheets, pillows, pillowcases, light blanket, heavy blanket.

Food/Eating: paper plates, cutlery, paper towels, grill brush, frying pan, grill, water, assorted condiments, food items that you may want in the next day.

Toiletries: conditioner, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrush, q-tips, brush, comb, deodorant, bath towels, flip flops (for the camp showers), bug spray, sunscreen.

Beach: towels, beach bag, bathing suits

Electronics: phones, phone chargers, laptop, laptop charger, camera, camera charger, gps, gps charger

Misc: AA batteries, D batteries, First Aid Kit, Medicine

Remember to Do:

Car Repair/Maintenance: Before we leave, we're completing a full oil change, checking the fluids of the car, and running a fuel injector treatment through the gas to ensure that we get the maximum performance out of the car, as well as taking steps towards prevention.

Cat Duty: Ask a friend to look after your most prized possessions, in this case, Tygg. Many thanks Jodie! Be sure to leave the number of your vet, as well as pulling out a cat carrier just in case. As we have an automatic feeder and waterer, we've asked Jodie to stop over and make sure that he's doing okay, and give him a little of the wet food he loves. With such a lovable kitty, it's hard to leave!

That looks like that's about it for the day. Photos of packing to come a little later!

If you'd like to read more about our Cape Cod trip, click here!