I just spent a few relaxing days up in the Adirondacks. My friend's (Jim) family goes up for a week every summer and we went up for a few days. It was as close to an all-inclusive mountain resort as I may ever get. To put it plainly, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. The "cabin" (quotes used because it was on a lake and happened to be in a summer-vacation area, but let's be honest, it has nicer amenities than my house.) was huge and beautiful, tons of space, great kitchen and right across the street from the lake. So any window on the lake side had a clear view of gorgeous Schroon Lake. The water was beautiful and so refreshing, there were countless places to sit and relax, or float and relax, or sleep and relax... Then I'd have to mention the company and the food. Jim's family is a loving and welcoming group of people. I felt so welcomed the moment we arrived (even when we arrived at the wrong house. That nice woman was welcoming too.) and I don't know, it was just easy. They are easy people to hang around with and definitely easy people to talk to. They also happen to be great cooks. Every last one of them! Granted, there were about 21 people being fed so there was always copious amounts of food but dang if it wasn't all delicious.
So I know what we're all thinking. A relaxing few days away from the control of home, no gym, (just Jim, haha...ha..eh-hem) and tons of delicious food. This is a recipe for disaster. Well it wasn't. In fact, I lost weight whilst gone. Official weigh in is tomorrow so hopefully I'll keep it up today but now I shall fill you in on just how awesome this relaxing trip was.
After arriving Monday and floating/swimming/scrambling up the side of a big ass tube that had no ladder, Tuesday was the day we went tubing. I haven't been tubing in years but I remember exactly why I love it so much. I fell off almost every time. Epically at that. There were two tubes going, one that could hold up to 3 riders, and a small one that held one or two. I was on the smaller, Jim and his cousin were on the larger. Part of the fun of this adventure is when the tubes collide and it's every man for himself to stay on. (This is typically how I departed the tube, except this once...) The very first run we did after the trial we were flying around, jumping the wake, crashing into each other, and on one such collision I was no longer on my tube, but lying face up on Jim's tube with mine on top of me, as I was still holding on. Yup, instead of colliding, I merely rolled over and joined the larger tube. Hilarity ensued as those left on the boat wondered where I had gone and Jim explained he had me, just fine. The rest of the day involved everyone falling off multiple times, except Jim's uncle, (with whom the similarities between the two are uncanny) who is a champion at all things. He rode the small insane tube with no hands, using his feet to keep him on. He joined the large tube on purpose and then got back on his tube without missing a beat. The man is amazing. I nearly let go right at the end, the last run was grueling after a full day of holding on for dear life, but I made it to the end. After more relaxing and floating, we ate ourselves silly again, watched Uncle Buck, (a family favorite) and went to bed.
Wednesday was fun day as another of Jim's uncles takes the family out for something fun. This year's adventure was zip lining. I got all sorts of excited as I've zip lined before in NH and will be doing so again in about a week. The zip lining I've done involves about 6 trips down the line where you're all harnessed in, you jump off and ride for anywhere from 30-60 seconds. It's amazingly beautiful and so much fun and there are mountain men out there to save you should you get stuck. So I'm all talking this up to everyone, telling them what a good time it's going to be, making sure everyone has sneakers on... yadda yadda yadda. When we got there, I realized this place was a little different than what I had experienced before. We ended up at the Adirondack eXtreme outdoor course with 5 different courses each at a greater difficulty than the last with challenges for the mind and body. Yeah this was no zip through the mountains. We were climbing across bridges made of 3 foot horizontal logs individually attached by wires so they were all like trapeze swings, or swinging across a 10 foot gap with your foot in a hoop, or a zig-zag bridge that swung with your own momentum, or other crazy activities I can't even remember because fear and determination blocked them out. Every now and then, you got to zip. That was obviously the easy part. Check out their website!
I made it through 3 of the 5 courses. Of this, I was exceedingly proud because as Jim put it, my hobbies include wine and camping (and music of course) so to put myself through something that physical, well, I was proud. Now Jim, as well as 4 of his family members, made it through ALL FIVE COURSES. You will NEVER understand what that means unless you've done this. The guide I spoke with says he never does the final course for fun. He only does it when he has to because he's working. It was insane to watch from the ground and I can't even believe they all survived. Not only survived, but survived with smiles! My language changed from polite to... less so during the 3rd course and that was my cue that I shouldn't go on. They did all five. All five. Oh it was just so cool to watch. I'm not scared of heights, I am scared of my own limitations. My own physical limitations, to be specific. I used as much upper body strength as I could muster after a day of tubing. I don't think I used my harness at all to catch me, I think I was able to recover with balance and grabbing onto the red wire we were connected to, but I knew I was reaching my limit. If there were a disappointing aspect to the entire adventure, that would be it - that my own fear of being too weak kept me from trying the next course. Once I made my way onto a section, I got a rhythm going and did pretty okay. Looking at the next one I had to conquer made me suddenly aware of every single muscle ache in my upper body. I knew I could push through to the end of the 3rd course, but I was too scared to try the next and find out I was too weak. So I stopped, and I'm proud of what I accomplished, but will wonder if I could have completed them all if I had more upper body strength, or maybe if I just wasn't scared.
So needless to say, after a day of tubing followed by a day of zip-lining, my entire being is sore but I am so happy for it. This was truly an amazing few days and I can't thank Jim or his family enough for letting me be a part of it. I'm uploading pics onto FB so you can check those out if you like.
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