Friday, 19 October 2007

• Summer 2007, Part 2

  Sorry, I’m leap-frogging my entries. I started this a while ago, but didn’t get to finish this entry about summer until tonight.
  
  Some random thoughts in the middle of an Indian-Summer night in October. Dang, it’s warm. I’m going to start off with a couple of more shots from the summer.

  
  St. Michaels Winery
  St. Michaels, MD | June 8, 2007

  St. Michaels, MD. So many people have asked me about St. Michaels. I hesitate to give it such an endorsement, well, because part of me wants to keep it the small vacation get-away that won’t become like Bar Harbor, ME (where the quaint small town has been replaced with a maddening onslaught of tourists each summer and fall). Still, I cannot lie.
  
  St. Michaels was such a charming place, mostly because—as I keep on telling people—when I head down the interstate to DC or anywhere else south, I never thought to make a left and head eastward while in Maryland. But, if you do that, lo and behold, there are some seriously green and plush farmland out on the peninsula. And, nestled in the heart of this plush peninsula is a small fishing town of St. Michaels. With only a handful of B&B’s and restaurants, this place spells relaxation without the tourism aspect. Enjoy it while it’s still like this, folks. It probably won’t last long.

  
  Hiking at one of Skytop’s private trails.
  Skytop, PA | June 23, 2007

  Skytop, PA. Sitting on more than 5,500 acres, this ginormagantuan establishment looked like the haunted mansion from The Others, except much larger. The 125-room lodge is the summer destination of families whose men appear always in khakis and blue button-down oxfords and ties, the model of whom happens to be the silver-haired gentleman who greeted us (the Chairman/CEO of Skytop). This was “old money” vacation spot, and we certainly felt very odd. But, it was still a wonderful blessing to enjoy some time off.

  
  Hiking on one of the gazillion hikes somewhere off Seven Lakes Drive
  Harriman State Park, NY | August 18, 2007
  
  
  A trail oddity atop a mountain
  Harriman State Park, NY | August 18, 2007
  
  
  Inside a lightning-struck tree
  
  
  Lightning-struck tree exterior

  These last few shots are from a hike in mid August. We came upon several of these “burned-out” trees. They were creepily gutted, but seemed to stay in intact from the outside. We concluded that these were lightning struck.

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