Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): September 2021

“Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.” –Dalai Lama

This weekend was our final salute to summer. We spent five wonderful days with our family in a little town on the Hudson River, just 50 miles north of Manhattan. Cold Spring is an unspoiled, charming village directly across from West Point, surrounded by the beautiful Hudson Highlands. The central area of the village is on the National Register of Historic Places due to its many well-preserved 19th-century buildings, constructed to accommodate workers at the nearby West Point Foundry and is full of eclectic boutiques, antique shops and farm-fresh eateries.

We spent hours enjoying the pool...even though the air temps were in the mid 60's. The kids didn't care, they had a blast and didn't mind that they were shivering and turning a little blue. We played games, did a little exploring, painted rocks, built LEGOS, ate delicious food and made wonderful memories.

The highlight of the weekend was our day at LEGOLAND. The newest LEGO park opened this summer and is located on more than 150-acres in the foothills of the Catskills Mountains. We went Friday morning and what a great day it was...the weather was beautiful, the crowd was small and the view of the surrounding hills was spectacular. Everyone had a wonderful time.

The House

The kitchen

The bedrooms

The bathrooms

Fun in the pool

View of the Hudson River and surrounding mountains from the Cold Spring Pier.

What would a summer celebration be without ice cream? We found a cute little shop that served gelato and good coffee.

Cold Spring

LEGOLAND New York is the newest and largest LEGO Resort in the US. It features 15,000 LEGO models, containing 30 million LEGO bricks. We were all excited to see what the park had to offer.

The large modals were so impressive...made completely out of LEGOS.

The kids enjoyed seeing the modals, riding the rides and creating things from all the LEGOS.

I think the Brick Party carousel was the girls favorite ride.

Stan even found a friend to spend a little time with.

My favorite part of LEGOLAND was Miniland, especially the modals that made up NYC. The building in the center of this picture is the Edge located at 30 Hudson Yard. I was at this building in August.

From left to right...the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and World Trade Center including the 9/11 Memorial and the Oculus.

All five boroughs of NYC were represented in Miniland plus others well recognized places in the country. Here are just a few of what we enjoyed looking at. The Capitol Building is made of 163,836 LEGO bricks.

A few pictures of the kids really enjoying themselves.

What would a theme park be without rides? Some were geared for the very and and a few were even exciting enough for the adults.

More amazing modals

Our last night at the house and our final goodbye to summer. It was a great summer full of adventures and memories.

“I love the sounds and the power of pounding water, whether it is the waves or a waterfall.” -Mike May

September in the Finger Lakes...it doesn't get much better. Peaceful beautiful sunny days to enjoy the amazing countryside we call home. On Monday we picked a winery we haven't visited before on Seneca Lake...wow have we missed out. The Leidenfrost Vineyard was a great place to spend the afternoon enjoying each other, a picnic, a bottle of wine and a great view of the lake.

Leidenfrost Vineyard has an amazing spot on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake.

We usually get one bottle of wine, but today we each enjoyed something different. I had the Pink Catawba, a fruity crisp blush wine with features of fresh apple, cherry and pink grapefruit. Stan had the Cabernet Franc.

The weather was great again on Tuesday and we had left over wine to use up...what could we do except go on another picnic. This time we decided we'd drive up the east side of Cayuga Lake and hang out on Salmon Creek. We set up our chairs and small table on the creek bank and had a relaxing day. After lunch I hiked up the creek to Salmon Creek (Ludloville) Falls. We've seen it from the top, but never from the bottom. It didn't disappoint.

Our view from our picnic spot.

Salmon Creek Falls

The weather turned wet on Wednesday so we caught up on daily chores. The things you can't get away from whether you live on land, on the water or on vacation. Sometimes it's nice to be forced to get things done. Especially when it's the captain's birthday on Thursday.

Thursday was another beautiful day to get out and play. This time we took our little runabout boat out on the lake. We love getting out on the lake during the week when there are few others around. We enjoyed the sun, a picnic and Stan even got to do little fishing. One of our favorite places to eat around here is The Boatyard Grill. Besides the food being excellent we can get there on our boat. We really enjoy that. We finished off the Captain’s birthday with a wonderful meal. Life really doesn’t get much better.

A perfect day on the lake.