Kayaking again...finally!

Finally, we got back on the water. This time at Meacham Lake in upper state New York, just on the north edge of the Adirondack Mountains (you can see the push pin on the map). 90 degrees hot so we wore our sun-umbrella hats. Launched from the river that came out of the lake. And, of course, all three of us got in the warm lake.

Launch point looking upriver

Nice cloud cover kept the heat down.

Katie likes to sit in back sometimes and take a nap.

But, every now and then, she wants to see what's going on.

Quiet, still waters and very, very peaceful.

No bird sounds, no traffic sounds, no airplanes....

It's hard to take a selfie with these hats on so Kim had to stand way back. They really work too!

All done for the day.

This was a very nice paddle. We could not believe how quiet it was. Restful.

steve/kim/katie

Acadia National Park in Maine

This Scoodic Point is one of our favorite places to visit when we're up here in Northeast Maine. Something about the rocks, the fog, the remoteness of it is very appealing. 

You can see the Red push pin to the right of the map with Acadia National Park right in the middle on Mt. Desert Island.

With the parking lot to the top, you can see how large an area this encompasses. And look at the stripes of black rock. I'll show those in another photo below.

Of course, Kim and I get all geeked out when we see Geology stuff so, naturally, this was one of our favorite sites.

Here's the explanation for those stripes of black rock.

This stripe is not as wide as others but very prominent.

Here's the diabase rock and granite next to each other

You can see that the diabase rock erodes much quicker than the granite thus making these attractive pools of water.

I'm standing on the largest one....it's probably 75 feet wide.

It's remarkable how cleanly the rocks sit next to each other.

There were also lots of waves crashing while we were there. We took our portable folding chairs and just enjoyed the action.

These were all accompanied by large thunder as they hit the rock so we knew that a wave was about to put on a show the minute we heard the thunder.

These purplish cones are from a Black Spruce. Kinda different looking.

Kim's Zen garden photograph.

Very foggy day when we were there but it makes for good photos.

On the way home, we stopped at a cove where, in the fog, these fishing boats just were begging for us to take their photo.

Notice there's no back in the stern. That's so they can pull up the lobster traps right into the boat easily.

This one has the traps already in the boat.

This boat has some old-style traps made out of wood instead of the metal ones used today. It just makes for a terrific picture.

Thanks for watching!

steve/kim/katie

"All things Coleman" convention

Here's one that is very unusual. You've heard of people that collect anything...match sticks, gum wrappers, beer cans, etc. But, I bet you never heard of people collection Coleman products...especially Coleman lanterns!!

There are over 75 lanterns set up here...each one brought over for a Night Glow photo event on the last day of their gathering!

Here's a close up as they are arriving. All colors and models. Very cool!

When we arrived a the RV park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, we noticed a number of the trailers had large tables set up with lanterns on them. Odd. So, one afternoon, we took at walk around and found out that this is a get-together that happens up to eight times a year! These people LOVE their lanterns.

I bet most of us have had one of these in our lifetimes...maybe still do !

These bases are made of nickel, not chrome

They burn white gas, not kerosene. Kerosene burns hotter and brighter but  white gas is superior to kerosene in almost every way. Kerosene is dirtier and produces more soot.

This one on the left even had it's own carrying case to keep it safe. One of the guys made his own carrying cases out of wood.

People come to show off, buy and sell and trade information

...just one of the "booths".

The blue ones in the upper left were made by Coleman for Sears so there's no Coleman label anywhere on them. It says "Sears" instead.

T

They are so colorful and, most of the people had a number of them lit so the area was magical.

Here is everyone with their individual lanterns heading towards the gathering.

What is White Gas?

White gas is a very pure form of gasoline that does not contain any additives and has only about 50-55 octane.

Some of the lanterns that we saw were made back in 1931! There were also some very elaborate and unusual ones.

This one was made to hang from the ceiling.

This one connects to a wall

This fellow had a 4"binder full of just mantles!

A gorgeous decorate table lamp. Many of the Amish communities around this area have Coleman lanterns throughout their buildings because they don't use electricity.

These two very large ones, are some of the most beautiful we saw. Don't you agree?

This is a very large one that was used to heat up a chicken coop.

This is an upside-down one. We put our hands over the top and could really feel the heat!

Here's part of the "magical" part at night when they're all lit.

Some very, very nice people. You can ask them questions and they are more than willing to talk about their passion, how long they've been in it, when and how did they get started. A part of life that we never knew existed. We're glad they were here at the same time us.

Hope you enjoyed this unusual blog entry. We sure did!

See you next time

Our journey so far. As of this writing, we're up in Connecticut.

steve/kim/katie

Gotta get Katie in here someplace.