So while everyone else in NYC was dealing with the unbearable heat (I hear it was like 100 degrees this past weekend… sheesh) I managed to escape to Saratoga Springs located in upstate New York with MK.
We spent the weekend with her friend Morgan and the rest of her family who has a house right by Lake Saratoga. The countryside, besides being beautiful, was relatively cool and definitively refreshing (the weather was hot, but we were under trees and by the water the whole time). Plus it was just nice and calm and very relaxing, which is precisely what the doctor ordered. I just had to get away from the city, with all its people and associated sounds and smells, as well as work, email, the internet, responsibilities, and headaches… MK & I have been invited to come and visit numerous times throughout the summer, but we had always postponed our trip up for assorted commitments (though truthfully, its always been for some “thing” or another in the city that I insisted on checking out, and looking back, I now feel sorta stupid for doing so).
I got to do a little of everything: drove around the farmlands, looked for geysers while hiking in the woods, went to the beach, and even went around the lake in a sail boat. Plus there was tons of delicious food in between, which we all washed down with water that was collected from the local springs. There was some time spend indoors, but it was mostly to rest up from all the activities, and it allowed MK & I to discover yet another awesome show from the UK called Little Britain, which was having a marathon on BBC America (plus we saw the Office Special and North By Northwest on TCM, which I hadn’t seen in years… I forgot how damn good it was). I seriously considered Morgan’s suggestion of taking the whole week off from work to spend the time there instead.
The drive back home last night was pretty crazy; the massive thunderstorm started just as we were on the road, about 100 miles north of NYC. It was like a scene out of the movies; massive dark clouds out of nowhere, a thick sheet of water on a stretch of road in the middle of wilderness. A bolt of lightning managed to take out the power of the toll that we just exited! It took about three hours to get to MK’s place to drop off clothes and get directions to Robin’s new apartment (the plan was to swing my so MK could get her paper cutter back and then head to my place for the night) but once we on the road again we heard the traffic report, with all the calamity that was ensuing on every which way into and throughout NYC (backed-up traffic, flash floods, and cars exploding galore), and figured it might be best to turn around (though we did swing by grocery store to get some bare necessities, like ice cream bars). So we just spent the rest of night at MK’s house; while she took care of business related to her website while I watched a DVD on backyard wrestling that Robin had passed along.
Two additional quick bits: Katie sent me her sample pages for the anthology last night, and they were just about the funniest, most amazing, and cutest things ever! MK & I couldn’t stop laughing for a solid five minutes. Already the project is off to a terrific start.
I also got a call yesterday afternoon from Jason, which I unfortunately missed, telling me that he’s now a proud father! His wife Christina gave birth yesterday, and I’ve been unable to return the call and pass along congratulates (and find out of if its a boy or a girl) due to the fact that my cell is completely dead (it shorted out right in the middle of hearing the number to the hospital) and my charger is home. So if you’re reading this Jason, which I highly doubt since I would assume you have much better things to right about now, congrats!!!
UPDATE: It’s a girl!
