Destination Reached. I Made it to the Mountains.

Left at 8:25 a.m. (after a quick tire fill - big thanks to my husband for following me to the gas station and filling them up). 225 miles. 3 and 1/2 hours. Destination reached.

Since it is Sunday and I missed church, I took it upon myself to conduct my own worship service right there in the front seat.  It consisted of shuffling through my ipod a grand assortment of MercyMe (of course), Matthew West, Matt Redman, Nicole Nordeman and more.  I sang to God all the thanks that was in my heart.  I listen to music loud you might remember.

So I especially loved the freedom of singing as loud as I wanted to without comments from the peanut gallery. I didn't have to hear the things I usally do, "You're not on key. Nowhere near the notes. Please, don't whistle along. Don't quit your day job. Kinda pitchy, dawg." And my personal favorite, "You're weird, man".  I think God liked it.  Especially when 'our song' came on.  God and I have a song.  It's named Here With Me. It makes me happy everytime I hear it.

Now, before I go any further, I want to assure you that I packed everything I need for my week away.

Laptop.  Check.  So I can blog. Ally was not happy with this decision.  Sorry girl!

My bag of Bible, journal, notebooks, etc.  Notice the plastic bag to keep them safe at the beach.

Shoes.  Just a few pairs.  You simply don't know what you're going to need for a whole week in the mountains. You must come prepared.

My stack of books to read. A little ambitious?  We'll see. 

A charged ipod.  And my rechargeable book light.  What if I can't sleep?  I have roommates.  Can't turn on the room light. Once a nerd, always a nerd.

Packed full.  I don't think I forgot anything. I could stay a 2nd week if necessary.

OOOps, don't forget the fan!

 As promised, I left a to-do list for the ones I left behind.  Reasonable, I think.  I wouldn't want them to get bored and watch tv.  Unacceptable!



Don't feel too badly for them.  I did make cookies before I left.  Well, ok, Ally made them, but I stood there teaching her how.  And I bought oreos!  Doesn't happen all the time, folks.  Double stuff.

 Now, back to the road trip.  I don't think I was gone one hour before I got this text.
Fresh guilt for a new day!

As I chugged along, Rte. 87 I came upon my favorite sign in NY State.  I know what you're thinking.  I stopped the car.  Probably not real safe as huge trucks whizzed by but it's got to be better than taking it while driving, right?

 And before I knew it, I had arrived at destination #1.  Gotta see my boy first thing. Here I am at the dock looking over onto the island.  So beautiful. Glad I had a few minutes to just take it in.  Worth the drive.

He wasn't sure if he could be at the boat dock because he might be in church.  Turns out he couldn't make it so because he knows gift giving is my love language, he left me this package.  That's  my Benny.  So thoughtful.

 I went to the laundromat and took care of that little project, delivered them to his cabin and sat down in an Adirondack chair with a book and waited for him.  I saw him first and he didn't see me (guess he expected me to still be folding laundry), so I whistled my "Come here, Mommy's calling" whistle.  It worked.  How I love that face.

 Spent a couple of hours with him then headed to the Campground to meet my friends. Here are 3 of us at the cute place we went for burgers and milkshakes.  Appropriately named The Main Street Ice Cream Parlor.  A good dinner. Kind of fattening.

And that's the end of the first day.  Amen.