now we're back down, much closer to sea level, with lots of great memories of another family summer road trip. we filled the prius up with our gear, cooler, maps, cds, journals, camera, fleeces and just a general assortment of sundries, and journeyed up to the adirondack mountains in the empire state... sing-a-longs, snacks and car bingo kept us smiling on the road... upon arival we inhaled our first few breaths of that crisp air and pitched our tent at site #161, under the stars (and right on the lake!)... the next few days and nights were filled with the usual outdoor fun — both the planned kind of fun that we like to seak out (like hiking up to mountain peaks) and the kind of fun that is more spontaneous (like creating shadow puppets on the tent wall)... all of it was savored and enjoyed. it was truly nice and felt just right to have a high altitude getaway out in the fresh air, in the woods, in a simple tent and simply be there for a while together...