Whew. I’m still feeling a little bit of lag de jet from Wednesday’s flight (we returned late at night from a week of visiting family in upstate New York). It was a great vacation, all told — lots of quality grandparent and aunt/uncle time for the boys, and for us as well. Alas, with our usual flair for timing, the week we chose to travel just happened to coincide with record-breaking East Coast heat, which was accompanied by serious East Coast humidity. Surviving this lethal combination gives us major bragging rights back here in California. (Easterners: let it be noted that you are WAY tougher than we are, both in winter AND in summer.)
Heat aside, there were some pretty terrific memories made on the trip. For one thing, we had a boat ride and many swims in Otsego Lake, seen below.
It’s amazingly relaxing, this lake. I love it. It was fun to have three generations of Moyers all splashing around together and hanging out by the water’s edge.
For a gal like me, who has lived all her life in suburban or urban settings, it is a real novelty to be in a place that is so rural. And every time I’m back east, I can’t get over how green everything is.  Here, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the hills are only green in winter and early spring, and then they turn gold. In New York, the color is so intense and beautiful. And I never grew up around deciduous forests, so those also give me a thrill. English teacher nerd that I am, they always make me think of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter, having their clandestine meeting in the woods. (“Verily, let us ditch this soul-killing Puritan society!”)  Really, when you see those dense green forests, you can understand why so many authors and fairytale writers over the centuries have used the woods to symbolize the subconscious desires that have no place in civilized society.  But I digress.
Another great thing about visiting family: very willing babysitters, so Scott and I can go out on a date. We went to a restaurant right on the water, and I got a drink that looked like this. (It’s the kind of drink that says, “I don’t have to microwave chicken dinos tonight.”)
On the less-fluorescent end of the spectrum, there were beautiful pastel flowers growing wild along my in-laws’ home.
Picking them was so much fun. That may sound weird, but I grew up in the Silicon Valley suburbs, where I had far more experience with landscaped median strips than with wildflowers. I felt like Anne of Green Gables or Betsy Ray out there, with my little bouqet in hand. It was great.
All in all, it was a memorable trip to a beautiful place with lots of very special people. We are very blessed in the family that we have, and though we don’t get to see them often enough, the times that we do have with them are memories in the bank: good experiences to be saved and treasured, and pulled out whenever we need them. Really, that’s the best kind of wealth there is.
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