Top of the Rock

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Mets Win 10th in a Row, Tied For First

I thought the Mets played baseball...

Brant Lake Sunset

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Broken

There's this place we call "the Black Hole" about 25 minutes away from the trailer up here. I'm not sure if that's an official name or if it's just what we call it. But whatever. It's hard to describe without showing pictures but it's off to the side of a dirt road. You climb down a trail slowly and eventually reach a cliff that's about 15 or 20 feet above some water. I think it's sort of a river or a creek that runs over rocks. It's kind of like rapids, except I think too many rocks for anyone to actually take a boat or raft down over. The water is always very cold. I've been going there since I was much younger, watching my cousins and maybe my dad and Uncle Eric take the plunge. Yes, even my sister has done this a bunch of times. Last year, I finally worked up the nerve to jump, and did so only when I was sure that my cousin Kristen would take a picture of it (it's not worth doing something like this without a cool picture as a souvenir... at least that's the way I think of it).

So today, the idea of going to the Black Hole emerged and I helped push the cousins into turning this talk into action. It was the five cousins (Matt, Gretchen, Kristen, my sister Jaclyn and me) going and it was our first "unsupervised" trip there (we had 29- and 28-year-olds going and Jaclyn was the younger at 19... it's not like we're kiddies anymore). Of course all of the moms reminded us to "be careful."

Matt was the first to jump, of course. Then Jaclyn eventually went, followed by Kristen. Gretchen walked down to the water without jumping, leaving no one to take the picture for me. At least that's what I kept telling myself. Well Matt eventually came back up so I finally decided to jump. I counted to three and there I went. And Matt got me the picture. I swam around with Kristen and Gretchen for a bit while watching some of the other people (yes, there are others) jump in.

It was finally time to get out. We usually go to the left and carefully climb out over the rocks over there but it's always kind of scary because they're slippery and I can definitely envision something going wrong. So this time, we decided to go right because it looked easier and safer. Gretchen went first, then me, and Kristen was following. It was my turn to get out but I somehow slipped on this rock in the water and I guess jammed my foot in a small hole between a bunch of other rocks. Yeah, it hurt. Kristen asked if it was "stubbed-toe hurt or broken-toe hurt." I said stubbed because I had never before broken anything, but then I realized that it might actually be worse than stubbed. I still had to get out of the water though, now afraid and also unable to put weight on my right foot. Kristen and Gretchen helped me get out and I basically had to pull my way through. At this point, something felt almost numb and I still had to get out of the area and up to the road. They all helped me get out of there and it took me a long time to do that.

We stopped at Stewart's to buy medical tape and also some ice cream sundaes. It was a challenge hopping into there and embarrassing because of the other people around to watch. But we enjoyed the ice cream and then Kristen taped my two toes together and Gretchen retaped them once we got back to the trailer. I also got some medicine and the pain went away significantly.

We pretty much think my right "ring finger toe" is broken, with the "pinky" also at least bruised. Yes, it hurts and getting around is very difficult. Now I have to ask others to help get me things, just like Grandma and, to a lesser extent, Grandpa oftrn ask me to help them. It's a very weird position.

Of course the first time we go "unsupervised" to the Black Hole, someone gets hurt. And of course that someone had to be me. And of course my story is kind of wimpy... it happened while getting out, not jumping in. (We actually decided to tell my parents at first that I got into a fight with a grizzly bear to save my sister.)

Perhaps the worst part is that I'm mad at myself. I'm mad that I let this happen to myself. I don't think I ever take physical risks and was proud of the fact that I had never really seriously hurt myself, let alone break anything. And I still don't think I really took a risk today. I just slipped.

I really hope this thing heals quickly. In the meantime, I'm just going to keep on hopping and hobbling along.

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Jaclyn's Fourth of July Foods

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Boating and Stargazing up at the Lake

We left Grandma and Grandpa's house at around 10:30 Tuesday morning... Stopped at three rest stops, plus a Denny's at 3 and Glens Falls to pick up their prescriptions and stuff. So we didn't get to the trailer until a little before 7. I drove the van for about 45 minutes between two of those rest stops to let Grandpa get a quick nap in. The steering was a bit different but I got the hang of it. Grandpa and I went for a walk at around 9 and we hung out outside the Howards' for a bit. Then Grandpa went back and I told him I'd visit my friend Nick up the hill. So I checked in with Nick and decided to stay for a bit and called the trailer to let them know. That's why I was surprised that, at around 11:30, a van pulled up outside Nick's place. Grandpa was in it and was looking for me because he and Grandma were worried. Nick and I hung out until around midnight and we went to the beach to look at stars because it was nice and clear. We saw a few of those shooting stars that you're not quite sure if they were your imagination or not.

And then today at around 12:30, I went down to the beach and hung out with everyone there until a little after 7. It was a really nice day. The weather was perfect and it was just awesome. I think it was around 4:00 when Nick and I decided to take the boat out and go swimming. Justin came with us, too. We were on there for like an hour and a half. It was the first time that I was the oldest kid on the boat... I was the responsible one. I had to come back to the trailer for dinner but went back out to hang out with the kids at around 8:30. Then from around 9 until 10:30, Nick, Tyler and I took the boat out again to look at stars. I found three satellites in about 10 or 15 minutes. Then Tyler found two. And then he kept finding more, I think a total of five. So I felt like the mentor, teaching Tyler how to find those and Nick on how to find the shooting stars and they were finding a whole lot more than me. And then we did more stargazing until 11 because one of them actually has a bedtime (they're both 13, come on). So I came back to the trailer and watched some WRGB/CBS 6 News with Grandpa before convincing him to come outside with me to look at the stars. He found one satellite and we both saw the same two pretty decent shooting stars in the 50 minutes we were out there. The only thing better than seeing a shooting star is seeing one with someone else.

I'm having a ton of fun up here... and I feel like I could stargaze all night long. Tomorrow's weather might not be so nice, though...

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