at this moment you are the oldest and the youngest you'll ever be

50 only rolls around once in your life.  a casual trip up to milwaukee to celebrate with family and friends turned into a week long adventure. original plans were milwaukee for a couple of days, then home for a few days, then cedar point in ohio for two days, riding roller coasters.  three weeks before my birthday i received an email from kate's lazy meadow to come celebrate the summer of love in the catskills at special rates.  plans quickly changed.  milwaukee was still on the agenda, an overnight stay in the bend, then out to new york.  side trips added for overnight stays along the way.

milwaukee
saturday august 9: dinner with char at cheesecake factory.  i love her beyond words.  we laugh at everything.  we laugh at each other.  i can never spend enough time with her.

sunday august 10: party at mom and dads. what a blast that was.  i saw aunts and uncles i haven't seen in years.  everyone there gave me the best 50th birthday ever! thanks mom, dad, shane, scott, barb, tim, julia, michael, aunt sandy, uncle fred, aunt gail, uncle wayne, aunt sharla, uncle boots, char, and kirsi!

chicago/south bend
monday august 11:  on the way back home shane and i stopped in chicago for a couple of hours, lunch at meatheads, a delicious burger restaurant; spend too much at ikea; did some laundry; played with cats; packed for the next journey.

new york
tuesday august 12: drove all day through parts of indiana, ohio, pennsylvania, and new york.  stopped in niagara falls.  got a room at the caravan inn, which had a great neon sign, headed down to the falls, got soaked at the bottom, ate a late dinner.

wednesday august 13:  drove to the catskills in mt tremper new york, staying two nights at kate's lazy meadow on the esopus creek. (shane and i stayed at kate's lazy desert when we were out in california).  went to the town of bearsville for dinner.  afterward we walked around the grounds and encountered deer.  three males and two female, foraging.  they watched us, but kept on grazing, one male even came within twenty feet from where we were standing.  it was very cool to watch.  we drove around the area, stopped for soda and snacks, then headed back to the meadow for the evening.

thursday august 14:  went out for breakfast at a diner down the road, back to the meadow, walked along the esopus creek, where i spotted a bald eagle in a nearby tree.  it took off in flight down the creek.  very majestic.  then shane and i headed out for the town of white lake, to the site of the woodstock music and arts festival.  the drive there was very mountainous and wooded.  the woodstock site is now home to the bethel woods center for the arts, which has an ampitheater and museum about the history of woodstock.  the site where the concert was held in 1969 is still open and you can wander the grounds.  i had a moment of total contentment while laying in the grass on the site.  i completely enjoyed the grounds and the museum.  on the way back to the meadow, it started raining.  we stopped at a historical marker at the neversink reservoir.  a double rainbow formed over the reservoir, and the end was about 50 yards away from where we were parked.  it was very cool.  we went to a delicious mexican restaurant for dinner in bearsville, then walked around the town of woodstock (the festival was named for the town, but was not held there.)

pennsylvania
friday august 15th:  drove through new york, new jersey, and pennsylvania.  traffic was hellacious.  stopped in the town of somerset for the evening.  dinner at a cool little diner near the hotel we stayed at, drove to the flight 93 memorial to pay our respects, got turned away at the gates by local law enforcement, monument closes at 7pm.

home
staurday august 16th:  went to fallingwater, built by frank lloyd wright, in mill run, pennsylvania.  very cool architecture.  loved the design.  very inspired.  toured the house, wandered the grounds.  time to head for home.  i have never been to west virgina, which isn't too far from fallingwater, so we headed to the next state.  drove through west virgina, ohio, and indiana.  arrived home around 10:30pm.

it was an amazing trip, loved everything i did.  pictures to follow.