The ***OFFICIAL*** Weekend Singles' Thread -- (June 23rd to 25th)

FreeRepublic | June 23, 2006 | Victoria Delsoul & Alberta's Child

[Alberta's Child]

As June draws to a close and we enjoy the first weekend of the Summer of 2006, let's go back and remember some of the marvelous places we've been in summers past -- especially those times from yesteryear that still evoke fond memories of sights, sounds, and smells from places all across this great land of ours.

Hope you can all find time to post some wonderful stories, photos, and music here on this weekend's thread! Victoria Delsoul and I will be serving as your hosts this weekend. Check out the descriptions and photos below from a few of my favorite corners of the world -- some beautiful places from the great American outdoors.

And thank God for summertime!

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Adirondack Mountains (upstate New York)

The Adirondack Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountain chain in the eastern United States, covering a large region in upstate New York bordered by Lake Ontario on the west, Lake Champlain and the Hudson River valley on the east, and the Mohawk River valley to the south. Much of this region is currently incorporated in Adirondack Park, an area covering more than six million acres -- the largest state park in the U.S. outside Alaska, and larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. The park is unique in the U.S. in that it was originally created in 1892 through an act of the New York legislature, but was forever etched into the character of the state at the 1894 Constitutional Convention when the protection of the park was written into the new state constitution.

The park is dominated by dense forests, numerous lakes, and rugged mountain terrain -- particularly in its northernmost reaches in Essex County in an area known as the High Peaks region. The High Peaks are home to the tallest mountains in the Adirondacks, including Mount Marcy -- whose peak is the highest elevation in the state of New York at 5,344 feet. Three thousand lakes dot the landscape of the Adirondacks, and 36,000 miles of rivers and streams drain the region encompassed by the park boundaries.

One of the most popular destinations in the Adirondacks is the mountain resort village of Lake Placid, which hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and is currently the site of several U.S. Olympic training facilities. The village still retains much of its Olympic aura from 1980. The arena where the U.S. hockey team won the gold medal in its magical, improbable ten-day run still stands in the center of town, along with the outdoor speedskating oval where Eric Heiden won an unprecedented (and never equaled) five gold medals in a single Winter Olympics. The surrounding mountain terrain is home not only to Mount Marcy, but also the Olympic venues at Whiteface Mountain (alpine skiing) and Mount Van Hoevenberg (Nordic skiing). The pleasant summer climate makes for an ideal summer vacation, and the region’s elevation and location downwind of the Great Lakes provides heavy snowfall that has made it one of the top ski resorts in the eastern U.S.

Whiteface Mountain

Winter in the Adirondacks

Lake Placid Village

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (northern Minnesota)

Located within Lake Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is a heavily forested region along the Canadian border. The wilderness covers more than one million acres and has 1,200 miles of canoe routes among its hundreds of lakes, rivers and streams. As with most of the designated wilderness areas managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the area can only be entered with a Forest Service permit and is governed by very stringent regulations that prohibit all motorized vehicle access and limit the impact of visitors on the pristine wilderness through restrictions on the type of camping equipment that can be brought into the area (no plastic or glass containers, for example).

The BWCA is one part of a larger region of protected public lands along the Minnesota-Ontario border, including Voyageurs National Park to the west and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario to the north. This region, which stretches from International Falls in the west to the shore of Lake Superior in the east, covers almost half the length of Minnesota’s northern border and is often referred to in general as the Quetico-Superior region, or simply the Boundary Waters. The area is separated into two parts by the Laurentian Divide, which marks the border between the watersheds of the Atlantic (via the Great Lakes) and Arctic (via Hudson Bay) Oceans and is one of the defining geological features of North America. The famous Iron Range -- which is actually three distinct ridges that run across northern Minnesota in an east-west direction -- is often defined as the southern border of the Boundary Waters region. Summers in this area are usually pleasant, but the winters are often brutally cold. Towns like International Falls, Crane Lake, Tower, Ely, Embarrass, Babbitt and Isabella -- which lie along the southern edge of the Boundary Waters -- are usually among the coldest places in the lower 48 states in the winter months.

A typical foray into the Boundary Waters can be arranged through one of the many outfitters in these small towns along its perimeter, where a visitor can buy or rent just about anything one would need on a trip lasting anywhere from two days to two months. Canoes are the most popular means of travel, though backcountry hiking is also common. The summer months are busiest for these outfitters, but many of them operate throughout the year by outfitting snowshoe treks and even dogsled expeditions in the vast frozen wilderness during the winter. Visitors to this great wilderness can be sure to find plenty of the peaceful stillness that is typical of the North Country. Summer days are usually mild and nights can be cool. The lakes tend to be somewhat rougher in the daytime, but a long day of paddling is almost always rewarded in the evening by some of the most beautiful natural features in North America: calm, mirror-like lakes, the occasional howl of a wolf, and one of the most magnificent sounds of the natural world . . . the eerie, haunting cries and yodels of the common loon in the gathering dusk.

End of the Day

Twilight on the Lake

The Cry of the Loon

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Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (Idaho/Montana)

The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness is one of several large protected areas that straddle the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border. At a size of about 1.3 million acres, the Selway-Bitterroot is one of the largest designated wilderness areas in the U.S. It includes parts of the Bitterroot, Clearwater, Nez Perce and Lolo National Forests, and is bordered to the south by the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness Area. The total size of the protected regions in this area of the Rocky Mountains exceeds five million acres.

The Bitterroot Range is part of a curious anomaly in American geography and history. The border between Idaho and Montana was originally defined as the length of the Continental Divide (which separates the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds in North America) through this area. However, early surveyors tasked with laying out this border mistakenly believed that the Divide was marked by the ridges and peaks of the Bitterroots. The Divide actually follows the Flathead and Anaconda Ranges further to the east. So the large section of western Montana that lies east of the Bitterroot Range and includes the small cities of Kalispell and Missoula should have been part of Idaho!

Perhaps this mistake by these surveyors is understandable, for the Bitterroots are often described as one of the more inhospitable mountain ranges in the U.S. outside of Alaska. Lewis and Clark made note of the difficulties they had crossing these mountains, and today they are marked by barren rock walls that drop from the jagged peaks to the pine forests in the valleys below. The headwaters of the Clearwater River are located in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, where it flows from the confluence of the Selway and Lochsa Rivers westward to the Snake River near Lewiston, Idaho. The Wilderness is home to large herds of elk and plenty of bighorn sheep, and is one of the areas where packs of the grey wolf are being reintroduced to the wilds of the West.

Sunrise in the Bitterroots

Trapper Peak

The Selway River

[GOP_Raider]

In a typical 81-game home schedule for the Mariners, how many times is it open?

I'm not entirely sure about that, since this was my first trip up there and I was cheering on the visiting team. :) Talking to a few of the Mariner fans who go to games there on a regular basis, they've been to maybe 3 games where the roof has been closed, and those games were early season (read: April) games.

[darkangel82]

The roof being closed makes sense; April in Seattle is probably colder than April in Cleveland.

[WFTR]

I've generally avoided taking my primary vacations in the summer months. I don't like the crowding that's associated with trying to see things during the months when parents and kids are swarming over most tourist attractions or outdoor venues. My only summer vacation usually involves a trip to see my parents when I have a day or two off for the Fourth of July.

Most of my fond memories of summer are memories of being around a college during the summer. In 1982, my co-op job evaporated before I could find another, so I spent the summer after my freshman year at Virginia Tech trying to get ahead on some classwork. I took six hours each session which is equivalent to a 12-hour load during the normal quarters. That load is light, but it made for a great summer. I ended up with 12 hours of straight A's to boost my QCA (what they called a GPA). I played softball on a church team once or twice a week. I went caving with the Virginia Tech Cave Club during six of the eight weekends that I was there. I was in a Bible study and never missed a week. I lived with a friend during the first half of the summer, but he went to Germany later in the summer. I ended up having the place to myself for a month. It was my first experience of living alone. All in all, it was a great summer.

Another summer I remember was spent at Penn State in 1987 as a grad student. With most of the students gone, State College was a quieter, simpler place to be. I was able to work on my research and take a class or two. I was active in various outdoor things and with a church group. I didn't have air conditioning in my apartment, and we had a short stretch of hot weather. At that time in my life, I'd never experienced summers in Oklahoma, Houston, or Louisiana, so I hadn't really experienced hot summers. During this little stretch, they were also having an arts festival, so some roads in town were closed to traffic. I remember taping flashlights to my bicycle to make it night-legal and riding maybe a mile into town and then riding around the arts festival. The festival itself wasn't that great, but the night was cooler than the day had been. Riding my bike at even a slow, safe speed created enough breeze to feel very good. Later, I road around some subdivisions just to continue the cool feeling. Riding at night gave the impression of speed because visibility was reduced.

After working in industry for a while, I returned to college and got a second master's degree. At Tennessee Tech, they had all kinds of camps throughout the summer. Bands and cheerleaders were always playing or shouting somewhere. The setup of the buildings and landscaping was such that I'd often not see them even when I was very close. I could hear playing or shouting nearby, but I couldn't see exactly where they were.

Bill

[WFTR]

I used to take trips to Anacortes, Washington to do support for one of the refineries there. (Anacortes is north of Seattle.) The folks there say that June, July, and August, particularly July and August, tend not to be that rainy. They get those two months of gorgeous weather and very, very long days. Everyone takes full advantage of that time to get outside and enjoy all that there is to enjoy up there.

Bill

[Nihil Obstat]

thank you for these songs!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Check out 'On the Beach'

I know. One of my favorite ones is Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

[Victoria Delsoul]

She has a very nice voice.

[Victoria Delsoul]

My pleasure. Glad you liked them.

[Alberta's Child]

it rains 900 days a year in seattle...

LOL.

[HitmanLV]

Victoria,

Welcome to the weekend and thanks for the ping! Wow, you outdid yourself with the playlist this weekend! WOWOW! Fantastic design and a nice collection of songs!

I'll start sampling some of the great music you posted! Thanks so much for your contributions!

[scott7278]

Thanks for the music!

[Victoria Delsoul]

You're welcome. I got a nice collection of songs.

How are you doing, Vinnie?

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hiya Scott. Long time no see. How are ya?

[HitmanLV]

Yes music is a great interest.

I was a bit under the weather this week, with a cough and some achiness. I postponed my trip to nyc to see family, in fact, but I am feeling a lot better now. I was never bedridden or anything, but I wasn't 100% either.

I'm glad I postponed the trip. I hate that flight when I am healthy, I wouldn't like it much if I was coughing and achy!

[pcottraux]

Hey, look at this new zot graphic I tooled together:

[Army Air Corps]

You da woman! There are some wonderful selections on that playlist.

[scott7278]

I'm doing pretty well -- I'm getting ready to take a little nap before heading into work but thought I'd drop in for a little bit.

[darkangel82]

Lol, did that come from a zot thread, or did you Photoshop it?

[Victoria Delsoul]

I hate that flight when I am healthy,

I didn't know if you meant... when you are NOT healthy or when you are healthy... I wasn't sure. OK, so you hate traveling.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hey AAC!!! Where have you been?

Good to see ya.