Minnewaska

Hello all!

This go 'round we thought we would show you a little of the nearest state park to Wallkill.  Minnewaska State Park.  It is in the Shawangunk Mountains which is the beautiful backdrop of Bethel.  See:

Two other couples (who are also on 6 month assignments here) and we have been planning a Sunday afternoon excursion for about a month.  So last Sunday we snuck over to the park and enjoyed nature.

 You may recognized Ryan and Abbi -on the right- who have been with us on the tile crew.  Abbi got switched over to laminate with me too.  The other couple are Brian and Keri. Keri and I share a locker area.  But they work in carpentry and Brian also works in the Handyman dept. {yes, seriously, there is a handyman dept. They are the dept to replace lightbulbs, install bike racks stuff like that}. 

So we hiked down the mountain to Awosting Falls and four of us braved the insanely frigid water to swim right up to the waterfall.  It took a good 20 minutes to work our way neck deep because, I mean, IT WAS COLD! Anyway, here is the documentation to prove it:

 
In the bottom shot we are standing on a huge boulder under the water.  Can you see us waving?

As soon as we got back on the trail  we happened to notice a small, brown, discreet sign that says you are not supposed to go swimming. [sigh]. We didn't intend to break any rules and there were a dozen people in the water when we went in so we aren't really feeling too guilty about it all.  But we were glad we were out of the water when the ranger people came down the trail to yell at everyone to get out of the water!


We then hiked back up the mountain and walked all around the lake at the top.  It was a perfect 80 degree day with soft clouds and bright sun and the lake was so restful.

 

 

Except for the swimming area.  That didn't put us at ease AT ALL!  (wasn't it good we didn't wait to swim until we came to the lake!) 

This overlook may look a little familiar if you have seen our new full length video released at the convention.  We believe this is the exact spot where the family are all together videoing the sunset to share with their friends who had moved where the need was great.  What do you think?  {P.S. Bethel is just a little to the right of this photo down in the valley.}

 After the rigors of the hike we were quite happy to grill some brats and chow down while we chilled out.  Yes, it was just what we needed. :)  Hope you all are finding little spaces of time to enjoy the summer too.