Monday, 06 July 2009
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weekend recap
Wow, back to reality.
Weekend was quite busy, but was fun overall. Friday into Saturday, I got to spend time relaxing with my fellows, and went to Mohonk Reserve.... located around New Paltz/Poughkeepsie area in upstate NY. It was a historical town (lots of streets look like Maine/Boston). Thank God for the beautiful weather (despite the little stormy weather that we rec'd an hour before dinner time on Friday night). We didn't actually do a "hike" since we got lost along the way .... though we did hike the "kiddie" trail (lasted 45 minutes, maybe an hour since we made stops to take photos and have lunch at the tower). The Mohonk Mountain house hotel is a real 'grungy' looking hotel overlooking Lake Mohonk and the Hudson River.... there were quite a lot of visitors/guests inside the hotel. We hung out around the bend and inside the garden areas.... before the storm rolled in. From the exterior, it looked like a dark haunted house. From afar, it looked like some ancient Chinese teahouse - as one had put it. Though the natural landscape threw all of us away as we were shooting photographs & enjoying the light summer breeze along Lake Mohonk.
Afterward, we went to check in to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) first before heading to dinner. Went to dinner at a restaurant called River Station in Poughkeepsie. As I said, I did quick research on this restaurant under limited time (with no guarantees whether the food was good or not). My fellows seemed to enjoyed their dinner meals.... it's a American style steak & seafood restaurant. Service and business was pretty good compared to the other restaurants next door. Quite lively as our party sat outdoors on the deck overlooking the Hudson River. We were trying to decipher the building across the street from the restaurant -- but one of our members guessed it right (you have to see for yourself). After dinner, we went to Super Walmart to shop ourselves for bargains before we headed back to the hotel for the night. Rested and slept .... even though I didn't sleep on the king size bed, the rollout sofa bed was OK (a little lumpy in the middle, but better than the bed from Tuscarora). It was OK since I shared a room with my driver, and she should have the comfortable bed next to my chairlady.
Am I good or what??? Hee hee....Next day (Saturday), July 4th - we thought we would head out to FDR's home residence/garden; however, the roads were closed due to the impending July 4th parade in the town. We all left Poughkeepsie, and headed for Woodbury Commons for some shopping. Quite amusing as we try to go through crowds of people shopping for deals. From our weekend getaway, we learned that we are a group of fellows who (a) love shopping for bargains, (b) love to travel different places and (c) need a good laugh or punchline to get our minds flowing (and that's all besides for our love for God & trying to serve harmoniously). It was quite insightful that we came up with this list since we hope to co-serve within the fellowship.
We later all met up & ate lunch at Applebees instead of the Food Court since it was crowded. Enjoyed a get-together before we headed back to more shopping and back to the city. After shopping/walking around the malls, we left Woodbury at 6pm. Funny, since one of my co-workers left Woodbury with (5) pairs of shoes -- different I tell you (and it must have been a record). We went to Timberland, and four of us (including yours truly) were wearing the same sandals. It was unbelievably a deal since sandals were $15 (and we met the limit to get an additional 10% off our sale). Are we not bargain shoppers??? No one can doubt us.
We all returned home separately without any signs of traffic or hysteria with road closures (since we avoided all points along the West Side Highway and Holland Tunnel --- where the Macy's 4th of July fireworks were displayed). Returned at around 7:30pm to Queens, and had to take care of home matters (i.e., wrapping wedding gift/gathering stuff/putting away stuff/changed the window trimmings in my living room windows).
Sunday 7/5: went to second Chinese service then hung out with some of my sister posse (and brothers) for lunch, hung out with some other fellows afterwards before heading to the wedding reception at my church for a friend. The wedding was delayed (of course), but we stayed and took photos together. Saw some people whom I've less contacted (possibly some whom I didn't really want to deal with -- but that was OK).... wedding was pleasant overall due to the nice sunny weather. Returned back to my mom's apt for the night since it was getting late...... and still trying to gain some peace deciphering this whole weekend experience.
Now, back to reality.... and already some of us fellows are ready to plan our next getaway next year (2010). It was so funny since one of our fellows was attracting us with his full photo portfolio to Banff, Canadian Rocky Mtns (near the Alberta area). They've already put me in charge of compiling information, and doing some of the year's research. Wow!
I couldn't believe I was drafted (but it did seem quite attractive). I couldn't believe how clear and crisp the water was from those photographs.... and how amazing those glaciers look in the distant background. Really amazing and attractive indeed. I guess it is something I'm looking forward to since I don't know if I will be going away for the remainder of this year (except any one day hikes or weekend getaways or even the fellowship picnic pending). Guess I've unraveled quite a lot here. I hope no one missed my entries since I didn't have internet access for the past three days or thereabouts
. Collecting & gathering my thoughts really took some time as I wanted to rant on some points (and some of my thoughts were jotted down on a piece of scrap paper). Though I'm glad to just getaway & hope to head out for more in the upcoming weeks ahead. It's summer!Getting back to all the unattended stuff on my office desktop; so, I will ramble later. Peace!
Photos following & pending....
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