Scenic Shenandoah

Here are some photographs from Turtle's inaugural camping adventure last weekend in Shenandoah National Park.

Turtle the Tent

A few weeks ago Ly and Alan bought a new tent due to their previous camping experience.

Alan loves Turtle the Tent. There are numerous reasons for this love - durability, ease of assembly, size, etc. Ly, however, likes Turtle because he kept her very dry during a massive thunder & lightening storm this past weekend. While nearby campers scrambled to pack up their tents and sleep in their cars, Ly comfortably hung out in the tent reading her book.

So it looks like Turtle is a keeper...and there is more camping in the Lee's future.

Hop E. Lee

Recently Ly has become rather obsessed with Canadian Geese. Alan thinks it is because they live close. About a week or so ago while Ly was driving to work she stumbled upon a nesting area of the Canadian geese. Ly was excited because there were a bunch of baby geese walking around. There were 2 families. One with little geese and one with slightly larger geese. Ly and Alan spent awhile watching the geese and then Ly discovered Hop.


It was love at first sight. Hop is a baby goose who has a messed up leg. It seems as if it is a birth defect and he always hangs back from his family and then hops to catch up to them. Luckily he is a good eater and isn't the smallest of the bunch. Ly consulted with her resident animal guru and he told her that Hop should be okay and be able to fly one day.

Ly desperately wants to keep Hop, but she doesn't want to deprive him of being with his family and she really does not have a place for him to live. So Ly has settled with visiting Hop once a day to check up on him...and so far he's doing splendidly. =)

A sweet weekend

This past weekend Ly and Alan went to Hershey, PA. Ly was excited because her dad had told her numerous stories about a magical place he went to as a kid known as Hershey. Apparently this is the chocolate capital of the world - the smell of chocolate drifts down the streets, you can hear kids laugh and scream on roller coasters at Hershey Park and even the lamp posts are giant Hershey kisses.

The other (and perhaps more important reason) why Ly was excited for her weekend away was so she could visit with her good friends Scott and Nancy. They are expecting their first child - a little girl - next month so Ly wanted to go see them before she was born - and also so she could see how cute Nancy looks as a pregnant lady in person =)

The weekend was everything the Lee's envisioned and more. They embarked on the Great American Sweet Tour of 2009. First stop - breakfast at a fancy donut shop. Ly doesn't even like donuts but she had an awesome time making her own donut. It was tons of fun -- Ly had one with mint frosting and Oreo cookies while Alan had one with peanut butter frosting and peanut butter cups. They were more of a dessert than a breakfast meal.

Second stop - Chocolate World, aka the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Ly was very excited to visit the chocolate factory. Imagine her surprise when instead of going into an actual working factory she got on a ride that explained the chocolate making process. It was still fun though and she even got a free sample of chocolate after the ride was over. And in true disney fashion, the ride ended in the middle of what has to be the largest chocolate store in the history of choclate stores. After much debate, Ly decided to buy some cinnamon chips for use in the infamous oatmeal cookies.

Still wanting to tour a chocolate factory, Ly and Alan continued with Scott and Nancy to the 3rd stop of the Great American Chocolate Tour of 2009: Wilbur Chocolate. This chocolate is very creamy and excellent. While there was no factory tour, there was a chocolate musuem and a significantly smaller (yet equally tasty) store.

Stuffed full of chocolate, Ly and Alan followed Nancy's (or maybe the baby's) lead and went to Five Guys for lunch (or dinner in Ly's case). After this they made a quick stop to Amish county to visit a few farmers markets and then drove back to Hershey.

All in all the weekend was relaxing and just what the Lees needed.

"Camping" on the Outer Banks

This past weekend the Lee family journeyed to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Ly was excited for the following reasons:

1. She had never been to North Carolina and would finally get to check it off her list.
2. She discovered an Alligator Refuge which promised visitors alligators, bears, deer and other wild animals.
3. The Outer Banks = a beach. Ly loves the beach.

Alan was excited for the following reason:

1. He convinced Ly to camp (yes, in a tent) on the beach for the weekend.

This was by far the worst/most adventurous camping trip ever.

Exhibit 1: Weather. It was very warm and sunny most of the time. There were the occasional torrential rain storms and 30 mph winds. These lovely winds were so strong they tore our lovely tent limb from limb - and ripped open the zipper beyond repair (and believe you me - the Lees spent quite a long time trying to repair that dang zipper)

Exhibit 2: Due to subsequent lack of a tent the Lees were forced to "camp" in Ly's car. Good thing Panda came through. And now the Lees need to go buy a new tent.

Exhibit 3: Alligator Refuge. Let's just say that there were zero alligators, bears or any other four legged creature. There were, however, tons of bugs and the Lees have the bites to prove it.

Exhibit 4: The Outer Banks beach is nothing like a sunny California beach. The sand isn't soft - rather when the wind blew the sand felt like a sandblaster against the skin - and there weren't really any places to hang out to enjoy the waves.

Despite the negative aspects of the trip the Lees discovered beautiful Kayaking paths, a few lighthouses, ate an awesome pancake breakfast, and drove along part of the infamous highway 12.

At least now Ly has been to North Carolina.

Snapshots of Spring

After much searching, the Lee family finally found spring....in Pennsylvania nonetheless!