Overdue Update: the synopsis of the June mini-holidays

It has been well over a month since I last published.  A lot has happened in that time, and the time somehow managed to fly by.
Highlights from June include:

1) Long weekend in NYC with my very dear friend Lucy B and 5 German tourists (I feel the name of a band coming on... And no, they were not all random German tourists, we knew one of them before hand.)

2) Long weekend of "camping" in the woods near Pittsburgh with my dear friends Megan and Ron (the quotes are because they take this trip every year and Ron has tricked out their campsite with potable, filtered, running cold and hot water. Yes, there is a tarp shower stall in camp.)

3) Long weekend in Las Vegas for the wedding of one of Warren's very good friends, and

4) Birthday weekend in Vegas (we killed two birds with one stone that weekend)!!!!

Plus, there was fourth of July, though neither Warren nor I got a long weekend for that (we both had to work Friday and Saturday afterward).  We did however, get to watch the Bloomsburg fireworks show. The display was punctuated by the dancing fireflies in the yard we were sitting in (I'll have to gush about those later.)

Last Sunday we took a rare full day off and decided to check out some of what Pennsylvania's outdoor recreation has to offer.  We went to a state park called Rickett's Glenn to hike the famous water fall trails. The park is heavily wooded/forested and located at the tallest point in PA, over 2400ft!  The creek that runs down the hill (mountain really) has been dammed up toward the top and a reservoir has been created.  There are canoes, kayaks and a beach, plus a snack shack with plenty of fried food and ice cream.  The park also features camp sites and cabins for rent.  We however did not know any of that before going, we just wanted to check out the water falls. And check them out we did, along with a lot of other people.  This put a damper on the tranquility of the place.  Fortunately, we were too sweaty and hot from the sheer humidity of the climate that we wouldn't have been able to take in the tranquility of the place anyway.  Despite our glistening discomfort, we enjoyed the hike.  And by the end, we were very grateful to know that we could purchase an ice cream to help cool us down a bit.

This coming weekend we are planning to go kayaking with our friends Luiz and Joanne (Luiz is the general surgery resident I've mentioned; Joanne is his wife, she and I get along very well.)  They're a great couple and I am so glad we've met them.  There is a company out here called Canoe Susquehanna and they offer private guided trips of the river as well as planned group events.  We'll be participating in one of the planned group events.  It should be fun!

Enough with the words, on to the pictures!!

Me and Lucy at dinner.  This restaurant/bar turned out to be very nice, we even became "regulars" for the few nights we were in town.  Though we have a sneaking suspicion we may have eaten pigeon being passed off as chicken (Lucy's suspicion more so than mine.)

We took a helicopter tour of Manhattan

The WTC memorial as seen from the air

Weekend of camping.  Photography was not high on my priority list.  As such, I only have a few pics, more so to get a feel of things than to capture any one thing in great detail.  Soooo, this is not a great example, but the white tents in the background are Megan and Ron's campsite.

VEGAS!  The night of Jarret and Marisa's wedding, the groomsman all wore black suits and purple ties, and it was hot at night easily in the upper 90's (I was overheating in a sleeveless dress)

Birthday dinner at Nobu (in Caesar's Palace)

There are 22 waterfalls at Rickett's Glenn, they are all named.  I don't know what the name of this one is (cause I didn't bother to remember it...)  But it's a high/tall water fall (see the person in the lower right corner for reference)

Another named, yet unknown name, water fall

This one has a large tree that fell into it.

It's very green here 

(and have I mentioned the humidity? Shvitzing, it's the story of my life right now!)

And to wrap things up, here are a few pictures of the cutest kids in the world (though perhaps I'm biased... then again, maybe not) enjoying Tastykake chocolate cupcakes all the way from PA to CO.

Sage (well posed for the camera little man) and Willow (I hope she gets her last bite in before it's smashed)

Daddy and Brooke (she is super excited!)