Fall Camp-Hike-Fish Photo Dump

Britt Enjoying Some Autumnal Blue Hour Views at Little Pond

A couple of years back, we scored some very decent camping gear through a Burton promo. Britt decided that it was time to finally actually put it to use. She booked a campsite a the Little Pond Campground, a short drive from our house in the Catskills. We opted for one of the “primitive” sites (means that you can’t just pull up and camp next to the car) mainly because it was the only option available on the last weekend of its operating season. The campground was a good way to ease back into “real” camping. It was only a half-mile walk to the camp site from the parking lot. So it was very easy to bring a wheeled cooler, bundle of fire wood, etc.. The campground also had hot showers and flushing toilets. We didn’t take advantage of the showers, since we only stayed one night. But the plumbed bathrooms were a nice amenity.

In the morning, we broke camp, sat in the truck for 30 minutes to let a rain squall blow through, then hiked the Little Pond trail with Lola. The leaves were intense. The rest of this post is a mix of photos from camping, hiking and fishing over the course of that weekend. The handheld shots were this (for camping) or this (for fishing). The aerial shots were with a DJI Mini drone. Enjoy!Continue reading

Fall Foliage Mornings With Droney

My commute upstate from NYC took about an hour longer that usual last night. I couldn’t figure out why until Britt reminded me that there was a three day weekend for a lot of people. Separately, it is getting darn close to peak leaf peeping season in our part of the Catskills. I woke up to this on Friday morning. Wild how much it has changed even from last weekend. I feel spoiled to be right in the middle of it all!Continue reading

Autumn Running Thoughts

Action Shot of the Author Training in Upstate NY, Courtesy of B. Maschal Private Collection.

Fall marathon season is right around the corner. I planned on kind of taking it easy this year– as in, no big races after having such a great experience at last year’s NYC Marathon. Then in June or so, I was offered a bib for this year’s marathon and could not say no. Luckily, I had maintained a pretty decent baseline during the spring, so that I wasn’t starting from square one in August.

My training program started the second week of August, a thirteen week program that I made for myself. I thought it would be cool to do a thirteen weeker, since this will (knock on wood) by my 13th marathon. Similar to years prior, I’m feeling burnt out on training even though I’m only a little over half way there.Continue reading

Autumnal Views

Being in nature during these crazy times has really been a game changer. B and I are entering the third consecutive season living in the Catskills (not counting March as part of winter, even though it was still snowing a lot). Fall can be a tricky time emotionally. It is a signal that winter and cold are around the corner. But there are plenty of trade offs: wearing sweaters, enjoying a fire in the evening, all of the fall spices, football (even though my team may not play this year), and last but not least, the autumnal foliage. The changing leaves are so beautiful, even from the windows of our house. By nothing other than dumb luck, we bought a place that is literally steps from one of the best views (my very biased opinion) in the Catskills. Even though Britt and I have been insanely busy with work and are spending all of our free time working on the house, Britt convinced me to do a golden hour walk to the lookout. It was generously rewarded. Thank you, mother nature for all of your dramatic autumn glory.

This timer shot might be one my favorites of us in recent history

September 2019 Playlist

I included a couple of Ras G tracks on here, in memoriam. The rest is all what I feel to be some good sounds for the transition from summer to fall. The rock is not really ‘in your face.’ The instrumental-ish stuff is not straight ambient, but still 100% mood. Still vibing on summer, but acknowledging shorter days and colder temps lie ahead.

Harriman State Park by Moto

I brought a real camera with me last weekend for an early AM ride through Harriman State Park. It was perfect riding weather. Early morning, there was hardly any other non-motorcycle vehicular traffic (unless you count pedal bikes). Can’t wait to get back up there when the leaves are changing. I rode with my friend who also has a monster. Got some snaps similar to some from last year around this time.

Complete with obligatory timer selfie-

Denmark

I recently made it to Denmark for the first time. B subscribes to some sort of airfare deal notification email list and bought the tickets for us over the summer. We did a lot of the typical touristy stuff while we were there, and loved it. Instead of writing a full play by play download, here are a couple of highlights that we enjoyed and would recommend checking out:

Here are some photos from the trip:

Happy Autumn + September Playlist

iphonesunsetAug28

I know that autumn does not officially start until September 22. But this is Labor Day weekend, and mine actually starts today. As you can see by this crappy iPhone photo, the sun has already started to move south again. This means that kids are back in school, college FB is here again, and cooler temps are hopefully around the corner. I’ll have the pleasure of spending this holiday weekend in rural Maine (as opposed to urban Maine, hehe) for a wedding. Hoping to come home with minimal mosquito bites, and with lots of good memories.

New month= new playlist. Here is my September 2016 playlist. Safe and fun Labor Day weekend!