Early Aug. 2020

August 2020- 

Central NY, Herkimer NY and CAMP!

weekend at camp:

We spent the last weekend- first weekend in Aug, at camp. It was nice as both my two oldest children; Nick and Alexis joined us. We headed out to a local beach (Sylvan) for the day on that Saturday. 

The areas is rather touristy, but pretty slow despite this being prime summer tourist time. There is a new Casino, an amusement park (closed due to covid) and of course the beach. We did a not so good lunch in town and enjoyed the water. 

The water level here on Lake Onterio is low for a long time along the beach. 

The area we choose to sit at was right where several of the boats dock. It was very nice and the water was incredibly refreshing. 

It couldn't be a more beautiful day. 

Back at camp we enjoyed the outdoors and relaxing. Nick and I went on the golf cart with our Camping neighbor Jay, through the creepy stuffed animal forest to the 'witches cabin". (I forgot to bring my phone for pictures,) while Alexis and Jay's daughter Bailey painted rocks. I think they did a great job. 

It was a wonderful weekend. 

That Monday I went with Tammy to Herkimer, NY. We really didn't have a plan it was pretty much lets just see where we get to. The only thing I know about Herkimer is the Herkimer diamond and the Erie Canal boat tours. We'd never done the diamonds so we headed to Herkimer Diamond Mines. 

We debated between actually mining ourselves vs getting a for sure score of something with a bag we would mine in water. 

We eventually decided to do the actually mining. We were provided with a hammer and given a short video on where to mine as well as the safety guide. 

Here are some of the actual diamonds that have been found. The herkimer diamonds are very differnt from real diamonds.  (Taken from the internet)

Search Results

Featured snippet from the web

Herkimer Diamonds are beautiful double-terminated quartz crystals found in Herkimer, New York. Incredibly, these phenomenal gemstones are close to five hundred million years old. The crystals are magnificent works of nature, found in the rock, having a diamond-like geometrical shape.

We got a few tips on where to look before we got to the mines and I was feeling pretty confident that we would find something worth the $16- fee. 

Well....it's not that easy. We were told to shift through the dirt and hammer boulders that have a blackened or white areas. Its easier said then done. After shifting through the dirt I finally started to hammer away at what looked like diamond potential. There are many. 

See the blackened area with small diamond like crystals. Both Tammy and I saw several of rocks like this. What we both found was once you started hammering away at these little particles, they would fly off and disappear in the dust.  Soon I was getting tired, hot and I had a blister that quickly opened up. 

My visit recommendations; bring heavy duty gloves, eye protection and maybe even a mat to sit on. Those rocks are not comfortable. (Also have a few band aids just in case). You might want to bring a bucket to take home your rocks for later discoveries. (You can take whatever you find). I still have some unbroken potentials in my garage. 

It was so hot too and you are really working. I had decided we should have done the bag. LOL But the experience was so fun. 

We did go back and try again, this time without the hammer. It was suggested that instead of hammering to look in the dirt and under the rocks. (This would be another time gloves would have helped.) They sell gloves and goggles in the store.)

We decided to try our lock again and I actually found a very small diamond sitting on the dirt. 

It's very tiny. Well at least I found one. We did see other people who found nice sized chunks, so I do known that there are some still in there hills. Happy Hunting. 

The day was still early so we drove through the KOA campground adjacent to the Herkimer Diamond Mines. This looks like an amazing campground with the river running right next to it. What a fun time it would be to grab a tube and enjoy the lazy river. 

This tree house rental looks amazing. 

Up next we drove to a covered bridge a few miles from Hikermer in the town of Salisbury. 

Its pretty cool. 

There was a nice little trail along the side of the bridge, where we decided to hike a bit. 

It was simply lovely. 

Back towards home, I got a picture of this guy in Utica or maybe it was Rome NY. I'm not sure who he is, but I love his stance. I even googled to see if I could find him and I was not successful. 

We made our way to the beach at Delta Lake. Although we were not prepared to swim, or even had beach attire we enjoyed the calm call of the water the cool breeze and the sun on our face. 

Another wonderful days adventure.

The rest of the first week in August has been dealing with my pain in the butt pool. It  turned green over the weekend, and then when I was trying to vacuum there was a crink in the hose so every few minutes it would suck in on itself and stop vacuuming.  I ended up having to buy another hose and lost my mind getting that going...then it rained rained rained. I finally gave up as I was doing my last few days of work. I am officially done with my job. It really is bittersweet. Friday I turned in my equipment and my team had a little goodbye party for me at the park. (PS- the pool is finally the right color again.)

I'll miss the amazing people I worked with, but I really am ready to move on. 

Friday night I headed to camp to have a GIRLS CAMPING weekend. Carol came up Friday night

She got a little lost, but we enjoyed the evening once she arrived. 

Saturday; Tammy, Kelly my Daughter Alexis and her friend Amber came to camp. We had so many laughs. Jay (our camp neighbor) took us on some of the trails on his golf cart and we hung out with Becky and Charles. We simply spent the evening have fun. he camp had a band so we listened to music and hung out with camp friends til way to late at night. 

What a wonderful week.