May 28, 2012 Memorial Day - A day in the air!

Wow, what a fabulous weekend.  The weather was fantastic and today I crossed another item off my bucket list.  A couple of years ago, during a live auction at a charity event benefitting Family & Child Service of Schenectady, I purchased a half hour scenic helicoptor tour and today, I made good use of it and went up in a helicoptor for a tour of Lake George. 

Just a quick 50 minute ride to the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Warren County (about 10 minutes from Exit 19 off I87) in the Town of Queensbury is where we met our pilot Bruce Mowrey from North Country HeliFlite.   Of course, I had to ask Bruce how long he had been flying (just trying to do my due diligence) and he has been flying for over 15 years and has taken more than 2500 visitors on scenic flights in the region.  We started by going to south end of Lake George and working our way back.  We flew up to the top of Black Mountain, which looms 2300 feet above Lake George and where we waved to all the hikers down below.  I have added this hike to my bucket list.  Will be good to get it the view from the perspective of the hiker :) 

All in all, this was a fabulous experience and while it may be a little on the pricey side, remember that the helicopter can hold up to 3 individuals (besides the pilot) so you could share this with friends and cross it off your list as well. 

I will definitely do this again!!!  Let me know if you try it. 

P.S. - We will be auctioning another ride this year so why not come to FCSS 7th Annual Golf Ball Drop on September 14 and bid on this fabulous experience.
   

May 26, 2012 - A day of high ropes adventure

I love to explore the region and find new things to experience.  Today my friend Patty and I decided to tackle a new adventure so we headed to the new Howe Caverns High Adventure Park complete with a high ropes course and zip lining.  Howe Caverns is less than 30 miles away from Schenectady with just a quick hop on I-88 you will be there in under 1/2 hour.  Upon arrival we purchased our combination ticket that included both the high ropes course and ziplining for a cost of under $25 a person.  We decided to begin our day with the ropes course, so after getting all harnassed up in a protective backpack with a locked in rope that clips to the course as a safety measure.  The course is a multi-level course with many various levels of difficulty.  I decided to take the most difficult course and the one thing I would recommend is bringing a pair of gloves because after doing the course the 4th time, I was beginning to get blisters on my pinkies from the ropes.  We spent about 1.5 hours on the course and had a blast.

Once we finished our playtime on the course, we changed out of our protective backpacks and into a harness and it was off to our next adventure and on to the zipline.  The zipline consists of 4 separate lines encircling the course with the length of the line increasing at each level.  This doesn't take long to complete but you are able to do the entire course twice for the price of admission and the staff was very helpful and extremely friendly.  There is a lovely park complete with picnic tables so you could bring along a picnic and have a full day out with the family for the typical price of dinner and a movie.  I also think this would be a great team building exercise for a group.  With each turn around the course, our confidence level increased and at the end,we were barely using the safety teather for balance. 

If you decide to do this, I would love to hear how your day went.