The liberation of liberty

Now for the wedding and new york sticks recap. We picked up Catherine from the airport - we already had Nicole, and then got our car off a man who sounded like the spawn of darth Vadar. We then proceeded to try and figure out this whole right hand drive thing. Alex drove because in all honesty I'm a wimp and far better at giving completely wrong directions so that we can be driving around mental Highways at rush hour for longer than needed.

We stopped off mid way at 10pm at a cute little diner and had our very first proper American hospitality, she was lovely and served me a steak roughly the size of four dinner plates ( if we forget about the weird congealed gravy it was amazing). Upon being offered an enormous amount of sweet pie options that would make Bill Bryson proud, I settled on a cherry pie that is tart enough to make half your face look like you've had a stroke. It was perfect... I love diners now. Poor Alex always gets stuck with fun free nachos at diners though, it must be hard being a glutard...

We arrived in the sticks, aka Lake Huntington at midnight and crossed our paddock to our cabin before promptly passing out.

The next day I got up early and went for a walk in the woods, if you ever need a setting for a horror movie go to this place. I emerged from the woods in my city slicker gear ( you know, high pony tail, tight pants and a shirt just waiting to be stabbed ) into a field with burnt out old mansions with a collection of lived in trailers dotted around. As a few rural folk pulled back their curtains to follow my progress I felt pretty sure I was about to become the local restaurants next batch of bacon. I finally made it past the row of signs letting me know I was likely to be shot for tresspassing, passed the final haunted mansion that came equipped with prehistoric buggy and got onto the lake road.

It was an amazing lake, I can image spending days soaking in the sun, cooling off in clear weathers over summer. I would go back just for that alone.

I continued on my way along the road, followed by a flock of chickens from the local property I had just trespassed on, jumping into the ditch every time a good ol fashioned pick up truck roared past me, I was a bit disappointed to see a complete lack of men named Cletus carrying pitch forks sitting on the tray.

Down the road from was a bakery in the local synagog, it was a weird set up where you just wander into the baking area, pick what you want and tell them how much you owe. The food was amazing and the old guy with the long white ponytail made it taste even better due to the novelty.

I spent the days with the girls at bridal showers, eating as much lobster as I could stuff in my gob. Chey's aunts husband is a lobster catcher and they bought down 25 live lobsters for us to feast on. She took a liking to me and started slipping me extra lobster rolls, she now has a friend for life... I swear I'm part Labrador the amount I think about food!

For the wedding itself, it was a beautiful set up, similar to what Alex and I had planned for our marquee, Chey wore her grandmothers veil and dress. I don't think I've ever seen here more demure, she was radiant and so happy. Her husband seems a nice guy, he better be good enough for her! I warned him that if he was a dick I knew where he lived and I would jandal slap him... The reception was great for me, Alex spent about 3 hours slogging away at the BBQ with 2 other guys named Alex, Chey and her hubby thought it was hilarity to have three matching guys working the BBQ. So I spent the reception eating about ten thousand lobster rolls, half a dozen ribs and about as many as I am old beers.

The most exciting part of the night was when the next door neighbours farm caught fire, I hate to admit it was a little disappointing that the fire service put everything out so quickly... 

The liberty area is stunning, the town ship is not. It has a kind of run down, I'll steal your shoes and make you squeal like a pig kind of feel. I was just waiting to be told to go back the way I came but it never came and I was free to tourist it up and take photos of every red barn I saw.

We got to tour Chey's farm, she has enormous  pigs one of which had testicals that defy nature. We were warned not to pass out in the pig pen by an eccentric uncle who assured us the well endowed pig would gladly eat us from the boots up and only pause for breath. Her farm is a cute little hippy haven and she's doing really well running it and building it up from virtually nothing.

We left early the next day after the wedding, headed right into the Catskills and did a 5 mile hike In lush green forests where rock climbers seemed to swarm to climb what appears to me to be sheer rock faces. We didn't get eaten by bears and I'm pretty sure that is an accomplishment for me, since I seem to attract crazy like peanut butter attracts dogs.

I'll save Vermont for tomorrow.
Em