The closest I've been to the North Pole

Latitudinally speaking, our vacation to Lake Placid this month was the most northern point in the US I've been. Ironic, then, that we had some of the warmest weather we've ever experienced in January. Doubly ironic when you consider we went there to ski. Still, Whiteface mountain was able to keep most of their trails open despite the warmth. So for two days of skiing, we were almost in short sleeve shirts. The unusual weather kept every local away, so on Wednesday, we were skiing with maybe 30 other people on the whole mountain - that's pretty cool.

Panoramic of the village. Lake Placid is in the middle of the Adirondacks, so hillside development is considerably restricted. The resulting views are simply incredible, as so much has been preserved. Even though Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid has played host to the Winter Olympics twice (1932, 1980), the place is more popular as a summer retreat than in winter.
We took one day off in the middle of the week to go shopping and let our muscles recuperate.
This picture is taken about midpoint on the mountain. This is day 3 of skiing, so all the loose powder is gone at this stage (though they brought out the snowmachines for our last day, so conditions actually improved for day 4). You can see in the background how the snow had melted everywhere else, and the sky was behaving quite odd to bring in the warm front.
From (near) the top of the mountain. There is a different lift that serves another side of the mountain that is another 400-feet higher than this, but Emily is close to 5,000 about sea level here. Since the bottom of the resort is only around 1,200 feet above sea level, the vertical at Whiteface is comparable to many ski resorts in Colorado. Plus, you don't have to worry about the altitude sickness. Pretty sweet.
Clear skies one way, and then when you turn around, the clouds are caught on the mountain top and not moving anywhere. That's the higher peak in the background as Emily looks off to the west.

This was my first time using my new skiis. Very nice.
One of our dinners when out on the town.
Finally, this is a heavily doctored photo. I punched myself out onto another layer, blurred the background, and threw in a drop shadow and altered the color levels. Could make it more realistic if I put the time into it, but this was a quick 10-minute touch up. Looks a lot more interesting than the original.

Political Cartoon

Lighthearted look at the candidates if they were real cartoon characters.




Also, ski pictures will be up shortly.

Addition to the Family

Nah, not what you might be thinking from the title of the post. Emily and I have talked off and on for a while now about getting a pet dog. I've grown up with smaller dogs like Sydney.

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A picture of Sydney pretending to be loyal.

Here she is doing her best impersonation of being proud.

In reality, this is more often what she looks like, the little rat-haired gremlin.

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She's been a good pet for quite a few years now. We got her at the pound when she was almost 3, and that was over 7 years ago. She's only recently started slowing down and begun to show any signs of age.

Before we had Sydney, while still in England, we got a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Molly (my mom insists all dogs' names should end in a hard "e", because they'll respond to it more easily). In between these two, was a miniature pomeranian that we had for just a short while, Cindy. Molly, being a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was a wonderful breed, and spoiled me about how well-behaved a dog can be. As the Animal Planet's ever useful dog breed directory explains, "the cavalier in many ways fits the bill as an ideal house pet. It is sweet, gentle, playful, willing to please, affectionate and quiet. It is amiable toward other dogs, pets and strangers. Outdoors, its spaniel heritage kicks in, and it loves to explore, sniff and chase." In all the years we had Molly, I believe she may have barked just once or twice.

Being apartment dwellers, I think its important to be considerate of our neighbors and to try to refrain from dogs known for barking. That's hard, being that I'm accustomed to nervous little dogs that drink espresso every morning to prepare for their nervous little day, to borrow from Gary Larson. Doing some research on the cost of owning a dog, I believe may well be worth the investment to spend the money getting a good dog from a breeder rather than risking something from the pound. Spread over a dozen years, the upfront cost can easily be worth the headache caused by getting a dog that may be just as cute but being a breed that has a tendency for problems.

Here's a full grown Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:

They often have the two-toned brown and white, but you can also find three-toned, ruby, and brown and black (Emily's preference) as seen below in adorable puppy form:

While doing a little research, we came across a unique quasi-breed. I say quasi because, like a mule, it only goes 1 generation as its a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frese, or a Cavachon. While the Bichon is a yapper, the offspring takes on a mix of the parent's qualities, and you can get quiet ones. The right size, the right behavior, and oh so cute:

Full grown, it'll get as large as 28 lbs, but most are right around 20 lbs. So, we're looking around, and maybe we'll get a Cavachon, maybe a CKCS, or maybe we'll use the petfinder and simply adopt a pet that needs us. Give us a few weeks to figure everything out. In the meantime, let me break up some of that cuteness overload with a final image of the rat-haired Sydney:

If you want to see more about Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, click here.

Old Picture From Fall

Forgot to put this picture up on the blog. The view from our apartment in the fall.