Nieva!

Syracuse has finally become a winter wonderland.

A big storm blew in on the third and began the lovely pile-up of snow. Giddy from the fact that break was only two weeks away, the ESF freshmen (the fun ones anyway) ran straight outside to have snowball fights and to sled down the hill on cafeteria trays at midnight. We were pretty excited, but that excitement only grew as we watched the snowflakes swirl without a single break, for FIVE DAYS. It was a winter miracle!

I can see three hidden cars in this picture, can you?

 Three more cars in this picture.

The bike rack.

Each morning we woke up to find the cars covered in 5-6 more inches of snow and the sidewalk paths nonexistent. The plows even had a hard time catching up with the 38 inches that had fallen. Snow drifts from the Syracuse wind piled up above my waist, and even the normally drab ride to school became an eerie world of white, with trees that had a good six inches of snow on their branches. It was absolutely beautiful!

Looking up the sidewalk next to the quad.

Picnic table

The bridge to get to Walter Hall, and the one little path that was carved out.

Honest Abe on his horse

Rain came on the following weekend, melting down the white stuff to only a couple inches. However, in only a few short days, the forecast went up again as the temperature dropped. Two feet plus is supposed to fall by tomorrow night! HOORAY!

Adirondack Weekend

     This last weekend was one of the BEST weekends I've experienced in quite some time. I went with the Bob Marshall Club of ESF for an overnight stay in the High Peaks in the Adirondacks.  
    
     To start off our trip, we got going from the nearby student center at 5:30 am. I was jittery from excitment and just a little from being nervous. Heck as excited as I was, I'd never done a trip like this before and I just didn't know what to expect.
     Well, about 3 hours later ,and north of Newcomb, we were starting our 5-6 mile hike to the lean-to. The trail was absolutely gorgeous, even if it was covered in icy snow. It was alot of uphill to get to where we wanted to be, but finally made it around lunchtime. A friend and I stayed behind at the lean-to while the other six group members decided to summit Mount Marshall, a nearby high peak. Don't get me wrong, I really wated to join them, but since I was already a little tired and had learned that they were going to climb 2000 ft. in elevation in 5 miles, I thought better of it. I needed legs that actually worked for the next day's hike out!

     My friend and I decided first to go down by the shore of the "Flowed Lands" in which we were camping next to. We stepped out from behind the trees and met a breathtaking sight. Straight in front of us was Mt. Colden. The pond/lake was iced over and the top of the mountain was dusted with snow. We sat on some rocks and listened to the silence. The veiw was absolutely incredible!

     We next decided to explore down the trail a little bit to keep our blood moving (after all, it was only 40-50 degrees out!). We met a man who worked for the DEC on our short hike, and he suggested a "secret" spot off to the left of the next lean-to down the trail. We walked about a quarter mile more and came out to a beautiful spot. The lean-to had direct sun and a great view. We wandered off to the left and found ourselves next to a pretty little rocky stream.

     After about fifteen minutes, we decided to head back to our lean-to. The rest of the group said they'd be back when the sun set and we figured we'd want to be back in time for that.
     We got there early enough to rest out on the rocks again and to lay out our sleeping bags in the lean-to in our desired spot- the middle. There was going to be eight people in that lean-to that night, and we wanted to be warm!
     Eventually the rest of the group joined us and we took a couple pictures. We worked together to make a delicious spaghetti and sausage dinner and then headed to our sleeping bags, snuggled in nice and tight.
     The next morning called for oatmeal and hot drinks. The thermometer read 25 degrees. We sat out by the pond/lake as the sun rose, enjoying the warmth while pumping more water.

     Soon, it was time to head back out. The trail was just as wonderful as the day before and hiking it went too fast. We soon arrived at the parking spot and enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before driving back to Syracuse.

     Everyone was sad to leave, but were thankful for the glorious weekend, away from the stresses of college life.

Just Something I Wanted to Share with the World

On Central NY's Failure at Producing Frozen Precipitation.

My friends, I now live in the snow belt of New York.

Today is November 1st (Yes, this post was scheduled).

YESTERDAY was the first "snow."

     Ok, there's nothing wrong with that (all of you snow-haters are probably huffing and puffing about those flurries) but I think that it's about time for a couple feet of the white stuff. Even if it is November
    
     I love the snow. I think it's fun to throw snowballs I love to make snow sculptures (or just snowmen). I love to rush inside for delicious hot cocoa. That being said, when my college choice happened to be in Syracuse, I wasn't too bummed. I mean, I hear the word Syracuse and immediately think: SNOW.
     When I got here, I expected it to be a whole lot colder than down south a.) because it's at a higher latitude and b.) because it's in the snow belt. Doesn't that automatically make it a colder city?
    
Apparently not.    

     In the last month or so I've realized the city certainly isn't colder than my hometown a couple hours south. Up here, while leaves were still in the opening act of their colorful performance, they were completely shed from the trees at home. I would hear about frosts and freezing cold weather (once, even snow) that happened at home while I was enjoying the low fifty-degree weather.
     Of course, this is all attributed to the Great Lakes and the whole concept that the air upwind from Syracuse is extra-moist. This gives us lots of precipitation, which, combined with the slightly more temperate climate here rather than in the surrounding areas, means there's more lake-effect rain than lake-effect snow.
     Don't get me wrong, I'm in love with the warm weather too. I love being able to wear my shorts and sandals just a little bit longer. However, when it gets to be this time of the year, when the weather can't decide whether it wants to be snow or rain, I don't enjoy it so much. Especially when faced with making difficult decisions every morning (umbrella or parka?).

Well, overall, it IS Syracuse, it WILL get cold and I'm sure that, if I give it a couple weeks, the weather will finally stick to one form of precipitation and it'll snow like the devil.

Kudos to You, Wonka

On Sunday, I was sitting on my extra-high-XL-twin-size dorm bed, working tirelessly on my chem lab report due the next day. It was Halloween, so to boost my creative juices.... or rather... just my motivation.... I grabbed a box of nerds from the awesome care package my mom sent me.
After spilling a few, eating a bunch, and putting my tastebuds into deliciously tangy overdrive I noticed the side of the box:

** Want to know where Wonka candy comes from? Read all about it in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. By Roald Dahl http://www.roalddahl.com/ **

It seems as though society hasn't gone too far down the drain after all. Good old Willy Wonka, promoting a BOOK on his candy box.

:)

One More Post of Guster

Here's a little tidbit from the concert I went to last Monday. I have to say these guys are almost better live than they are on CD. If you ever get the chance (and if you like their music of course) go see them! My tickets were a little over $30 and I would have gladly payed double for what I experienced.  Heck, the main singers had colds and STILL sounded amazing.

Ok.

Enough gushing.

Here're the pictures:

That's right. Front. Row (ok there was ONE person standing between me and the stage). Check out the drummer, and his bongo-drum set. And yes, it was in Ithaca, that's why the piano-with-a-chalkboard-front says "Scooter [he helps play percussion] is GORGES."

That's all for now.... ; )

Just So Wonderful and Easy

  
     For the longest time I've been dying to write about some of my favorite things. So, in order to provide myself some more blog fodder, I'll (hopefully) be writing a series on my fave's.
    
     Today's Favorite is in music- namely a fantastic little group called Guster. I had only heard of them last fall, but they've quickly become my favorite band. Not once before have I come across CDs in which I enjoy listening to EVERY song (when it wasn't a "greatest hits"). That's exactly what happened to me on Ganging Up on the Sun and they're newest album (as of last Tuesday) Easy Wonderful. If you're into rock and alternative music, these guys will definitely catch your interest.  Plus, I love that they're still going strong after nearly 20 years!
     To me, the songs on Easy Wonderful are more blast-on-a-rainy-day type songs while those on their previous ones are nice to relax to. It's really cool how the drummer uses a congo-drum-set (congo drums instead of toms and a bass) and that the group incorperates all sorts of instruments (always a plus for me).

These are my reccommended Top Five:

1. Satellite
2. Do You Love Me?
3. What You Call Love
4. Bad, Bad World
5. Ramona

That's a general list, depending on the day they can go back and forth, and Long Way Down, Ruby Falls, Amsterdam and basically the whole Easy Wonderful album can be thrown in too.

Anyway, I hope you check them out, they're certainly worth it!