Nature trip.

The things I love the most about life are the simple things.

This trip to the Catskills had it all: dandelions, chipmunks, pickup trucks, bluegrass music, creeks, wildflowers, and nice people.

Needless to say I got in touch with my Southern roots.

In all honesty, do you want to know what my favorite part of the trip was? Driving along Route 23 with the wind blowing in my hair and bluegrass/country music blaring in the background of our enormous rented pickup truck. :)

Joey wasn't too keen on the pickup at first...I laughed about it and sang the "Ford truck man" to him.

We drove through these super cute small towns that moved at a much slower pace than Manhattan. We stopped at this place called "Couchie's Corner" for some lunch, which apparently only served breakfast on Saturdays and closed shop at 12:00 :) We were the only people in there, and the owners were super chatty and curious. The guy wanted to know why we picked to come to the Catskills and seemed to be outraged by the concept. He said, there's nothing out here. Our response was....that was the point. I will say, those ham and cheese omelets were the best I've ever had. Hands down.

Here is Route 23.

The owner at the lodge was like a wise old owl. He knew everything there was to know, and was more than happy to help with our clueless questions. For you 'Office' fans, I felt like we were staying at Dwight's beet farm at times. The owner checked us in, cleaned the pool, and was the saxophone player at the steak restaurant. A renaissance man.

There was a pool, basketball court, and little benches by the creek. We went white water tubing Saturday, which was a wild experience. When I get the pictures back from my waterproof camera I'll post about it.

I think the fresh air and change of scenery helped Joey clear his head for comps. He managed to fly through his set of 'R' questions, which was awesome.