.ADK We Love You.

Adam and I were able to sneak away two weeks ago to celebrate our third wedding anniversary (which is actually tomorrow!) visiting our happy place:

 The Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.

Before I even really begin this post, I need to state one simple fact and that is

God has His hand in everything!

Adam is from Minnesota. 

I am from New Jersey. 

We met in Virginia.

We both LOVE the ADKs in NY.

How did this happen?

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I grew up in Northern New Jersey vacationing to the Adirondacks with dear family and friends. My mind and heart are instantly filled with precious memories when I think of two particular places: Lake George and Speculator.

Lake George was my family's getaway weekend destination growing up and gave me my love for all things outdoors and camping. 

Speculator is a small town in Upstate NY and the home of Camp-of-the-Woods. My church's senior high youth group would attend Camp-of-the-Woods every year for our winter retreat. After spending five days at camp four years in a row, it began to feel like a home and gave me comfort every year I returned.

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Adam grew up in Central Minnesota, hours (and hours and hours) away from the Adirondack Mountains and yet he became connected while attending college down in Virginia.

During his sophomore year at Liberty University, Adam's friend introduced him to Deerfoot Lodge and it was love at first sight..or in his case, love at first description. Deerfoot Lodge is a Christian all boys backpacking camp located in Speculator, NY. The more Adam heard of this Deerfoot, he knew he had to work there that very Summer.

And he did. 

Adam was known as 'Chief Adam' Summer of '05, '06, and '07. 

While working at Deerfoot, he would spend his days off relaxing at Camp-of-the-Woods and exploring nearby towns, one of which was Lake George.

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2006 was a great year because I met Adam and well that speaks for itself :)

 On our very first date Adam asked me if I enjoyed hiking, camping, and backpacking. He was obviously thrilled with my response of "yes" and told me I should work at Tapawingo, a Christian all girls backpacking camp. (Sound familiar?)

I honestly do not even remember getting a word in because he went on and on like a junior high girl talking about Deerfoot and Tap. It finally came out that the two camps are known as "brother-sister" camps in Speculator and that Tapawingo is affiliated with (you guessed it) Camp-of-the-Woods.

You can only imagine our conversation at this point.

"Oh my word--"

"Do you know--"

"What a small world!"

"Have you been to--"

"Me too!"

It was good friends, very very good.

The Summer of 2007 God saw His brilliant plan working just as He planned. Adam worked at Deerfoot and I worked at Tapawingo.

We wrote letters. Actual, handwritten letters to each other. 

Every single one has been saved.

We spent a few days off hiking, exploring, and falling in love.

It truly was magical.

God brought us back to the ADKs for our Lake George honeymoon in 2009.

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God is good. He has His hand in every aspect of your life. I did not realize it until recently, it was all God's planning bringing a Minnesota boy and New Jersey girl to the Adirondacks. What an amazing thing God created
for Adam and I:

A place that is special to us physically, emotionally, and spiritually..to us.


God provided us a solid connection with our hearts and more importantly, to His heart. I am forever thankful for the mighty plans of our Heavenly Father and for all the ways He continues to bring Adam and I together as one.

I praise God for pouring His love onto me and onto Adam. I praise Him for being omniscient. I praise God for His planning, for His promises. I praise God for blessing me with a husband who loves Him more than me and puts Him first. I praise God for everything He has given Adam and I. 

The list goes on in my heart and the Lord knows and feels it all.

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Now that I have gone in great details (whoops) on why we love the ADKs, I can finally get to our anniversary celebration!

Adam and I drove to Keene, NY to hike two of the forty-six high peaks. We stayed at the Roostercomb Inn and really enjoyed our visit. It was fabulous and great fun meeting other hikers, especially their dogs, and to cook our own meals in the shared kitchen. Here are a few photos of the place:

We enjoyed some gluten-free penne our first night in town and packed pb&j sandwiches, on gluten-free bread, for our hike day. It's extremely comforting packing a few groceries from home you know you can eat--we were thrilled to learn we had free access to the kitchen!

 Adam and I hiked Cascade and Porter, two of the forty-six high peaks. Adam is simply awesome and only has 11 peaks left to become an official 46-R. As for me, well I have only 44 more to go ;)

 The weather in the ADKs is sunny-stormy-sunny-stormy-sunny all day long, it's actually pretty cool. The clouds began forming as we were on the summit of Porter so we raced to the next peak, Cascade, and attempted to beat the storm. We failed but had an awesome time!

On the left Adam is standing on Porter and right standing on the top of Cascade which is his 35th high peak bagged--only 11 more to go! (Notice the clouds!)

 We ended our time in Keene checking out the local shops, all 2 of them, and bought a few goodies for our home to remember this special time. Adam and I ate at the Noon Mark Diner and check this out:

This is the perfect example of how God's hand is in everything! Seeing this menu thrilled me as well as humbled me in front of my Heavenly Father. He always reminds me to trust by blessing me with little things that bring smiles!

Adam and I ended the week in Speculator, home of Deerfoot Lodge-Tapawingo-and Camp-of-the-Woods! We were there not only to visit dear friends we've made over the years, but to celebrate the wedding of two great people. I will show photos from the beautiful occasion in a different post.

We ended our trip with an evening canoe ride on Lake Pleasant.

We had such a wonderful time together and left feeling energized physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was the absolute perfect pick me up we both needed, thank you Father.

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Thank you for making it to the end of this post, it was a bit long :) 

I would love to know how God has revealed His hand in your life recently and if any of you have ever been to or heard of the places I mentioned in this post. 

Have a wonderful day!