Day 8: Our First UFO!
Frank, who just turned 13, is our most injury-prone child. He has a special talent for sprains and breaks and, for awhile, we were on a first-name basis with the emergency room staff in Bangor. Just a couple of months ago, we had to take him to the E.R. when he got silly putty stuck in his ear. Yes, you read that right. If you want, you can read that story HERE.
Anyway, last night, Frank was playing a game of flashlight tag which was organized by the campground. Frank was running away from a girl and decided to run into the dark woods. Not surprisingly, he didn’t see that large tree branch right in front of his face. This is what he looked like after his accident. And the photo next to it is his knee, which he’s managed to cut open three times in three days. He proudly removed his bandages so you could see his injuries. And, his eye isn’t really swollen shut. It just appears that way in the photo.
Ah, but he’s a tough one! No tears. He just comes inside grumbling, washes his wounds with soap and water (I try to help but he gives me that “I’m not a baby, Mom” look), and pulls out the antiobiotic ointment…which he uses almost every single day.
We left Lake George, New York this morning, heading for Bath. The drive went much faster than we thought it would and, with Richard driving today, I got quite a bit of work done. It was hard, though. Upstate New York is my favorite drive. It’s so beautiful that it always brings tears to my eyes, no matter what the season.
We checked into Hickory Hill Camping Resort around mid-afternoon and then drove the car to the grocery store. On our way back, we spotted a hot air balloon. The children had never seen a real one and we were thrilled when we realized we had a great view of it from the campground. Look at that second picture. We took several photos of the balloon yet this is the only one that has that strange object in it. It’s too far away to be able to distinguish what it is, but I’ll post a close-up of it below, too. It may not have been a UFO, but just UFL (Unidentified Fuzzy Lint) but we don’t think there was anything on the lens because there are photos taken just before and after and the object doesn’t appear in them. If you study this sort of thing and want the actual graphic from the camera (it’s a 2 meg file), holler and I’ll send you a copy. Please note that we did not notice this when we were looking at the balloon. So, it may be nothing. Still, it was great fun imagining there might have been a UFO over our campground today! The children were very excited.
And look at this beautiful church in downtown Bath, New York!
We’re a day behind schedule but we’re still hoping to have enough time to tour the Keuka Lake Winery Route tomorrow morning. Barring any unforeseen events like, um, alien abduction, we should be in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio tomorrow night.
August 31st, 2005 at 11:07 pm
The UFO looks like a blimp in the distance.
September 1st, 2005 at 11:11 am
It’s great seeing our beautiful historic St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church (Bath, NY) on your web site. My husband and I eloped there in the chapel January 30, 1976. My husband and two sons were Christened there. I just read where it’s the oldest building in Bath, our Steuben County Seat. We were gone from 1976-1993 trying to find greener pastures elsewhere. We spent 17 years trying to work our way back. The grass was greener all along on our side of the fence but we didn’t see it. By the way my mother-in-law is a “Maine-e-ak” from Aroostook County. Many Steuben County potato farming families were from there. The land is similar in looks and quality for potato harvesting. I hope you enjoyed your stay and that you will return. There’s much to see and do here in the Finger Lakes - Southern Tier - Western NY Region. Come on back!
September 1st, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Hey Travelers;
What’s especially interesting is the shape of your mystery object. Considering perspective, the larger portions has symmetry and then there is a smaller, but similarly shaped , appendange at the rear. The entire thing also seems to have mass.
Who knows? We’re much to small to take in all the possibilities in the universe . But it certainly is fun to speculate.
Happy voyaging Hoys .
We”re watchin’ you.
Hal
September 2nd, 2005 at 3:48 pm
Yah, I’d say it was a blimp. The thing is though, they don’t usually go that fast, so I don’t see why it would be as blurred as it is.
Hmmm…
September 2nd, 2005 at 7:33 pm
It does look somewhat like a blimp. Fortunately, there aren’t too many blimps in the world, so you could probably easily verify whether or not a blimp was in the area on that day. Another possibility is that the ‘ufo’ is something attached to the hot air balloon itself. However, then you probably would have been able to pick up the object in other photos. You ought to submit the photo to one of those UFO database websites, for analysis, in any case.
September 6th, 2005 at 2:54 pm
IS that REALLY a ufo or a fake? I saw one twice and they are weird.
September 27th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
FROM ANGELA:
I did submit the photo to organization that investigates UFO sightings. They’re very backed up so I didn’t expect to hear back from them.