12-of-12: November 2010

It's Friday and the 12th of November.  That means it's 12-of-12 time!

What better way enjoy the 12th of the month?  I know!  Take the day off from work and start the long weekend off with a road trip.  Even MORE exciting was the weather.  Temps in the mid-60s today (almost unheard of in Western New York State, in November).

Oh, don't let me forget to first thank to Chad Darnell for starting the 12-of-12 and keeping it going all these years.  Visit his site to learn more about the project and how you can participate!

6:30am at home:
Starting the day off right with a little run.  2.72 miles, to be exact.  I'm working my way up to a 5K (and maybe, later, an 8K).  Sorry for the blurry shot... I didn't realize I had the camera on the wrong setting till after the workout was over.  Oh well, you don't want to see me & my "running face" anyway. :)

... shower up, have breakfast, then chuck the hubby & pups in the car, and off we go!

Noon - 5pm at Allegany State Park, Salamanca, NY:

Today's visit was our second to Allegany this week.  We were in the Red House Area on Sunday, then today we made our way down to the other "developed" section of the park, Quaker.

But first, a stop at Red House... the lake was calm as glass...

At Quaker Lake, we're reminded that this is a man-made environment.  The Dam (with water-regulating spillway) turned this valley into a 275-acre lake.

Have I mentioned it was a warm day today?
With temps in the 60s, everyone came out to play.

The Ladybugs...

and the Ruffed Grouse (this little guy was seriously flirting with someone).

Our last stop of the day was Science Lake... named after the Science Museum nearby. 

Can you see the moon in the sky and the reflection in this 1st photo?

What a surprise!  As we finished up our hike around the lake, we found this little guy (gal?) and two friends swimming around their dam. 

Back at home, 6:30PM:

Neither of us felt like cooking after our busy day, so we got an order of Wings (being from Buffalo, we don't call them Buffalo Wings) to go and headed home.  We were obviously hungry, because we devoured them in a matter of minutes.  YUM!

Sorry, folks, there's no "View from the Porch" this month.  I forgot to take a photo before we left today, and it was way too dark to get a shot after we got home.  Oh well... maybe I'll snap a quick shot tomorrow morning and post it a little late.

Thanks for stopping by!  See you next month!