Caution Extreme Awesomeness

This last week has been nothing but awesome! My friend Sterling flew in late Sunday night with the whole visit's plan and a surprise. He gave me this Old Navy bag and said, "This is going to be the theme of this whole trip." I opened the bag and found the following water bottle:

Caution Extreme Awesomeness!

Extreme Awesomeness is the perfect title for this last week's adventures! As I did warn you, I forgot my camera. But I just didn't leave it in the car; I completely left it at home. I'm the worst tourist ever! Sterling had a camera but we really didn't get it out the whole trip. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that we hauled his niece and nephews hiking with us.
Monday was spent at the beach and driving to Sterling's sister's house by Lake Placid. All I can say is it is an awesome drive. The Adirondacks are absolutely beautiful. I'm not exaggerating when I say that they are now in my top 5 favorite places I've been.
Tuesday we drove through the Adirondack park which is the weirdest national park I've been to. It is made up of both public and private lands and it's bigger than most of the major national parks all combined. As we drove we hit several trailheads and did hikes into different sites. We saw lakes, waterfalls, mountain vistas, ponds, and lots of canoes/kayakers. Overall we hiked 17 miles and drove approximately 75 miles. We did this with Sterling's two nephews who are the ages of 6 and 8 and his niece who is 4. Needless to say most of the hikes I carried his niece and he carried his 6-year-old nephew. All I can say is at least the scenery is awesome.
We stayed at his sister's house again and on Wednesday we said our good-byes and went and did the Pharaoh Lake loop which was roughly a 7 mile loop and several more easy waterfall/pond/lake trips which were roughly 1 mile a piece for a total of approximately 15 miles for the day. The Adirondacks were so worth it. I can't wait to go back! Which I probably will this next October so I can see them with all the Fall colors! I'm so excited all ready!
 But so you can see some of the awesomeness I saw, I stole a few photos from the internet.

A Hidden Lake

Limekiln Falls

Canoes! I wanted to go canoeing/ kayaking the whole trip! Oh well maybe next time...

When we got back to Baltimore the funniest thing happened! I forget how good looking Sterling is. We were doing laundry since neither of us had clean clothes which left Sterling to wander around my apartment in his swim trunks. I got ready to go have cake for my friend Elizabeth's birthday and Sterling got ready to take a nap (which actually turned into him just going to bed since he didn't wake up till the next morning). Upon exiting the bathroom, I came upon one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen. My roommate was just sitting in the chair staring at Sterling sleeping (even I have to admit he is pretty ripped). The funniest thing is I went to the birthday party and came back and she was still staring at him. She hadn't moved. Good thing Sterling was asleep or he may have been a little self-conscious.
 Thursday, we just wandered around Baltimore. We went to the harbor and took the water taxi to Fort McHenry. Then that evening I put him on a plane and the awesomeness ended. I don't know who was more sad; my roommate or me.
 Saturday, I was able to go to dinner with some friends for my friend Lori's birthday. All I can say is Broadway Diner may be one of my favorite restaurants ever! And you know it's good when it was featured on the Food Network. Overall, Extreme Awesomeness was a perfect description for the last week with more awesomeness to come in the next few weeks! I get to go a Harry Potter party (my roommate is dressing me up), I'm going home for a month, and the last Harry Potter movie is coming out. Can summer get any better than this?