Just back from a weekend spent in nature – Upstate New York! John, myself, Annie, Sam and Justin rented a car after Friday’s activities and drove up to Lake Taghkanic for some well-deserved rest and leisure. Incredible how much nature there is to be found an hour’s drive north of where we stay in Manhattan. Deer next to the highways, many lush trees and beautiful scenery. 
Lake Taghkanic is similar to what we’d find in Nature’s Valley, for example. Except that it had been Americanized. Yup – cordoned off ‘swimming’ area (with 5 lifeguards on watch), a man-made beach next to the lake, a fully stocked roadhouse that sells ice cream, hotdogs, hamburgers, coke and ketchup, but no salad! and loads of fat people – all lounging about in tight swimsuits, eating donuts and drinking beer/coke. Most upsetting is the amount of seriously overweight kids splashing about in the knee-deep water…Eish!
Apart from the fat people, we had an awesome time catching some rays, reading, eating flame-grilled braaivleis (lots of it!) and laughing about the fact that John and I are such an unconventional couple that we combine our honeymoon with a weekend away with friends. 