By Brian von Knoblauch
I am looking forward to being able to see live music again! I’ve already been to one concert (The Barndogs – great band, check them out) and am looking forward to seeing other local bands as well as some of the national touring acts (assuming any of the ones that I like come within 100 miles of Syracuse).
I am also looking forward to traveling to visit my sister and her family again as well as going out and meeting up with friends for hikes, dog walks, jam sessions, and visits.
By Stan Ziemba
My family and I will be spending a week in Clayton on the St Lawrence River fishing. We are also
planning on visiting my wife’s family in Boston. My wife is a private Medicaid nurse so our travel has been extremely limited. We (especially my wife) are looking forward to seeing her family! We are also traveling to several colleges in N.Y. and Massachusetts looking for a college for my daughter, who will be a senior at CBS in the fall.
By Matt Coulter
With both of our daughters graduated from college and living out of state, our post-covid summer plans revolve around trips to New Hampshire and Virginia to visit each of them. We recently returned from a fantastic trip to New Hampshire where we traveled to the White Mountains to hike and do our first outdoor climbing.
While we have been climbing indoors at local gyms since just before the pandemic, this was our
first time climbing outdoors. Apparently where we went (Rumney, NH) is quite a well-known destination for climbers. It has an astounding 1,198 documented climbs!
After taking a day to recuperate, we then set off to the Franconia Ridge region where my daughter had booked us a night at the Greenleaf Hut which is part of the Appalachian Mountain Club series of huts. The hike up to the hut was only about three miles up the “Old Bridle Path” but was 
strenuous since it gained over 2,300 feet of elevation. The second section of the hike was from the lodge up to the summit of Mount Lafayette and then across the ridge to Mount Lincoln and then back down to the lodge again. The combined elevation gain from this serious of hikes that day was 4,200 feet.
As luck would have it, my daughter’s reservation for the lodge (which she made for us this past winter) somehow was the only one to go through due to the ever-changing lodge policies during the pandemic. This gave us the ENTIRE lodge just for our part of seven! The lodge is normally at full capacity (48 guests) for the entire season!
Next up in late July will be a very different trip to Virginia to see our other daughter where we will be visiting at sea level enjoying the beaches of that state!
By Tom Fazzio
Our post-pandemic world brings a fun life change: the transition into empty nest parenting. Our youngest will be off to college this fall, giving us the chance to evaluate a lot of our immediate, everyday surroundings. I expect a fair amount of rearranging around the house. Part of our plan is to convert our new-to-us van to allow for much more/easier road trips, dipping our toes into an occasional vanlife.
By Mike Cavallaro
My family and I are leaving for Disney in July. We will be back by the time you read this but our trip was cancelled last year the month the pandemic started so this is our first trip since. Other than that probably just some small trips on the weekends to areas around NY.
By Shannon Glennon
Growing up, my family and I used to visit our camp on Lake Ontario often each summer. There I unknowingly taught myself how to “surf” on foam boogie boards while playing in waves. Years later, I finally learned to surf on an actual surfboard while on vacation in San Diego, CA. Surfing has been my lifelong passion ever since. Due to my geographic location, I am not able to surf much around here (haha). Depending on conditions, sometimes I am able to surf on Lake Ontario (pictured), but now I’m very much looking forward to taking some trips to the ocean to surf larger waves and to visit friends that I’ve made surfing over the years.
By Daryl Olin
Now that the Pandemic is subsiding and life is beginning to return to “normal”, a good friend and I went for a weekend of mountain biking at Killington Mountain in Vermont. It was the first time I
was able to go in 2 years, so to ride lift service was a real treat. Some of the trails are almost 2 miles long and are built so well it’s like being on a roller coaster, but exhausting and more fun. It was so great to see people out again in 
communal spaces. We stayed with a friend in central Vermont, the drive from the mountain to the house meanders next to a large river dotted with small farms with lots of cows and chickens. It’s true Americana and I loved it. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see a newborn fawn feeding with it’s mother in a meadow beneath us on the lift while going up the mountain. After the past year, I think I have found a new appreciation for all of these things that I intend to maintain.
By Dave Wickis
My first post-pandemic excursion was a camping trip to the Burlington Vermont area. There are lots of great hiking in the area and the islands in Lake Champlain are great for biking. The island line bike trail takes an old railroad causeway 3 miles into Lake Champlain and a short bike ferry trip will take you to South Hero Island.
