Steve went off skiing with his ski buddies, also known as the retired old farts who like to ski on Tuesday’s. Steve joined the group the winter after he retired. The guys usually pick Tuesday’s, as there are good ski deals then. They like skiing at Jiminy Peak the best. The first year Steve joined he was not invited to the yearly ski trip to Sunday River in Maine, and he was pleasantly pleased that they did invite him the following year.
I guess Steve proved to be a tolerable and amusing companion. I feel that way toward him also. Steve gets this own room, as he finds that he only finds his own snoring tolerable. Some of the guys room together, at the same hotel, one guy likes to go to cheaper hotel down the street. They meet up in the morning, and ski until a late lunch. Then they gather again for dinner and discussion of the next days runs. Of course it is possible that they don’t even ski, since I am not there to observe, but what else would these guy do all day?
So originally I was going to drive to Syracuse, pick up my Mother and we would stay at our house in Lake George. Mom was recently hospitalized with the flu, and had some doctor and therapy visits, so I decided to stay with her. Voila, another Excellent Adventure!
So when Steve left for Maine, I waited until he left and then drove off to Mom’s. I usually wait until he leaves before I leave. I like to make sure that he has everything that he needs and that I am not in his way.
Four hours later I arrived at Maple Downs. This of course, is a photo from the Maple Down’s website. How can you tell? The blue arrow, and the flowers, silly! It’s winter now! I am not sure how many residents there are, it’s not too big, but not too small, I think it’s just the right size.
This is the man in lobby, and the mailboxes are off to the right. Usually there are residents sitting on the sofas. They are generally either asleep or inspecting people coming and going from the building. 
This is the dining room. People usually arrive 30 minutes before the meals are to start. They like to reserve seats for their friends. Mom always sits at the same table for breakfast. Lunch and Dinner table changes based on the day of the week. That’s because the serving starts at one end of the room versus the other. Mom and her friends like to get served as early as possible. No dementia with that attitude! The only serving clue I picked up was a coffee cup on the side meant “please give me hot water”, cup up meant coffee, cup down meant a pass. There was no soda, wine or booze available. I never did see a resident with a flask.
Let’s do down for dinner. I see Mom’s friend P is sitting at our table already. She’s at the table on the left. 
This was my view on Sunday night for dinner. I had a good view of the room. I have found that dinner conversation decreases as you get older, so it’s important to have something to look at. Otherwise you can’t pretend that you are with it and you have something that is distracting you.
I just finished a book about the Dutchess of Windsor. The author mentioned that as the Duke and Dutchess would often not talk to each other at dinner as they got older. As they knew that everyone was watching them in restaurants they took to reciting the alphabet to each other so it looked like they had something to say to each other!
There is lots of art work on the walls, they are placed pretty low, I think that’s because the majority of residents are short. 
My drink of choice was an Arnold Palmer. I could have had water, milk, cranberry juice, cold tea, lemonade, hot tea, cocoa and hot coffee.
There is generally soup at dinner. One night there was no soup, and there was a complaining murmur going around. 
I had bay scallops, rice and green beans. Except for the green beans being canned, I couldn’t complain. I wasn’t sure if they were really scallops. I have read that these tiny scallops are really shark. 
Chocolate ice cream and sauce for dessert. There was usually no sugar ice cream, regular ice cream, and some puddings.
I was offered my own room, but elected to sleep on a roll away in Mom’s room. This way we could talk as long as we wanted to. The roll away was very uncomfortable. 
Breakfast the next morning. Eggs any style. Well maybe not any style, I didn’t push it and ask for shirred eggs. Bacon and ham were on a rotation. There was always cream of wheat and yogurt. I am not sure if they offered oatmeal. I am sure that they did I never asked. 
Here are a bunch of walkers all lined up. There were lots of walkers at Maple Downs. Some people had canes, others had wheel chairs or scooters. Some of the scooter drivers drove a little too fast if you ask me!
There was usually a salad at lunch. 
Lunch for me was a burger and chips. The cheese was not melted and the burger was very thin. I wouldn’t order it again. 
I love Lemon Merengue Pie, but this pie was not tart at all. I didn’t finish it. 
Monday night we went out to dinner, That was a beautiful and tasty drink that Mom got. I was driving so I had only a few sips. Mom was thinking “I did a great job matching my drink to my outfit, too bad I can’t take the drink to go, I’ll never finish it
Mom had a petite filet, with mashed potatoes and carrots. The filet was prepared perfectly, nice and rare. It was well flavored also. 
I had scallops again, they were with a corn relish and rice. Mom’s dinner was better. I didn’t like mine so much as the corn relish was cold, cooling the dish somewhat. No dessert as Mom is only allowed one dessert a day. 
Tuesday morning I had fried eggs again. 
Lunch I started with a carrot slaw. I always love this. Once in a while I will buy a package of shredded carrots with intentions of making carrot slaw. I always forget and find the bag of rotting carrots in my crisper drawer in the refrigerator.
Looks like lunch was Greek shrimp with feta and roasted cauliflower. Lunch is always the biggest meal of the day. Dinner is called supper, and not as heavy.
Brownie sundaes for dessert. The best dessert of the week!
We went for a drive after lunch, checking out a possible dinner spot. This is Drumlin’s. I learned to ski on this hill. I hated it. We had those terrible lace up leather boots, my toes, hands and body were always freezing. I was afraid of the rope tow. The J Bar was unfathomable. There weren’t all those trees on the slope, they have appeared since the ski area was closed 40 years ago. 
Dinner time! Mom looks a little bit happier with this drink. At first they served it in a Tom Collin’s glass, Mom sent it back to be placed in a martini glass. She could finish this one. When I looked at the bill I saw it was called “Sex on the Beach”. Not bad for a 95 year old!
Mom wasn’t that hungry, but she does like calamari, so that is what she got. 
I had chicken parmigiana.
Wednesday morning I had thought about heading back to Poughkeepsie. However it was going to snow all day, so I stayed with Mom. We did go out to get her hearing aids checked. The roads were not bad to drive on. They know how to handle snow in Syracuse.
We went out for breakfast, Mom had the French Toast for breakfast. It looked too heavy for me. 
I had the lemon poppy seed pancakes. Definitely gloppy. I think All Night Eggplant is the place to go for Breakfast in Syracuse.
This was the special day for birthdays for the month The manager wears a silly hat, and leads the singing. You are supposed to sit at the special table, and everyone gets to stare at you during lunch.
We started with shrimp cocktail. 
Then we had roast beef, baked potato and a few stalks of asparagus. I found all the food tasty. Portions could be made smaller for those with smaller appetites. There were always low sodium and low fat options. 
We went back to the hearing aid place in the afternoon to get Mom fitted for Lyric inner ear hearing aids. They are more expensive, but I think they are much better for Mom. They are not removed at night, so I think it improves the patient safety. Mom even complained the next morning that she could hear me snoring!
Dinner started with apple cole slaw. For some reason there were green peppers in it!
The chili was definitely too bland, I don’t like spice, but this use some chili powder! As the cook thought chili was similar to soup, he didn’t add soup to the meal choices. People were definitely mad!
Dessert was ice cream and chocolate sauce again. 
Thursday morning my last day was eggs again. 
Lunch for me was veal Marsala. It was definitely a gloppy mess.
Dessert was Margaritaville cake It was really sweet.
Well, I hope you enjoyed you Excellent Adventure with me to the Independent Living Lifestyle. I did hear a couple of people inquire to staff if I was a new resident! They were told that I was Ann’s daughter and visiting for a few days.
Don’t be afraid to visit your aging parents and stay over. It can be an excellent adventure!
I will finish up with the rest of Argentina. Not to worry! I met some very rich Argentinians, a countess and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Hmm, would that be a code name for a movie star?