Summer Road Trip Part 4 - The Adirondacks

After Cooperstown, we took the scenic route up to Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks, where Nate's family has a cabin.

The last time Nate was at the cabin was the last (and only) time I was there - 5 years ago. But of course, not much had changed in that time. Still no running water or electricity - not my ideal vacation, but very conducive to relaxation - although we kept pretty busy while we were there.

On the first day, Nate and I went on a hike up Severance Mountain, 1 mile up, 1 mile down. We did it in about an hour, plus some time at the top to catch our breath and enjoy the view. We followed this up with some shopping in "town" mostly at the Schroon Lake town store where I found lots of excellent Christmas Gifts for my step-mother, who is a woodsy, animal-appreciating person. Hopefully when Christmas comes around I'll remember I already got her a gift!

Back at the cabin (which is only accessible by boat, across the lake from town) Nate, his dad, his sister and I took turns churning our homemade coffee ice cream. It was delicious and creamy and the perfect end to the day, along with the swim we took in the cool lake.

Day 2 at the lake was an excursion to Fort Ticonderoga, 45 minutes or so west, with Nate and his sister. We spent the morning at the Fort listening to the fife and drum corps and looking around in the barracks. There is a huge "King's Garden" on the site which was my favorite part of the visit. We got to see some very nice flowers, including some crazy large thistle (pictured).

Day 3 we had planned to go to Lake Placid, but got caught up at the cabin instead helping to put in the new dock (a momentous occasion at the old cabin where things rarely change). Well, Nate helped and I watched and took pictures. Nate's grandmother kept calling me the official photographer. Nate and I also went on a short kayak trip and I fell in love with some lily pads (shown).

We played a lot of games at the cabin (Monopoly, Boggle, Scrabble, and an American Trivia game which we bought at the Fort Ti gift shop), and did lots of reading. It was such a nice break from city life - so quiet! I hope we can make it all the way out there next summer too, although we might not drive the whole way again; more likely we will fly in to Albany and drive from there. Either way, a wonderful, long, relatively restful vacation.

And so ends the recap.