New York, New York - not the city but the Adirondacks

29 Sept - Travel Day

     Original Plan for the next stop was to move a short distance to Burlington, Vermont - do laundry, clean up some gear, etc... and from there visit Fort Ticonderoga (about an hour away) - we wanted to stay in a campground with full hook-ups and hopefully some TV reception (that possibility improves near bigger cities).

     Burlington, being on Lake Champlain, we learned meant that we would end up having to take a ferry to get over to the New York side at that point so we re-figured. Instead we headed south towards Ticonderoga crossing Lake Champlain at that point on a bridge near Crown Point and headed to Ticonderoga, New York with the trailer in tow.

Lake Champlain Bridge

Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse

     Weather was beautiful - the drive through the Vermont countryside was really nice getting over to Ticonderoga and we spent a few hours there - lunch in a downtown café called Burleigh's that was a treat and then a couple hours at the fort. I'd been reading the book "1776" so many of the areas we've toured have historical significance mentioned in the book....especially Fort Ticonderoga.

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

     So, being already on the New York side of the big lake, we headed on up to Plattsburgh N.Y. and parked in an RV resort there. We had full hook ups AND several TV channels. When the TV finished searching for channels the UGA -vs- Tennessee game was on - PERFECT!

30 Sept - Maintenance Day

     This was a down/maintenance day where we got laundry done, washed the truck and camper and did some replenishing of supplies in preparation for our next move. We did manage to take time late in the day to drive around Plattsburgh to just look around the town. They have a beautiful waterfront on Lake Champlain .

1 Oct

     We headed out of Plattsburgh, New York which is on the eastern edge of the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain and headed on into the Lake Placid area with plans to spend three nights and two full days of touring that area. Again the weather is not looking favorable - the travel day was cloudy with off and on rain with more in the forecast over the next day.

     After checking into the North Pole RV park in Wilmington, New York (close to Lake Placid) we begin plotting our explorations of the area. As we drove in it was obvious that the color on the trees here was getting better so we're really enjoying the riding around. We have several things on our "to do" list so we plot the way to get the indoor things done on the heavier rain predicted time. For now - it was overcast and foggy but not raining so we head over to the Olympic Ski Jumping complex.

Ski Jump from top - Nervous Photographer

Ski Jump viewed from the bottom

     The winter Olympics were held here in 1932 and 1980 so a lot of the tourism industry here is centered around those events and venues. Seems as though much Olympic training is still being done in the area as well. Ski Jumping Complex - all I can say is I have a better respect for the athletes who compete in that sport after going to the top (or near the top). WOW - we went up via elevator to the equivalent of 26 stories (120 meters) and I was a bit uneasy on the elevator that had windows to the outside. It is amazing what they do!

     From that vantage point we were looking down on the tree tops and enjoying the beautiful colors that are really starting to pop. I wouldn't call it full peak but there are definitely some bright red, yellow and orange colors showing.

View of countryside from Ski Jump

     Back down at the bottom of the jumping complex they had a training venue set up for the extreme skiing guys (and gals) that jump and flip - only there is no snow so I am not sure what the ramp had on it to allow them to simulate the effect - but as they came down the ramp and jumped they landed in a pool of what I hope was warm water as the outside temp here was 47 degrees at that time. It was fun to watch for a bit - these kids are pretty amazing (or crazy)

     We get back to the campground with plans to make a roast with potatoes and carrots in our instant pot. We'd only tried this once before and it wasn't a good event but I was armed with different instructions this time. - another failure :-( After a couple hours of trying to get it to cook (should be a one hour event) we ended up abandoning the plans - put the roast into the slow cooker and had bacon and eggs for supper. Anyone want to buy an instant pot?

2 Oct

     Rain most of the night and predicted also for the day here so after a relaxing breakfast and enjoying our coffee and the news we head to one of our indoor scheduled points of interest - the Olympic Museum which is in Lake Placid Village. The museum is located in a building that also houses two Olympic ice skating rinks - the one used in 1932 Olympics AND the one used for the 1980 Olympics. I believe the latter is also still used for hockey competitions.

     The museum, although fairly small, was pretty nice with a lot of memorabilia on display from both of the winter games held there. They even had some of the material on display that is used for the summer ski jumping that we saw the day before and wondered about - it is like a tile material with round knobs on top that the skis apparently just glide over. We also learned that the summer jumping is not just a training thing but a pretty big/popular thing here all summer long.

     The highlight of the museum for me was the section for the "miracle on ice" - if you recall when the underdog American hockey team defeated the Russians in the 1980 games to win gold in that sport. They had a corner of the museum set up with the game playing on a TV monitor - as the game ended and the Americans won the crowd that had gathered to watch cheered again! One local person commented that they have had the video of that game playing non-stop since 1980.

Hockey Rink - Miracle On Ice

     After the museum and an attempt to walk in the village a bit the rain forced us into a bar for lunch and a break from the weather. We gave up on the walking and got back in the truck and decided to just ride around the mountains in the rain - we saw some really pretty colors but no chance to take any photos.

3 Oct

     We've learned to appreciate a day without rain and that was the prediction for this day. We still had some pretty cloudy/foggy conditions and few spells of misty weather but at least no rain. We head out for a trip to the village of Tupper Lake to visit a place called the Wild Center of the Adirondacks.

View from the Wild Walk

     The town is about 40 miles away and pretty nice drive to get there with a stop in Saranac Lake to get our propane tank re-filled. The Wild Center is a cross between some hiking and an indoor educational museum that highlights the wildlife in the area. The best part of the day for us was the Otter exhibit and the ranger talk that took place there...it was fun and entertaining. We were also looking forward to the Wild Walk - it is a hiking area (although fairly short) that climbs up above the tree tops with the intention of giving you a different perspective of the forest. It was interesting but not as spectacular as either of us maybe had anticipated.

She couldn't resist :-)

     Leaving there and heading back the plan was to drive the Veterans Memorial Scenic route to the top of Whiteface Mountain which is located close to the campground. As we get closer it is obvious that the fog that is setting in will decrease visibility (especially up there) to the point that it wouldn't be worth the cost so instead we stop at a roadside hiking trail and take a short hike to a pond....very nice.

Roadside Stop

     The literature we'd acquired about the area mentioned a restaurant called the Hungry Trout as being probably the best in the area and as luck would have it, it was right near the campground and on our way back. We decided to stop in for a fine meal with views that overlooked the river and amazing colors in the woods. A great way to end the day and our visit to the Adirondacks.