Category Archives: Travel

So Much Food

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We Didn’t Go Hungry

We sure weren’t hungry on this vacation! Seems like every meal was suitable for Paul Bunyan. So much food! We’d start our day with something quick but not necessarily light in the camper or at McDonald’s. Although McDonald’s usually makes me cringe I do like their breakfasts. Marvelous Marvin often joined us for breakfast. He was with us in “Spirit” but in his summer attire. Moose don’t like hot weather.

But back to the food. I already told you about Tail o the Pup. So let’s see where else we ate.

The Swiss Kitchen

The Swiss Kitchen in Tupper Lake is described as “Comfort food for a quick bite”. Located at 92 Park St, Tupper Lake, NY 12986 it’s a step up from fast food but doesn’t make it to the level of fine dining. Like they say, comfort food and plenty of it.  As we came in we saw a local member of law enforcement seated at a table next to the door.  If the local police eat here I’m sure it will be good.  I had shrimp and onion rings. Yes, those are really onion rings on my plate. Huge aren’t they. Jim settled for a hamburger (or was it a cheeseburger?) and onion rings. Very reasonable prices and very tasty.

A & W Root Beer

Another time we were just deciding we should find someplace to eat and there was an old fashioned A&W Root Beer Restaurant.  This was just a blast from the past. So many of these restaurants have gone out of business but I remember them from when I was a kid. The folks would take us out for root beer floats. The car hops would bring our meals and sodas on trays that set on the car window. The portion sizes here were more reasonable and typical fast food but it was just enough.

A & W Bear

Cooper’s Cave

We went to Cooper’s Cave a couple of time. Cooper’s Cave is a restaurant and craft beer brewery in Glens Falls NY. It’s located at 2 Sagamore St, Glens Falls, NY 12801. The restaurant is named for the site of the fictional hiding place of Hawkeye and his companions made famous in the James Fenimore Cooper novel The Last of the Mohicans.  The food is good and there is a wide variety to choose from. If you are still hungry after the ample portions, they also serve that summer staple-ice cream.

Ambrosia Diner

Located at 518 Aviation Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804 Ambrosia Diner is typical diner food. Now diner food is real comfort food. I’ve never met a diner I didn’t like. But beware. We went to Ambrosia for a “Lite Lunch”. Kind of silly really. Anyone who likes diners knows there is no such thing as “Lite” anything. I had my old faithful diner choice- open faced hot turkey sandwich. Half of which came back to the campground with me for later. Delicious but way more than I could manage at one sitting

George Henry’s

I tried again for something “Light” at George Henry’s in Warrensburg. George Henry’s is right in the heart of Warrensburg, located at 3735 Main St, Warrensburg, NY 12885. I ordered a grilled cheese with tomato sandwich expecting a little thin sandwich that would be gone in 2 bites. Wrong again. When the waitress brought my plate I almost told her there was a mistake. Thick Texas toast sized slices of bread oozed cheese. It looked yummy but OH MY! So much food! I think I had the French onion soup too. It was a soup and sandwich combo. Great food but bring your appetite.

Martha’s Dandee Creme

Martha’s is a fixture of Lake George life. My family has been coming here since I was a little kid. It’s always a treat to stop for soft serve. It just wouldn’t be a visit home without a stop here. It’s grown and expanded and I hope will still be around long after I’m gone. For the Best! Soft Ice Cream around you have to try Martha’s (and I do love DQ but Martha has them beat). 1133 U.S. 9, Queensbury, NY 12804.  TIP: A small cone is plenty large enough!

Like I said in the beginning- So much food!

 

 

What I did on My Lake George Summer Vacation

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What I Did on My Lake George Summer Vacation

How many remember those back to school essays- What I did on my summer vacation? Well I figured that was a good title for this post. Covid has slowed vacation travel to a crawl, a drip, a puddle. I’m so lucky I have family in the Adirondacks. But as I mentioned in my last post I met up with my brother and we headed to a campground where our RV was waiting for us. This is a different kind of vacation for me! No luxury time share condo this time. But at least we aren’t in a tent. 

Lake George Escape

I’m not knocking camping in a tent. I’ve done it before and it’s great fun. They even have something called “Glamping” where  the tents are elaborate and rival that of a sheikh but it has been a long time since I went roughing it. I’m happy we have the RV as a middle ground. Our RV is set up at The Lake George Escape Campground. I think it’s Warrensburg, NY but the actual address says Diamond Point. The first order of business was to prepare the Fire Pit for visitors. The second was to take a stroll down to the beach so I could see where the canoeing, kayaking and tubing took place. Just in case I was feeling frisky.

 

Whiteface Mountain

The next morning We decided to take a drive to Whiteface Mountain. Whiteface is located in the town of Wilmington about 13 miles from Lake Placid which is most notably remembered as the venue for the 1980 Olympic hockey game known as the Miracle on Ice. It amazed me that I had never been through Lake Placid considering I grew up in the area. We cruised the town so I could get a look at the Olympic Stadium and the ski jumps from the winter Olympics. I am such a tourist!

But back to Whiteface. We never expected we’d have such a time getting up the mountain. Whiteface is the 5th highest mountain in New York State and part of the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. On a clear day the summit offers 360 degree views of the Adirondacks and even glimpses of  Vermont (and if it’s very clear) Canada.

What I did on My Summer Vacation- Lake George

Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway takes you to within 300 ft of the summit. Be prepared it’s a toll road. The fee was $30.00 when we made the drive. Whiteface Castle dominates the summit. To get to the tip top you can take a .2 mile trail or a 242 ft tunnel that leads to an elevator. But we never got to experience either. At the start of the road a big sign said 0 visibility.  We went up anyway. The elevator was not running and we were in the very heart of the clouds. This was truly Zero Visibility.

Road Trip! Time for a Drive Vacation

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Road Trip!

It’s a summer drive vacation aka road trip.  Covid has put a real damper on travel. I canceled my vacations for this year. I’m waiting for the pandemic scare to subside. I hear plane fares are going to be at an all time low this fall. I also hear that lots of flights may be canceled or consolidated and some airlines may fail. But someone with my wanderlust can only be slowed down so long. So even with arthritic joints and a Covid 15 weight gain, it was time to do something. My choice…ROAD TRIP! God bless my brother. He gave me an excuse to travel. I decided to go visit him in Lake George, New York.

Camping 2020 Style

Road Trip began with a drive to the Northway aka route 87, the north-south highway through eastern New York. I picked it up from the the turnpike (Route 90) in Albany.  All in all it was about a 3.5 hour drive from my house to Exit 23 for Diamond Point/ Warrensburg. Of course I went to exit 24. That was the exit if I wanted to go to my brother’s house or to our “old homestead”. Old habits die hard I guess. Anyway I had to turn around to get to exit 23 which was my destination. We were going to spend the week camping 2020 style. No tents for us. We had an RV to use. 

Communication is everything

Of course I got my wires crossed. Got to love texting. You try to keep everything short and the result is we get totally twisted up. Because I’d gone to the wrong exit my brother thought I was meeting him at his house but by the time he replied I’d turned around and was headed back to the correct exit – exit 23.  He said come on to the house so I said ok I’m just getting gas. He thought I was in Bolton the town on the lake when I was really in Warrensburg.  I finally found my way back to exit 24 and then it was just a hop, skip and jump to his house. We then caravan-ed back to where I started at exit 23. We are still laughing about that.

Puzzle update:

Here’s where I left off on the puzzle before my road trip. Making slow but steady progress

 

Another Heat Wave On The Way

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Another Heat Wave

Another heat wave! It’s Hot Hot Hot.  90+ temps for at least 3 days in a row. The tropics are stirred up. There’s a hurricane headed to Waikiki. Hurricane Douglas , the strongest storm on the planet has Hawaii in its sights. Meanwhile Hurricane Hannah is en route to Texas. Here in Boston we just plan to melt as heat and humidity continue to climb.

2020 Continues to Torture

If Corona Virus wasn’t bad enough we’ve got race riots, police protests, Australia burned, volcanoes exploded and  hurricanes are everywhere! What’s that you say? Don’t forget the killer bees? What else can possibly go wrong in 2020? 

On the South Rim, Grand Canyon 2008

Travel

Believe it or not I’m starting to really miss travel. I’m not sure I’m ready to squish myself into an airplane yet but I’d love to revisit some of my favorite places such as the Grand Canyon. Get a 2nd chance to get a spectacular photo. Or maybe just see what I missed. Even a day trip or long weekend to my neighbor state to the north, New Hampshire. I haven’t gotten a picture of a loon yet but I know where to find them on Squam Lake, NH.  Did you know that Squam Lake is where they filmed On Golden Pond?

But here we are, still in lockdown, wearing masks and social distancing which brings me to my most recent update. I know you are all wondering. Have I finished the puzzle or did I give up. What’s new in the jigsaw puzzle world?

Jigsaw Puzzle Update Time

I am still plugging along. Making some progress. I’ve got a lot more bits put together that I have no idea where they go but I also have the beak. It was easy. It was red, and I’ve added more to the border. I can recognize part of a leg. But now I’ve got a lot of very similar colored pieces without unique marks, colors or stripes. This part is going to be really hard.  But I will persevere.

 

 

 

 

 

Why aren’t we helping animals?

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Sounds pretty good, right? But what I wonder is why before the pandemic the site showed 80,000-850000 clicks each day. Now when we are all handing on the internet looking for things to do click count is way down. It got as low as 49000. At least it seems to be heading back up. We funded the value of 66,085 bowls of food yesterday. 

Not into pets and animals? This site also counts clicks for hunger, breast cancer, veterans, diabetes, save the rainforest and more.  So when you’re surfing around the web, take a second to swing by and click. https://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ars/home

Will you Travel after the Pandemic?Red fox baby on Monday

I’ve been reading a lot about the state of the travel industry and projections after Covid 19. Predictions are more road trips and less flying.  Amazing incentives are expected to encourage the public to get back out there. I like the sound of the road trips. Long weekends exploring local attractions and maybe a longer road trip. A cross country drive maybe? Travel at my own pace. Stop and take pictures along the way? Its amazing what you can see from the road when you take your time.  I’ll have to turn in my leased car and buy a car. Otherwise that pesky mileage issue will come up.

Spring Baking Championship

Ok so being cooped up has had me searching for things to watch on TV. Most of my favorite shows are reruns because they can’t get out to film with the virus. They are shut down too but I happened to come across the Spring Baking Championship on Food Network. Its amazing what these bakers can do but that wasn’t why this episode stuck in my mind. One of the bakers was from Jackson Hole Wyoming. As soon as I heard that I was immediately transported back to my vacation in Jackson Hole. It was a very strange feeling. I remembered the feeling of being there, the smell of the air, the amazing mountains. The essence that I absorbed while visiting all came sweeping back to me. Maybe its time for a return trip once the pandemic is over. 

Moulton Barn with Tetons in the background