Adirondack's Calling, But First............

The view directly across the street from our apartment in Bolton Landing, New York.  Beautiful Lake George is just behind the church!  Yes, my fine Tennessee friends, those are tulips!  We are reliving spring! - May 13, 2012

Saturday morning found us saying goodbye to our little cottage in Branford, CT, but excited to move on in search of the Connecticut State Capitol building in Hartford.  Our trip today was around 225 miles, so not difficult plus we knew that on a Saturday, we would only be able to photograph the capitol building from the outside.  It was an easy trip into Hartford and simple to find the capitol complex.  Our first impression of the Connecticut state house was, "WOW!"  This goal of visiting all the state capital cities really began as just a method for helping us systematically travel the entire USA.  Neither of us anticipated how we would begin looking forward to our first glimpse of each state house.  Especially when we are seeing several during a short time span as we are on this trip.  Each is uniquely different and quite majestic it its beauty.  You cannot approach any of them with preconceived ideas of what it might be like based on what part of the country in which it sits. 

Spectacular would be the word that comes to mind when describing Connecticut's State House.   Since it was a weekend day, we were able to pull into the empty parking lot and walk around the building.  It was a good break for us!

Exiting the capitol complex, we immediately made a wrong turn and found ourselves going in the opposite direction we needed.  Then we realized we might be in an area of Hartford that a loaded down car with Tennessee license plates probably shouldn't be.  Now let me just be honest here and say that putting two pretty strong-willed individuals together 24/7 for 6-7 weeks at a time is most likely going to result in a few "episodes" and this was one of them.  For some odd reason, he seemed to think it was MY fault we took the wrong turn, but I know without a shadow of a doubt, that it was HIS!  I'll let it go at that except to say that we eventually found ourselves headed back in the right direction and once again, there was peace in the family!  We do just great 99% of the time on these trips, but they always do involve stressful moments where quick decisions have to be made and it's always easy to lay blame on the other.  The good thing is that as soon as it's over, we're always able to laugh!  I tried calling Geno Aurieamma (inside Tennessee joke) for help getting out of Connecticut, but for some odd reason, he wasn't taking my call.

The remainder of our drive was through the Litchfield Hills area of northwest Connecticut, a corner of southwest Massachusetts and into New York State.  A lunch break in the lovely little town of Norfolk, CT brought some humor to the day.  Get a load of this church sign where we used their picnic table for our lunch..................

 

Now that must be one fast-talking preacher and my guess is they only sing the first verse of every hymn.   I've never seen a church yet that didn't take up an offering - can't imagine where they fit that in during the 15 minutes allotted for Sunday Service!!  

Arriving in the Lake George area of New York and heading north into Adirondack Park towards Bolton Landing was just stunning.  This is an area we've never explored and from our initial impressions, it was going to be wonderful!  Lake George, often cited as the most beautiful lake in the US certainly merits high praise.  Clear, clean and HUGE, our first glimpses were all we'd hoped for and more.  Bolton Landing, 9 miles north of Lake George, is where we are calling home for the next week and it couldn't be a more perfect fit for us.  Lake George is very much a tourist destination with Bolton Landing being the quieter side.  Our apartment is located above an antique shop in the middle of town.  We are still a few weeks shy of tourist season, so town is very, VERY quiet.  It is a perfect place for the week.

Beautiful Lake George as seen from a park just up the road from our Bolton Landing apartment.

Normally, we build in a rest day after a travel day and quite frankly, we both needed one as I'd been on the road almost a week, Bill for five days and we'd moved three times.  But the rain was coming and we knew it.  Sunday was predicted to be picture perfect and it was, so off we went for a bike ride on the Warren County Bike Path.  To ride the entire path out and back would've been 18 miles and we knew we weren't up for that, so our strategy was to simply ride until we got tired. It's a lovely ride and a meticulously maintained trail.  Given the harsh winters (they had snow just over a week ago), we were amazed at how smooth the asphalt was.  

Views of Lake George from its south end and the start of the Warren County Bike Path.

May 13, 2012

Warren County Bike Path from the Lake George end.

May 13, 2012

After the bike ride, a trip to Walmart was in order as we needed groceries and supplies to do some repair work as one of us (no blame here - which one shall remain nameless) had a minor incident with the bike rack.  Nothing that the universal repair equipment of duct tape and bungee cords couldn't fix.  Here's a picture of the master mechanic at work.   What a guy!!

Rain was predicted for most of the day on Monday, but was certain for ALL of Tuesday.  With a guaranteed rest day on Tuesday, we didn't want to let Monday go to waste.  We set off to explore Glens Falls, NY, but left the bikes in Bolton Landing thinking rain would keep us from biking.  As luck would have it, we never received a drop of rain until late Monday evening.  The Warren County Bike Path ends in Glens Falls, so we found the terminating point and took a nice long walk back towards Lake George.

On the spur of the moment, decided to take the driving tour around Lake George with a possible visit to Fort Ticonderoga, a pivotal landmark in two different wars.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, the fort had closed for the day so it was not to be.  We did discover the little village of Ticonderoga, a charming, yet very important landmark providing the waterway used for portage between Lake George and Lake Champlain.  They have done a marvelous job creating a riverwalk with interpretive signs portraying the method and the path along which the canoes were carried.  As often happens, a wonderful place we weren't expecting, but somewhere we enjoyed and from which we learned a lot.  From Ticonderoga, it was a lovely shoreline drive back to Bolton Landing completing the circle we began early that morning.

 Bicentennial Park, Ticonderoga, NY - May 14, 2012

 Waterway providing essential access between Lake George and Lake Champlain

Ticonderoga, NY - May 14, 2012

North side of Lake George heading south toward Bolton Landing

The rains finally came during the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon and it continues to rain heavily!  But we had a terrific morning that included breakfast with a friend (and yes, she was already a friend even though we'd never met in person) that I met through this blog.  Lori and I, plus our spouses, hit it off immediately and we spent a delightful couple of hours getting better acquainted.  Following that, a rainy day begged for rest and relaxation.  We've done just that and it has been marvelous!

The rain is predicted to slowly come to an end sometime on Tuesday evening and we are anticipating excellent weather for the remainder of our stay here in New York.  Ou next adventure is a trip 70 miles south to visit New York's state capital, Albany.  We've got a full day planned there with several things on the agenda. 

I really enjoy writing these updates.  Thanks for reading!