Our new favorite place

Last Friday, we loaded up the car and drove to Lake Placid for a five day vacation in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It is official: we are in serious love with the Adirondacks. It would take too long to describe everywhere we went and everything we did, so I will only touch on the highlights.

It is absolutely beautiful in the High Peaks area and the water in the lakes is incredibly clear. Here is James relaxing by the shore of Mirror Lake, which is the lake that the town of Lake Placid is located on:


This is the view across Mirror Lake from "downtown" Lake Placid:


We went to Whiteface Mountain, which is the fifth highest peak in New York. A road leads to near the top of the mountain, and then you walk the rest of the way or take an elevator. The view from the top is astounding; here is Lake Placid (the lake, not the town):


See how high up we were:


We went on an hour-long boat tour of Lake Placid and enjoyed seeing numerous gorgeous Adirondack camps located along the shore. The captain let Aidan steer the boat for a while:


James and Aidan went fishing in the pouring rain one afternoon and had a great time. Here is Aidan reeling in the first out of 25 fish that he caught:


If you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in Lake Placid, stop by Adirondack Yarns on Saranac Avenue - it is a lovely shop with very nice and helpful people.

We ate well while on holiday, but two places merit special mention. On Sunday night we went to R.F. McDougall's Pub, which is located downstairs from The Hungry Trout, in Wilmington. I ordered smoked trout with capers for an appetizer, thinking that James and I would share it. Aidan took one tentative bite then almost had to be restrained so that James and I could eat some, too! And although he was dubious about the capers, he did try them and liked them. At least I had the wasabi horseradish all to myself.

We were famished and muddy after hiking approximately four miles on Monday, so we went to Simply Gourmet for a late lunch. What an eclectic and delicious place! It was hard to decide among the 46 different sandwiches but we managed...and we managed to finish every last bite.

The town of Lake Placid boasts two microbreweries: Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, and the Great Adirondack Brewing Co. We often buy a six pack of Lake Placid Brewery beer at the grocery so it was fun to quaff a few at the source. The food was unremarkable but the 46'er Pale Ale was quite tasty. And even tastier was the Brewer's Choice at the Great Adirondack Brewing Co. We enjoyed a pint on our first afternoon in town, then returned on our last night for appetizers and more beer. Yum, yum, yum. The brewery does not bottle their beer for distribution so if we want to enjoy it again, it is back to Lake Placid.

We went, we saw, we hiked, we drank, we fell in love. Future trips are already being dreamed of, although we probably will not stay in pricey Lake Placid again. The Adirondacks are gorgeous and we look forward to exploring even more of the region.

P.S. This post is number 400 since I started blogging three years ago. Who knew I had so much to say?

Blokus

Do you play Blokus? Blokus is a strategy board game that uses Tetris-like pieces. (If you want to learn more about the game and its many variations, go to the Rules of the Game page on the official Blokus website.) We bought the original game a year or so ago after reading many excellent reviews on Amazon and other sites. There have been many exciting matches at our house, and Aidan or I actually manage to win once in a while!

I bought the Blokus To Go game at Target on Sunday for our upcoming trip to the Adirondacks and for other times when we travel. What a nifty little game! It is only for two players at a time, and Aidan and I have been playing several matches each day.

After we concluded regular play this afternoon (Mommy - 2 games, Aidan - 1 game), Aidan decided to use the game to make pictures. Here is one of his art pieces: