Since we moved here, we have wanted to ride the Adirondack Scenic Railroad from Utica to Thendara, which is just outside of Old Forge. We took advantage of a Groupon deal and finally made our railroad trip last Saturday. The deal was for two adults and two children, so we asked one of Aidan's friends to come along.
You can read the
history of the ADK Scenic Railroad on their website, but the condensed version is that the railroad tracks were constructed in 1890-91 to take people to the Adirondack great camps, and then later freight service was added. In its heyday, the railroad went all the way from Utica to Lake Placid. Service started decreasing in 1961 and the line was completely abandoned in 1977. In 1992, a group of railroad enthusiasts founded the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society and started rehabilitating the line. The railroad now operates from Utica to Thendara, and between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, and is staffed by volunteers.
It was a drippy grey day in Utica when we boarded the train:
It takes a little over two hours to make the trip to Thendara. Aidan and his friend played Nintendo most of the way (sigh) while I enjoyed the scenery out the window; the rocking motion of the train made knitting impossible for my stomach to handle. James spent most of the trip north in the baggage car, known as an "open air" car because large side doors remain open:
He took all of these photos from the open side:
He even managed to get a photo of a moose:
So it was a cutout decoration in the back of someone's yard - it is likely to be the closest we get to a moose!
I really liked how people came out to wave at the train as it passed:
Once in Thendara, we took the shuttle bus to Old Forge to have lunch at Tony Harper's - love those SRQ chips! We then rode the chair lift to the top of
McCauley Mountain:
Despite the drizzle and mist, the views at the top were beautiful:
On the ride down, one of our darling child's sneakers fell off. Of course it was an "accident", which is Aidan-speak for "I was goofing around". James and I were livid, and came very close to making him walk around with just one shoe on. James rode back up, climbed down to the shoe, climbed back up and then rode
the chair lift down while I made the two boys sit down and be
silent. It was the only time of the entire trip that they stopped talking. The men who run the chair lift were very nice; they did not charge James for the
extra trip and they traded inane boy stories with me.
The rest of the day was, thankfully, uneventful. The skies cleared as we rode back to Utica and we enjoyed the scenery again, this time with the benefit of abundant sunshine. It was a fun day; I adore train travel and we liked seeing the sights that you can only see from a train. If we ever do it again it will be just James and me (and we hope by then to go from Utica to Lake Placid), and there will be no chair lift involved.
