Friday, July 26, 2013

Adirondack Adventures

For the past few years, my generous parents have been handing us an envelope each Christmas.  The contents inside reveal an adventure waiting to happen, a shared experience…and promise of new sights, discoveries, good food, laughter, inside jokes, love and contentment.  This year’s envelope contained a brochure for Garnet Hill Lodge in the center of the Adirondacks. The trip couldn’t have come at a better time…we all needed to unwind and there was a gigantic heat wave underway!
My parents arrived in Saratoga on a super sultry Wednesday afternoon.  We sat around the kiddie pool drinking beers to cool off while Neil splashed and babbled.  In the evening we walked down to Hattie’s for softshell crab and spicy slaw.  The mojitos really helped bring the temperature down a notch.  After dinner we strolled the streets and checked out the stores’ windows that were all decked out for the 150th anniversary of the racetrack.
I had to finish up my swimming lesson commitment at the Victoria Pool early Thursday morning.  The kids threw me in the pool at the end and it was fine by me…the temperature had already climbed to 90F by 10a.m.  We packed up and headed north, stopping by Oscar’s smokehouse for some cheese and pate.  Colin treated us all to venison jerky sticks and smoked mozzarella.  We asked the employees for a lunch recommendation and ended up at George Henry’s.  They have a very nice outdoor eating area overlooking the river, but with the temperature as high as it was, we decided to eat sandwiches indoors in the AC.  Neil downed French fries and bread and cheese and everything else.  He has been eating like a horse these days!
We finished up with lunch and drove another half hour to our destination, the Garnet Hill Lodge.  The Lodge sits up on Garnet Hill, looking southwest over Thirteenth Lake.  It’s pretty much right smack in the center of the Adirondacks.  The view was beautiful, especially from our 2nd floor balcony.  We got right down to business in the best way you can during a heat wave.  Swim suits and towels and beach bags and sunscreen and beverages.  I admit I’m a little rusty at going to the beach.  Our beach bag was a plastic garbage bag.  I haven’t bought a suit in years. But it felt absolutely freeing to float in a lake.  Neil loved it too, kicking and arching his back and smiling.  I used to visit a lot of open water when I was younger.  It was a destination when we were teenagers.  We really must get back on track with the swimming holes and whatnot in upstate. Spray parks simply aren’t enough.
After our romp in the water, jumping off docks and backstroking, we headed back up the hill to the Lodge for dinner.  The staff seemed completely overwhelmed, though there were only a few parties in the dining room.  Nonetheless, our food was hearty and did the trick.  Neil lost his energy and went to bed early, while Colin and I enjoyed a few more beverages in the great outdoors.  Nothing like a high power baby monitor and a well set up lodge (and grandparents nearby!) at the end of a fun day.
Friday brought gale force winds and more hot weather…it was truly strange to be on a gusty mountain in such heat, but without storms.  We visited North Creek for lunch and I ogled the Hudson River out the window as we drove. I wanted to be in the river, on the water, in a boat (but maybe not baking in a canoe in such heat…). After a long time away from living near water, I am aching for even a ghost of that experience.   I miss living on the Delaware and being on the river each night…the relationship between a single body of water and the seasons, the smoothness of a stream in the evening, fish jumping.  I really found myself missing the connection between a river and myself, and as we drove, I just stared and sighed. I miss smelling the river in my hair after each and every evening paddling. Must find a way back to that somehow…eventually.
 
We spent more time at the lake, letting the strong breezes slap the flies from our necks, letting the water cool us down.  The lake was very choppy, and I laid Neil’s bottom down on the sand so he could feel the waves lapping at his toes.  A precursor to our September ocean visit. He liked scooping sand with his grandma on the warm shore. I didn’t get one photo of him at the lake and I wish that I had.  That evening we drove to Indian Lake for dinner at the Tavern.  The food and wine was welcomed after such a long hot day.  Neil loved saying “Hi!” to the waitresses and bar-goers.  A thunderstorm finally rolled through, and we left during a downpour, saying good night to the locals smoking cigarettes in the neon bar lights.  You could feel the cool air rolling in and the relief that it brought.  Everybody’s shoulders went down an inch. Lightning circled us and lit up the mountains as we drove and we slept soundly as the rain filtered down.
The next morning after breakfast, Colin and I took one of C’s Safari Adventures to Nowhere in Particular. We hiked down the hill (me in Target flats as I did not bring any sort of hiking apparel this entire trip…smrt), tromped through some private property, and ended up hiking up another hill to Hooper’s mine…an abandoned garnet quarry.  It reminded me of Red Rocks Amphitheater…and was quite odd…red rocks towering out of Adirondack sphagnum muck…weird juxtaposition.  After squirreling through the quarry for a bit we headed back down to relieve the grandparents of their nap watch duties.  We enjoyed beer and cheese on the porch during a rain storm.   In the afternoon we attended a wine tasting at the lodge.  I got to talking with a few winemakers about the North fork of Long Island. Apparently it’s quite the little microclimate they got going on down there.  My favourite was Leo family winery…but the bottle was $50…so I couldn’t manage to take it home. We had dinner at Trapper’s Tavern in North Creek.  We especially enjoyed listening to this twenty-something old dude critique his own evening entertainment of 90’s rock. Neil was a wiggle worm and kept flinging fettucine behind him. He’s lucky he is cute…I was exhausted after this one! Nevertheless, when we got back to the lodge, we said night night to N and brought the boombox/ipod/beer package down to the ping pong room for the second set of the Chicago show.  Unfortunately we couldn’t keep the stream going, I got tired and smashed my finger, and we all just ended up quitting. Right after I smelled weed blowing through the porch window.  Apparently we missed a bonfire.  Old.
 
We packed up the following day and said goodbye to the grandparents.  Colin wanted to drive to Harrisburg Lake…and after a long and winding route we got there, via dead end gravel road.  This place was a little piece of nice.  There was a cool stream running at the end of the road that you could dip your legs into, and a suspension bridge leading out of the woods to a logging road.  We found someone’s lodge and a DEC camping site that looked pretty sweet.  I would come back and camp for a night for sure. Apparently you can walk to Wilcox Lake from this area, but we didn’t find that trail.  As if that adventure weren’t enough, we picked up pizza and headed over to SPAC for the My Morning Jacket/Wilco/Dylan show.  I really enjoyed this one…and the crowd was a very funny laid back mix of old and new hippies.  It wasn’t overpacked in the venue for once.  Neil really rocked out pretty hard and did not want to wake up for school in the morning.  Does that remind you of anyone you know?
 
All in all, our Adirondack adventure was satisfying, relaxing and filled with new experiences for baby Neil. We always appreciate the time we get to spend with family, and we come home to fill our bank with great memories.  This summer is just flying by…it felt so right to slow down and become weightless in a northern lake, sunlight dancing on water, lighting up a baby’s smile.  So right. So fleeting. Just enough.
 
PS: I'll add pictures in a separate post...too much for my phone to handle!

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