2013 Summer trip to Lake George

Written by Leisure / General, Nature, Photography, Tania, Video

August 6


We left early in the morning. We received the car at 2:45am to be exact. We had both packed out bags from the day before and were somewhat more prepared than last year (since this was our second time to Lake George). Before heading to Lake George we stopped by Uncommon Grounds Coffee & Tea in Saratoga Springs. They had really good bagels and cookies. It was a bit strange since for the first 30 minutes we only saw Caucasians. I never realized how diverse NYC was until I left it. We quickly took our minority butts out of there and headed north.



Upon arrival, we immediately went to the village. We walked by the water and then sat by a bench to observe the lake. We saw parasailing, fishing and dog walking. What surprised us both was an airplane landing and docking in the lake. Must be nice to fly down to the lake for breakfast. We walked around the village for a bit and then checked into our motel early. I immediately tried my ‘laptop hack’ by connecting the laptop to the flat screen to transfer audio and video. Along with the A/V transfer we used the hotel’s wi-fi to watch movies through the laptop. This was a backup plan in case the TV had no movies to watch. Even though I brought my DSLR, I decided that we took enough “artistic” photos last year. I decided that I will just carry my point and shoot around. We were both a bit nostalgic for Pizza and decided to stop by Capri Pizza to fulfill or desires.

After the pizza (or was it before) we rented Kayak’s from the Hotel. There were 2 single kayaks and one double. Since we had already been in a double we decided to go for the singles. We kayaked for about an hour and then headed over to the swimming are in the lake. It was a bit small but since there was no lifeguard to bug us we decided to swim outside of the floating restriction lines. After the pool it was down to the heated pool. Thankfully it only took a split second to get into the pool (compared to the 1/2 hour it took me to get into the cold lake).

The night was not over until we had some sweets. We headed over towards Lake George Bakery and picked some sweets up. We then decided to watch the stars over at the boardwalk of the pool, but since we weren’t satisfied we headed over to the Sagamore to lay on their beach benches. While there we spotted some shooting stars and debated over how much we would need to be paid to kayak/swim across the lake at night (since the ducks were doing it with ease).

August 7


Breakfast was eaten at The Bank Cafe. The gift store vault inside leads me to believe that the is place was used as a bank at some point in time. It now has a kitchen with seating area and delicious food. There was even a flavor of coffee called ‘breakfast with Elivs’. We returned to the bakery to pick up some sweets to eat by the lake. After enjoying the morning we headed over to kayak some more. This time we decided to go across the lake. We kayaked towards the eastern part of the lake and then made our way back to the west (were the hotel was).

As I am writing this, for some reason I can only remember what we ate. I guess it was a good trip. We had a burger over at the Boardwalk Restaurant. Window shopping was next on the list. We headed from store to store to see what each had. I came across a BB gun while Tania found a dream catcher she liked. We each managed to talk the other out of buying them. To celebrate we had ice cream over at A&W (which was closed last year). All the flavors made it quite difficult to choose what I wanted, but I managed to narrow it down to pomegranate. After the ice cream we drove down to Glen Falls to explore the area. We filled up with gas and headed back to watch the movie Drive.

August 8


This was our last day at the Motel. We started with some breakfast at the Bank Cafe again, but we decided to go for a drive afterwards (since we hadn’t utilized the car very much. We drove up the eastern part of Lake George and came to Shelving Rock Falls. After getting out of the car we were constantly being attached by a swarm of mosquitoes. But that didn’t stop us from making our way down to the falls. After about .2 miles or so we saw a snake crossing our path. I kept completely cool while Tania freaked out. I told her it was okay and that I would protect her. She was convinced and made her way down the path. We arrived to see people swimming around the falls. I wasn’t sure if they were aware of the animals in their surroundings.

We snapped some pics and then headed back to the car. We drove up to Hillbilly mini golf where we enjoyed 18 holes of miniature golf. Below were the scores:

HOLE 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 TOT
PAR 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 41
TANIA 5 3 4 5 2 3 3 3 16 3 3 3 4 5 4 7 5 7 85
ELVIS 6 2 3 3 2 6 6 3 4 2 8 2 3 5 4 7 3 2 71

We cooled off with some ice cream next to a gazebo on the property. I have to say this was probably one of the better places to get ice cream near the lake. The flavors were rich and hand chunks of fruit, chocolate, and other accompanying flavors.

Tania was not hungry, but I picked up two slices of chicken bacon ranch pizza over by Capri pizza. We then went for our last swim in the lake. We swam a bit more this time around and even enjoyed the pool for a longer duration of time. For dinner we went back to the Boardwalk Restaurant where were were told that the lake would have fireworks that evening (Thursday). Apparently the lake has fireworks every Thursday. We ate our meals and then went to the lake for some firework action. We were able to sit right off the edge of the lake and ate some sweets while we awaited the fireworks display. It was a 20 minute firework display with ranging sizes and styles of fireworks. Though the entire village seemed to be watching the display, it was not crowded to the point where we were sandwiched between people.



August 9


Ash man. It’s time to check out. It was a bit rainy on this day, but we were happy we didn’t see any rain the day before (since that was what the forecast was predicting). After breakfast we watched some TV until it was time to check out. We checked out and were very happy with our stay at the Lake Motel. The staff was very pleasing and the hotel had a lot to offer for the price. We drove down the eastern side of the Hudson river and stopped by several historic sites along the way. We returned to Eveready Dinner and the Vanderbilt Mansion along the way. We even stopped by IBM’s headquarters in Poughkeepsie. As we were driving we experienced many burst of heady rain. But it was very cozy to say the least.

Now the question is where do we go next year? We’ve already been to Riverhead LI twice, and this was our second time to Lake George. If the pattern continues we will be trying a new place next year.