I've been away most of the week and although I'm busy playing catch up on chores and errands, etc I'm taking time to share FIVE of my FAVES from the past week. Our host is Susanne...so head to her blog to learn more and join in!
I've been on a mother-oldest daughter vacation which was her idea last Spring. She wanted to help me finish up the ADK 102 Challenge. Please click this link if you're unfamiliar with what I've been working on the last NINE years. I have ONE town left! The plan is for me to get to it sometime next week as it's not more than 45 min away.
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| The Salmon River outside the town of Duane, pop.185 Franklin County, Northern Adirondack Mountains |
- SAFETY: I'm most thankful that we were safe on the mountains passes, roads, and very small towns/villages this past week. Most of the "villages" we had to get to have populations of less than 500 people. One place only has 124 residents. It is a desolate part of the northern Adirondacks.There are more trees and lakes than people! But my old Honda Civic got us all over St Lawrence and Franklin counties and to all the post offices, town clerks and general stores to get the book signed or stamped. Praise God for His protection!
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| Sunset over the high peaks and Lake Clear...the best mountain lake beach we've ever been on and we've been on a lot! Lake Clear is just 11 miles outside the village of Saranac Lake where our hotel was located Saranac Lake village has a population of 4856 people and Lake Clear has a pop of 535 |
- STUNNING SCENERY: Courtney and I saw so many stunning scenes in the mountains this week. It started out with perfect temperatures (low 60s and 70s), no humidity but horrible air quality due to the Canadian Wildfires. By Tuesday morning the air quality was much better and the skies were bluer, vs hazy. Temps were perfect. I love being in the mountains as humidity levels are so much lower than here in the Capital Region. The Air Quality Index vastly improved in the mountains but got worse here in our cities. As I type this we are at an 81 here at home, which is still not great but better than in the earlier part of the week. Anyways, the sunsets were stunning in the mountains. I have SO many photos to go through that I am not sharing on the FFF. I'll be doing a separate post of our vacation. I'm so thankful for God's beautiful creation! Mountains, lakes and sunsets are my faves.
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| fish tacos with Cabbage slaw and Nixtamal tortillas and a side salad of Arugula and pickled red onions with a lime vinaigrette |
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| Cocktails: Trails Run and Wildflower |
- SCRUMPTIOUS FOOD! I'm thankful that Courtney and I discovered this amazing restaurant with rooftop dining right in the village of Saranac Lake. It has a healthier menu than most of the places we looked at. Lots of plant based options and the option of having veggie or vegan burgers if you want a hamburger type meal. There were tofu dishes, thai type dishes. Just outstanding food and cocktails. They also are a brewery so had good local beers from what another patron told me. We were so impressed with our meal from Monday evening, that we went back Tuesday evening. Some of the villages in the mountains have no real market or restaurant..in fact, most do not. But....the more tourist-y places do now and we had a lot to choose from! We had brunch Wednesday morning at a health food market that included a cafe. Top notch there, too. You don't find many chain restaurants (other than McD's) in the Adirondack Mountains which I really appreciate. We prefer supporting the local folks. I'm thankful for good food and places that offer something besides "comfort" or "fast food" junk.
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| maple latte with almond milk |
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| cute cafe vibe |
- STROLLING SARANAC: Courtney and I could walk from our hotel to the edge of Lake Flower and down to the edge of downtown in Saranac Lake village. We did that the first evening. On the 2nd evening (Monday), we strolled along the River Walk (Saranac River) which goes through a different section of downtown. A few photos are below. It was a pleasant, almost chilly evening, and although hazy due to the wildfires from Canada, the smoky smell was gone. Then on Wednesday morning, we strolled around the Adirondack Carousel Park after walking from the old historic train depot station. Saranac Lake Village is a quaint village of a variety of shops, historic sites and 6 lakes (Flower, Colby, and Clear, along with Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes). Colby and Clear have public beaches. Upper, Middle and Lower are great for kayaking/canoeing and fishing. Lake Flower and the Saranacs allow motorboats. Lake Colby can have motorboats but the horse power is limited to 10. I couldn't get any photos of the Saranacs or Colby but below are some photos of Lake Flower and the Saranac River along with another one of Lake Clear. I'm thankful we vacationed in a walkable village after being in the car for 3 days to work on the challenge. Both Monday and Tuesday I drove in total a little over 3 hours. That's 6 hours of driving to the 10 villages I had to get to. I'm thankful to have seen more of the Northern Adirondacks as I had never been to some of those areas.
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| across from the hotel with Dewey Mt in the back 3 August |
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| Lake Clear 5 August |
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| beautiful zinnias on the River Walk and near the Nori's Market |
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| Courtney on the River Walk downtown Saranac Lake |
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| looking west on the River Walk to Main Street |
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| Fun sculpture on one of the River Walk bridges my fave bug: a dragonfly! |
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| River Walk/Saranac River |
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| the start of the River Walk in downtown Saranac Lake Saranac Lake is the coldest spot in NYS |
- SIGHTSEEING: Because I had to drive 1 hour north west the first day (Monday) to get to several of the villages/towns on the Challenge, Courtney helped me take lots of photos. We went to the towns of Lawrence, Brighton, Owls Head in the town of Bellmont, Duane, Parishville, St Regis Falls in the town of Waverly. On Tuesday I had to drive further south, then north west if that makes sense to hit up the towns of Clare, Fine, Pitcairn, Wanakena, Clifton. Here are a few photos along with two from the Adirondack historic Carousel located in downtown Saranac Lake Village that we saved for Wednesday morning before driving back down to the Capital Region/home. I'm so thankful I had the chance to do this ADK Challenge and meet some interesting people (town clerks, post masters, local residents) and explore a mountain area I had never been to. I'm so thankful we have such diversity in NYS in regards to people, villages, cities, culture, and scenery. God made a beautiful world!
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| Courtney at the town hall of Clare population 105. More forest and fields than people! |
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| Bambi and Mama on Cranberry Lake road at the Cranberry Lake State Campground where we swam and had lunch the water was freezing! |
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| Clifton Community Center/PO/Town Hall/Library population of Clifton is 675 |
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| DeGrasse River in the town of Clare |
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| Courtney on the Wanakena Suspension bridge over the Oswegatchie River |
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| Nicholville Post Office population 281 |
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| The Oswegatchie River in Wanakena, population is 169 |
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| Owls Head Post Office in the town of Bellmont population is 253 for Owls Head 1173 is total population for the township of Bellmont which includes the hamlet of Owls Head There is another Belmont (note the one L) located in western NYS |
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| Standing in the St Regis River...the water was mountain cold!! population of St Regis Falls is 274 |
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| town of Waverly public beach on the St Regis River Waverly has an overall population of 720. NYS has two towns named Waverly. the other one at just over 4000 people is located in the Finger Lakes region which is the southern tier of NYS |
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| historic Adirondack Carousel downtown Saranac Lake village |
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| my favorite animal on the carousel: the loon All animals depicted are found in the Adirondack mountains and all the rides were hand carved and hand painted. |
Well....that wraps up my trip with Courtney, my oldest daughter. This is just a sample of the wonderful things we experienced and saw.
I hope that you have a relaxing weekend, get outdoors for some nature time in God's beautiful creation, and look for the moments to be grateful for.
HAPPY WEEKEND!
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