By George!

By Lake George, that is. Lake George is a large lake in New York State which is located about an hour's drive north of Albany. Michelle and I took a ride up there last week to look at the autumn foliage and as a sort of mini-getaway. We stayed in the village of Lake George which is located at the southern end of the lake. The village is kind of a quaint touristy kind of place with everything from old fashioned "cabin" motels to rather fancy resorts. For the Wikipedia article on Lake George (the lake itself) go here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_George_(New_York)



Lake George, along with Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, formed an important water-borne route from Canada to New York City in colonial times. As a result two forts were built at either end of the lake: Fort William Henry at the southern end near where we stayed, and the better-known Fort Ticonderoga at the northern end where Lake George links with Lake Champlain. Fort Ticonderoga played an important part in the French and Indian War when the British took it from the French, and in the American Revolution when the Americans took it from the British - and then took its heavy cannons to Boston to help run the Brits out of there.

We booked a room in a quite nice hotel which is part of the "Wingate" chain. I have stayed in a "Wingate" property before when I used to travel to Alabama for my job. My positive experience with that hotel prompted us to take a chance on this place at Lake George. We were not disappointed. The room was reasonably priced, clean, large and modern. It featured a comfortable King-sized bed, free internet access and a complimentary hot breakfast buffet. We stayed two nights and were quite pleased.

After we checked in, we took a ride into town and had lunch at a place called "The Boardwalk". The food was O.K. but the best part was the view from the open deck where we were served. The foliage around the lake was about 80-90% turned and the mountains surrounding the lake were blazing with color. It was a bit chilly on the deck, but the view was worth it.

After lunch we wandered around the town a bit but most of the businesses were either already closed for the season or preparing to do so. Since we were really there for the foliage and views, this was no big deal.

That evening we ate at a barbeque joint called the "Barnsider Smokehouse". They served pretty decent ribs and chicken. Afterward we went in search of a sports bar to watch the NY Giants play Monday night football. Unfortunately, nothing was open and we ended up watching them in our hotel room as they disgraced themselves by losing to Cleveland. Oh well.

Next morning started out cloudy and foggy, but we decided to take a ride up along the lake. It soon cleared and became sunny which resulted in wonderful views of the multi-colored mountains surrounding the lake. We also passed through some very pretty little villages located along the western shore of the lake. Eventually, we found our way to the northern end of Lake George which is near the southern end of Lake Champlain. At that point we paid a visit to Fort Ticonderoga, or, as Michelle called it: "Fort Pencil" ("Ticonderoga" is a well known brand of wooden pencils). It was quite interesting. The fort has been restored to its approximate configuration in the 18th century and had a number of interesting exhibits about its history, colonial warfare, etc. The view of the lake and the surrounding mountains from the fort's battlements was also quite breathtaking. Following our tour of the fort, we retraced our route back to Lake George Village. We lunched in a place called "Duffy's Tavern" which overlooked the lake but had the advantage of allowing us to eat indoors behind glass instead of on an open deck. The food was better than the previous day's lunch although the place itself was pretty much a local dive in much need of renovation inside.

Now as we wandered around the area that day, one thing began to concern us: the number of restaurants and bars that were already closed for the season and whether we would find anyplace open that night for dinner. Well, that afternoon we took a ride to a series of outlets located to the south of the town. The outlets were pretty much a bust except for an Xmas present I found for The World's Cutest Grandnephew (TM) at a Kaybee Toy outlet store. However, while tooling around the outlets we spotted a likely looking, still open restaurant called the "Log Jam". We returned there that night for dinner and had a pretty good meal. The place had a nice well-stocked salad bar and I had a decent prime rib. The atmosphere was also kind of nice as the place was a large, rustic log building.

The next day, we set off for home. On the way, we stopped at Poughkeepsie where our niece Melissa is attending Marist College and took her out for lunch. It was nice spending time with her and catching up on her life at school. After lunch, she guided us on a driving tour of Marist which is located right on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie. The campus is very pretty and has some spectacular new buildings. We then dropped Melissa off at her campus housing and headed on home.

I know this was probably not my most spectacular travel blog, but, hey, they can't all be trips to China. And anyway, it beat going to Newark for a kidney stone treatment.

Later.