We just spent two days on a road trip with Paul’s sister, Judy and her boys, David and Ethan.  Monday we went to the Adirondack Museum about 1 hour north of Old Forge in Blue Mountain Lake.  A very beautiful Museum situated above Blue Mountain Lake.  We learned all about Adirondack history and about the history of the people; learned how a canoe is built; learned about how the very rich rode for hours by train and then boat to get to this amazing area for some fresh air.

After the museum we headed further north to Plattsburg for the night.  Paul found us this amazing deal on a room for the night; a suite for $68 plus 11% room tax for all 5 of us!  The Shamrock Motel is a traditional motel for the area with little individual cabins and motel rooms complete with kitchens.  Our room was two rooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen and 3 beds.  It was nicer than most motel 6′s and very quiet.  The most important part was it was old but very clean and the beds were comfortable.

Shamrock Motel

Tuesday morning we headed to Ausable Chasm which is a huge gorge just south of Plattsburg.  After hiking about a mile along the rim you start descending into the gorge along walkways that have been carved out of the cliff – very cool for me, Paul wasn’t impressed!  When you finally reach the bottom of the gorge, 150 feet down you board a raft and your guide takes you through the gorge to the take out about a mile down river.  The gorge is very narrow but this time of year the water is flowing pretty slowly so it was pretty relaxing.

where the river begins it's descent

Rafting through Ausable Chasm

 I took so many pictures to share from this little trip but we had some technical difficulties starting with Denise forgot the SD chip so I took a few with the camera memory and we then bought a new SDHC chip in Plattsburg so that I could record this amazing gorge which I did.  When I sat down this am to write the pictures were all there, beautiful and I started selecting the ones I wanted to share.  The computer got slow so I decided I better copy them onto the hard drive and that is where the problem really got bad!  We still are not sure what went wrong but the pictures on the SDHC got corrupted and unreadable.  I thought there was still hope; I had the pictures on the camera memory.  Noooo! they are gone too!  We think the SDHC ate them when we put it into the camera or computer!  Needless  to say I am returning the SDHC cause I don’t trust it.  Paul is worried that he might have made a mistake when he came to help me and that has really got his EGO – he is the tech genius after all!   The pictures are all gone but not in my memory as long as that lasts!!  You really should come visit this gorge, it is beautiful and the area is so amazing with cute little towns and so many places to explore.

Taking the Big Moose Road off Rte 28 for about 10 miles to Big Moose seems like the middle of nowhere when you get there and there is a little colony of about 30 homes, an old Depot that now is a restaurant until you pass the Depot and leave the pavement.  There is a sign there that says Stillwater 10 but there is nothing else indicating you are on the right road other than it is the only road!  So we traveled the 10 miles to Big Moose and the 10 miles on a dirt road to Stillwater which is a restaurant, boat launch and little store with some pit toilets!  Here is where you park your car and board a pontoon boat for your 1 hour ride to the dock for Norridgwock III.  Stillwater is the reservoir that was created when they dammed up the Beaver River.  It is huge and has very few people that go this far to enjoy it.  There is camping on the lake but only accessible by boat which most people use canoes!  This is definitely roughing it!

Ethan and David preparing for our boat ride

Beaver River is a small colony of about 100 summer cottages and a family owned business.  One family has run the Norridgewock for generations and currently 2 brothers and their families run the hotel, restaurant, gift shop. The only way to get here is by the 1 hour boat ride or if you wait for winter you can get there easily by snow mobile!  This place is definitely remote but they have everything a resort needs; beach, playground, canoes, boats, fishing, lawn games, restaurant and  a Big BAR!

We had lunch which was pretty good considering they were the only choice!  The boat ride and lunch cost the fiveof us about $100!  Not bad for us but there was only one other group of 3 on the boat and the boat only brings visitors once a day.  They definitely do better with the snowmobiler’s which I am told travel from Bar to Bar to see how many they can make in a weekend before heading back to reality!

Ppsing on the Bridge at Beaver River

After lunch we wandered for a short distance ( you only get to be on the island for 2 hours) just to see a little scenery and then it was back on the boat for the return trip to Stillwater.

The Water Taxi

And then down the dirt road and back to civilization!

Today we are serving wine again and then another free meal with friends.  We are loving Old Forge!

I have updated our link to what our plans are.  Check it out and maybe you can meet up with us!

Under links on the right side of the blog page; Where in the USA are Paul & Denise!

We have been going nonstop since my return from California.  Paul’s dad, brother Stephen and his girlfriend Meta came up to Old Forge for a visit and of course that includes inviting all the family who still live in this area over for a family reunion.  We had a great time visiting with all of Paul’s uncles, their wives and some of the cousins.  This family reunion was a bit different than most.  This time all of Paul’s brothers (4) came and only one sister, Judy.  Oddly it is usually the other way around, all five girls and 1 or 2 brothers!  So of course we had to get a picture of the boys and dad.  For the big family picnic Paul and Stephen were in-charge of cooking the chicken over an open fire – usually a job Fred (Judy’s husband) does but he had to work, hence the boys were in-charge and had no idea what they were doing. Fred gave them lots of instructions but also made sure Ethan, his 7 year old was there to help!  Ethan made sure they kept the fire down and checked each piece with a meat thermometer so that none of our guests went home with a belly ache!  A very  successful lunch.

Besides visiting family we also were able to get in another canoe trip with Stephen, Meta and Judy’s boys, David & Ethan.  It was a beautiful day but the water was way down so way more obstacles, making it quite challenging! The river won’t be low any longer as it has been raining heavily since last night and no signs of stopping.

Today we are hanging out inside catching up on email etc.  Hopefully tomorrow clears so we can get out there and get back to all the fun stuff we still haven’t gotten to do this summer – We leave in 2 weeks!

Finally a beautiful day and no rain in the forecast!  Yeah!  We took advantage of the day and hiked Bald Mountain which is a mountain of solid rock as far as I can tell because most of the trail was on rock!  We took Ethan, Paul’s nephew who is 7 and of course he was running up this mountain along with Duke!  Me, slow and steady – I didn’t even slip!

Fulton Chain of Lakes from Bald Mountain

This is about half way up the mountain and the rock we are standing on is what most of the trail was.  The hike took about 2 hours and then we had a picnic back at the trail head.

Ethan, Wait!!

Another view of the Lakes

Fire Tower at the top of Bald Mountain

This is what everyone comes to see!  The view from the rock is pretty spectacular but then you can climb the 6 stories to the top of the tower, but only 5 people at a time!  Is that 5 adults, 5 children, 5 overweight individuals?  No one was sure so we used caution and I climbed up with several children and one dad.  Paul and Ethan chose to stay with Duke!

Chain of lakes from the Fire Tower

Raquette Lake is where the rich send their children to spend the summer each year.  We took a boat cruise on the lake this week and had a wonderful lunch.  The cost of the 2 hour cruise and lunch was $35 each and a $6 Bloody Mary, all of which Paul felt was well worth the money!  Yep, you read this right, Paul thought the cruise and lunch was a bargain!!!

The girls club on Raquette Lake

The boys club on Raquette Lake

Along with the rich names who have camps here there are two clubs about 1 mile from each other and across the lake from one another.  The grounds look beautiful and the amenities look like something right out of Parent Trap!  I didn’t even know these kinds of places really existed.  Apparently these kids come here year after year from all over the world and spend 7 weeks of summer at camp for the low price of about $15,000 per child!  I think my whole family could go on a pretty nice vacation for 15K but if you have plenty of money and don’t really need to spend time with your kids laughing, playing in sprinklers, eating popsicles and letting the juice run down your arm, backyard bbq’s or just hanging out enjoying the lazy days of summer this is where you send the kids to do these things while you go on your own vacation to some paradise!!!

The lake is beautiful and there is so much history here and the captain shared lots of it which I didn’t retain but I still enjoyed the ride.  Most of this lake is only accessible from the water and many of the camps are camps that have been in families for several generations.  There is even a church that is accessible by boat only.  It was a very interesting looking church where the shingles were on all the walls and the roof.

a boat in Church

The shores of Raquette Lake

Much of the shoreline is beautiful and green right down to the water but many areas have camps from little tiny homes to large resort type places.  Many of the lakes in the region look much the same as Raquette Lake but it is different in that so much of the lake is only accessible from boat.

We drove 1.5 hours through some beautiful farmland to arrive in the town of Little Falls for a baseball game.  This was smaller than the SJ giants but just as fun.  Ice Cream eating relays, frisbee contests, beach ball relays, so much fun and it only costs Paul $15.50 including dinner!  The fun ended when the 10% chance of rain turned into a downpour about the 5th inning but not before the Umpire made a really bogus call against the home team.  The coach and fans were on their feet!  Going to a baseball game is always a great time, lousy food, expensive beer, hard seats but such an American treat!

Last night we attended Judy’s husbands family reunion and what a great time!  They fed us a great meal, lots of beer and wine and then homemade apple pie!  Not only was the food great but everyone treated us just like family and then they had the family talent show!  The talent was awesome, the showed opened with a just 10 year old cousin singing the Star Spangled Banner that could easily compete with those stars that sing the anthem at the Super Bowl!  Wow, her parents are definitely in for an expensive college career – she is talking Julliard!  The following acts were pretty entertaining with a magician that entertained us with his slight of hand and then a mento’s explosion of Diet Coke!  They had lion tamers, mussle builders, rocking babies, poets, and a granny that had a hidden life of poetry in the 60′s in New York City – very funny stuff.  My favorites were both acts that the nephews were in, The Constipated Caterpillar and the Blues Brothers!

A Very Constipated Catapillar

David and Ethan are the middle humps of the caterpillar and this was such an entertaining skit!  See the basket ball? yep, it comes out in the end after a little lesson about fiber!  Where do people come up with this stuff?

Jake & Elwood

and they danced!

They were so cute!  They lip synced but the moves were so cool!  I thought I was really seeing Jake & Elwood in Concert!

So far we have seen a couple of concerts in town, a boat show and enjoyed working the winery for there Grand Opening.  The boat show was about 30 antique wooden boats that had been either very well kept or refurbished and these boats all looked like they were being used currently, not just for show. 

Antique boats

There are 8 lakes in a chain and you can access all of them without leaving the water – one of them you have to walk but the rest are navigate from a boat.  The most populated one is 4th lake which is the lake where Paul’s family had a resort.  We went there to see the place and it is way different now, not nearly as resort like but still the same great view of the lake.  We stopped into the bar that had our New York Wedding reception and had a drink!  Amazing views.

The view from Daiker's

With all this outdoor adventures we have decided that we need some supplies!

Now that is a great idea!

We didn’t buy it cause it costs $65 bucks but it is a great idea although we all agreed that he would be really slowed down if we start having him carry his own supplies!

2 bedrooms, 1 bath & screened porch!

A small town with a lake about 10 miles from Old Forge.  We stayed here when the girls were 4 & 5 for a month.  It is at least 5 miles from real civilization but quite beautiful other than the house is very creaky!!!  Paul and I drove here the other day just to see what it looked like now.  Not much has changed!!!  These shoes have doubled in the past 20 years!

What an interesting hobby