Lake George

    I had wanted to go to the Revolutionary War battlefield at Saratoga for years. I couldn't justify a three and a half drive each way to see a battlefield for a couple of hours. So it stayed on my bucket list for a long time. Normally, Laurie and I go to New Hampshire the week before Columbus Day. Laurie really didn't want o hike so I suggested Saratoga, but again, it wasn't worth going to for a day trip. So we started researching and found out Lake George is only about 45 minutes north of the battlefield. A little more research revealed a few fun things to do in the area. Instead of going the first week of October, we planned it for the last week in September.

   Make no mistake about it, Lake George is on the map for one reason, it is a tourist town. It is one of the first vacation destinations in America. I can see why, it is beautiful. In fact, Thomas Jefferson called Lake George the most beautiful lake in America. The lake is thirty two miles long and surrounded by the foothills of the Adirondacks. The town of Lake George is at the southern end of the lake. From North Attleboro it is a three and a half hour ride.

   We arrived in Lake George at 3:30 after our morning spent at Saratoga National Historic Park. There is no shortage of motels. We stayed at a little motel called The Admiral. Laurie picks out the motels and I just give her half the money. Since I really don't care where I sleep, its just easier for her to be happy. The Admiral got the best reviews in Lake George according to some website. It was a quaint little place that was spotlessly clean. The owner who was working the front desk, Darrell was a really nice guy. The motel was within easy walking distance to downtown. The price was very affordable, especially for a tourist town. The Admiral does have a pool and it is heated. The sign said it was open until 9 pm, however when we went for a swim on Friday night after Jeopardy (8pm) the gate was locked. That is my only complaint.

   After we checked in, we went for a walk around town. As you would expect, there were restaurants, gift shops, more motels, and t-shirt stores. The lake is in view to the left while walking down the main street. At the bottom of the hill in town is traffic light. If you are heading south, you take a left to go to the port. There is a marina for small boats including police boats with 500 hp motors. There are also large docks for large passenger vessels. There are two companies that have what are basically small cruise ships. Lake George Steamboat Company and Shoreline Cruises. More on them later on. 

   We stayed in Lake George for two nights. As I said, we arrived at 3 pm Thursday and left Saturday morning. We already had our itinerary planned long before we left home.  The first thing we did on Friday was to head north about forty five minutes to a place called Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. This is in Pottersville, NY. It is a pretty cool natural attraction. The cost is about $18/adult. The main attraction is cave with a huge mouth, possibly the largest in the east. The mouth of the cave is roughly sixty feet high and one hundred fifty feet wide. There is also a waterfall on a river. The river goes through the cave and disappears for a short while. There are also other smaller caves that you can look into. All in all, it was a neat place. It was Laurie's favorite thing we did on the trip. The walk takes about an hour, but we went back and sat by the waterfall another twenty minutes or so. The gift shop has a huge mineral collection. One of the biggest I've ever seen. Included were petrified wood pieces the size of laundry baskets. 

To give you an idea about the size of the mouth, there are people in the bottom right of the photo

An opening to a smaller cave and also the photo below

After our walk in the woods, we went back to Lake George. We had a reservation on one of the "cruise ships" scheduled at 2pm.. Lake George is 32 miles long. The boat we took, the Mohican goes 16-17 miles up the lake before turning around.The trip lasts two and a half hours. There is a narrator who points out interesting spots on the lake. The Lake George Steamboat Company has three ships and multiple tours ranging from a one hour sightseeing tour to a six hour foliage tour with happy hour, brunch cruises and cocktail cruises in-between.  Our tour was perfect, other than some cloud cover the weather was great. The narrator was amusing and only talked when there was something worthy of talking about. The trip was over before we knew it. I was saddened when I could see the dock was only a few minutes away, More text after the photos

Views from our cruise

Notice how the boat house is designed to look like the house

To the north the sky was blue with some puffy clouds, to the south it looked like this

   There were many interesting points on our journey. For one, Georgia O'Keefe had a house on the lake and did many paintings from there. A minority owner of the Red Sox has a house on an island. Many of the islands can be reserved for tent camping for tent camping. We saw a few loons as we went past. There were many other intriguing points of interest.  There are multiple marinas and boat ramps on Lake George. It is no exaggeration to believe that during the summer there are a thousand boats cruising the lake. We saw hundreds of docked and moored boats on our cruise. This boat cruise was my favorite thing to do on our mini-vacation. 

   That evening we went to a sub shop. As with choosing a motel, its just easier to let Laurie pick the place. I'm not picky and will eat just about anything that doesn't have beans. Laurie does research and usually (always) finds a place with good reviews. This night we went to a place called Pizza Jerks. I was in the mood for a sausage, peppers, and onions sub. Laurie got a specialty sub. We were both pretty disappointed. Since Covid began, I no longer expect good customer service. I understand how hard it is to get help. However, I do expect the food to be good. My sub was at best "food". Laurie didn't like hers at all. So if you go to Lake George and want a cheap meal, my advice is to pick one of the other half dozen pizza places. 

   Saturday morning we woke a little sad knowing we were going home that day. However, we still had one more fun thing planned. We had reservations for another boat trip. This one was on an authentic riverboat named the Mini Ha-Ha. As I learned, there are only twelve genuine riverboats in America. This was the thing I most wanted to do on the trip.  The riverboat trip is only an hour ride. It goes three miles up Lake George before turning around. It was really cool to see the paddle wheel propel the boat. The boat was converted to diesel a few years back, but the diesel heats the water to steam and the steam really does propel the boat. As one would imagine, the one hour tour on our last day went by much too quickly.

The Mini Ha-ha

   After we got off the boat it was noon time. We could have went home, but our plan was to stop at Golden Corral in Springfield on our way home for supper. This meant we had to kill two hours. We took the auto road up to Prospect Mountain. Prospect Mountain is a hill that overlooks Lake George. The auto road goes most of the way up the mountain to a large parking lot. From there you have to walk to the summit. The view is great looking at the lake and the town of Lake George. We stayed up there about an hour before heading home. We did stop at Golden Corral and we were not disappointed. 

View from Prospect Mountain

Things you should know-

  We didn't know it at the time but we went at an in-between time. The weekend before we went there was a hot air balloon festival. The weekend after was Columbus Day and fall foliage. Thursday was dead and Friday was slightly busier. We could hardly believe Lake George was a tourist town on Thursday as it looked like we should see tumbleweeds. Saturday we could tell the population doubled. During a summer weekend or a three day weekend like Labor Day and Columbus Day, it doesn't take much imagination to see how crowded it can get. There is one main road in, and I'm sure it can get backed up for miles. Though we had no trouble during our stay. 

   I would certainly make motel reservations if you go.

   There are plenty of places to eat from sub shops to fine dining. It is a tourist town so expect to pay a little more.

   I can't say enough good things about the Lake George Steamboat Company cruises

   There is a fort, Fort William Henry, right across the street from the docks that was used during the French and Indian War. We didn't go there but I'm sure it is interesting. Cost $20/ adult. Tour is only 45 minutes long. 

Statue and sign (below)
 at the Battle of Lake George Park

   There is also a battlefield park two blocks down with statues and interpretive signs. We went there for half an hour Friday evening. It was a nice spot. Lots of picnic tables.

   Once you get a motel, Lake George is a walking town. From one end to  the other is only a mile or so. We walked most of the time. There is street parking and parking meters.