Date: September 26, 2010
Location: Plattekill, NY
1000
“We are over run with those damn leaf peepers” is a answer I got once from a motel clerk as I questioned why we were having a hard time finding a vacancy sign on a sleeping establishment. Connie and I has chosen to take a little trip with little planning and found that there were a lot of those “damn leaf peepers” ahead of us, taking up most of the motel rooms. Last Tuesday Connie and I became part of the crowd of leaf peepers. It was our “week-end” and we headed up to Lake George.
The drive up the Hudson Valley was a pleasure as we headed into the Adirondacks and watched the hill sides come alive with a spattering of autumn color. The green lushness of the Adirondack Mountain’s beauty is slowly draining as the vibrant reds and oranges speckle the dramatic horizon. The higher we climbed the more vibrant the trees yelled the on set of fall. The artist pallet of pastel life is slowly filling the Adirondacks and warning we leaf peepers of the end of summer and the soon onset of winter. If it is not your favorite season it has to be the most colorfully beautiful season. Maybe the leaf peepers know what they are doing.
Our sojourn to Lake George was a cacophony of color, beauty and a learning experience. We not only learned what the leaf peepers were doing, but we also learned that the side walks in Lake George get rolled up and placed in storage the second the calendar turns the page after Labor Day. Our hotel was open, with very few rooms rented; that was a good thing. The town had a lot of restaurants, all of which were closed due to the lack of customers during the fall season; that was a bad thing. The quaint expectation of finding a water front eatery at which we could leave a lot of money and take away a full tummy and new memories will have to be stored until the town reemerges from its winter’s sleep. We found many eateries, all of which had signs warning us that they were closed. Some of which were on the lake and would have, I am sure, loved to take our money. We sadly were in Lake George on Tuesday and Wednesday and it seems that those days disappear from the commercial calendar on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in September.
Taking the lemonade out of lemons philosophy we did make our “week-end” enjoyable and a well deserved escape form our daily grind. The beauty of Mother Nature’s artistic colors splashed through out the mountain sides of the Adirondacks can never be underestimated. Just being in the charm and beauty of the Adirondacks is always an opportunity for Connie and me to find energy to recharge our soulful batteries. There is a feeling of energy that exudes form the charm and beauty of the Adirondacks. Sometimes finding a place to fill the meal desires of your soul is a bit more difficult.
We loved the charm and promise of Lake George. We were sadly there on a day when it was closed. We did fully appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature as she is beginning her colorful transition from a warm summer to a long winter of sleep. We even strolled the streets of Lake Placid, one of our favorite small cities in this country. It may not have been the week-end that we had envisioned when we headed north form our campground, but it was a satisfying sojourn through fall’s artist pallet of autumn’s beauty. We had become “damn leaf peepers” and we were enjoying every minute of it. Next time we may want to verify the world we are going to visit is open for business.
By the way, Glen’s Falls has a great Olive Garden restaurant with a friendly waitress, a great sample of red wine and, of course, fantastic food. It was open, but it is not anywhere near the lake. |