Road Greetings from Lake George, NY!

Lake George NY, our latest Road Greeting is about ½ hour North of Saratoga Springs NY (Northampton Road Greeting). On the way to Lake George, we stopped overnight at Bowman Orchards, a member of ‘Harvest Hosts’, which is about an hour south of Lake George, in Rexford, NY. We arrived to find that a turbulent storm had knocked out power, downed trees and power lines not only at the orchard, but throughout the town of Rexford shortly before our arrival. Needless to say, the welcome wagon was not anxiously awaiting our arrival. Make no mistake, they were cordial and saw us to our spot, but then they were off to take care of much more pressing and important matters.

We set up our A-Frame trailer, played Scrabble and then went off to sleep to the distant hum of Bowman’s generator. In the morning, we purchased Bowman’s Apple Cider, a half-peck of Golden Delicious apples and a wedge of aged cheese. They had other options (food and otherwise) at their General Store and Bakery. Since Kyle restricts fried foods we opted away from the deliciously scented apple cider doughnuts (Kyle sooooo wanted them) and the multitude of fruit pies available. We did however partake in a couple of scones and Kyle even indulged in an oatmeal raisin cookie (shhh - don’t tell anyone he gave in to his sugar-craving). After our sweet-treats, we visited Bowman’s animal farm where we saw pigs, goats and horses. We then packed up and hit the road for our hour push northward towards Lake George.

Based on a recommendation, we stayed at Moose Hillock RV Resort in a town located about 15 minutes East of Lake George called Fort Ann. While the visit was pleasant and the campsites were spacious, secluded, level, clean along with full hookups; there was very little to do in the way of entertainment. The main attraction is their award-winning heated pool, which in October was completely emptied and closed for the season. Why then would we choose such a campground this time of year one may ask? An unforeseen scheduling conflict arose at the end of summer when we normally go. Fortunately, the area is absolutely gorgeous as the Autumnal colors during the first and second weeks of October were ‘popping’ at every turn our heads went.

On our first afternoon in town we took an extended walk and explored the lakefront area of Lake George. We’ve been to Lake George a few times, but always on the Labor Day weekend. This mid-to-late-week visit in October was a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle on the unofficial end of summer weekend we are so used to experiencing. What a difference just a month can make! Seemingly we were amongst mostly locals and wondered what the weekend held in store for us mere out-of-towners?!?! Fortunately, by the time it arrived, a different story was in play.

We observed a few weddings going on in different areas of the town. One was big and elegant while another was small and cordial, with the third being somewhere in between. All were held outdoors.

Each day we tried to keep active by walking, bike riding, hiking and shopping (more walking). We managed to hike up (and down) Prospect Mountain, which starts in the town of Lake George, behind the main drag. Our hike was an ‘Out & Back’, meaning that we started and ended in the same spot, by hiking in one direction up to the top of the mountain and then after eating some snacks and taking pictures, we doubled back down the same trail. All in all, we hiked a little over 2.5 miles of glute building rocks on the way up and 2.5 more of quad pounding rocks on the way down.

The following day, we decided to take a Rails-to-Trails type paved trail from the Hotels and Outlets area of Lake George to the Historical District on the waterfront of the town, where there are plenty of small shops to buy souvenirs and restaurants to choose from to partake food and drink. There are a number of lake boats patrons can buy tickets to take a pleasure cruise, the most famous of which is arguably the ‘Minne-Ha-Ha’; a real steam paddle-boat that toots its whistling-horns and creates musical chimes as it cruises along the stretches of the town’s namesake lake!

We also explored Warren County bike path, a scenic, educational 9 mile bike route that starts in Lake George Village and travels through historic sites into Glens Falls. On the bike ride, we were admiring bright popping foliage colors and learning about the past historic events through the signs along the way.

We didn’t skip shopping on this trip. We found some pretty good deals at the Outlets at Lake George. Unfortunately, the deep discounts were due to ‘Going out of Business’ sales - seemingly more casualties of COVID-19.

As with most trips we’ve taken this year, we didn’t get to do everything we wanted. We will have to return next year and visit the areas we were unable to get to - one of which was to explore the Fort at Ticonderoga NY. Next time we go, we will probably visit another campground.