On our first day in the Adirondack Mountains we drove into the High Peaks region and drove up one of the highest mountains in the area called Whiteface Mountain. We parked near the top and took a lift in the heart of the mountain up 28 floors to the summit where we had panoramic views. Down below we could see the H shaped Lake Placid.
We drove down to the lake which hosted the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games. We couldn’t get to the lake edge as it is all private property but the town of Lake Placid was bustling and full of reminders of its Olympic heritage.
We stopped for a picnic on a smaller lake nearby, by a long pontoon and watched all the owners of holiday homes without road access cruise up to do their shopping.
Then on another day we walked into the Ausable Chasm, one of the oldest tourist spots in the States, but certainly a long way off the best. Expensive, with staff that saw visitors as fodder and not the basis of their pay. Still it was a nice walk from the Rainbow Falls where the chasm starts deeper into the gorge.
As chasms go it is pretty minor but on a hot day it was relief from the sun as we hiked along the paths fastened to the steep sides of the chasm with Ausable River tumbling over rocks below us. Most visitors then paid another $10 on top of the $16 they had paid already (all plus 10% taxes) and went on a short anaemic raft trip at the end of the chasm. We walked in peace along the rim and watched them float gently in the current below us.
Afterwards we went to a small museum that highlighted the local Underground Railroad, that escaped slaves used to escape to Canada (we are only 40 miles from the border here). It’s not a railroad and it’s not underground but a route with safe houses and kind helpers who passed the escapees on from one house to the next until they were safe in Canada where slavery had been outlawed in 1824.
Yesterday we took the ferry from New York State over Lake Champlain to Burlington in Vermont. Burlington is the largest city in Vermont and nicely situated on Lake Champlain, which is the biggest fresh water lake in the USA other than the Great Lakes. About 100 miles long by 8 miles wide. It was a beautiful day.
Behind Burlington we could see the Green Mountains of Vermont and in the other direction the high peaks of the Adirondacks. It was the annual Festival of Fools in Burlington and free entertainment all over the place from slapstick to acrobats. We had a wood fired pizza for lunch at an outdoor cafe on the main street while listened to some slapstick comedians balance a goblet of wine on their heads. It was very hot.
This week we start heading South again with a four day visit to the Finger Lakes in South East New York State, and then onto Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to take part in the 150th year commemoration of the start of the American Civil War in 1861.
