Trip to the Adirondacks in August of
2004
We took pretty much the ONLY gap between soccer events, this summer and
took a family vacation (a long weekend)
up to the Adirondacks.. We stayed in Keene Valley (just a few miles
from Lake Placid). Kerry had been there the previous
winter, but no one else in the family had been up there. We stayed
at a VERY nice Bed & Breakfast, the Keene Valley Inn..
The kids loved the B&B, especially playing "Clue" each night downstairs.
Speaking of breakfast, there is a shot of one such breakfast,
and you can tell that not everyone at the table is a true morning person!
We did quite a bit during our stay, but not nearly as much as we had talked
about. In fact during the drive up Tom got to
pump gas (you can't do that in New Jersey, but you can in New York). As
you can see from the photo, it was raining during
the ride up. In fact, the weather looked very iffy due to Hurricanes
Bonnie and Charley, but we got lucky and had good weather
for most of the trip. It was a bit drizzling that first Friday morning,
but after that we had excellent weather.
Kari also enjoyed picking up the French language radio stations from Canada
during our drive up. We did go into Lake Placid, and visit several
of the Olympic venues, and even took a Bobsled ride down one of the Olympic
courses - the 1932/1980 Bobsled course.. That first day it was VERY
misty and rainy, but it did clear up enough later to get in some very nice
hikes. Kerry did get part of a day of rock climbing in, and later that
day he and the kids took a couple of more hikes including up to Roaring Brooks
Falls. In addition, the kids had a GREAT time at Chapel Pond, perfecting
the age old art of skimming stones. There were also walks to the Noonmark
diner for ice cream and meals, along with a drive around the Ausable Club
(to see how the other half lives). On our last day there we went
horse back riding (at the Bark Eater), and to be quite honest it was probably
the BEST horse ride we've EVER taken. There were a lot of exciting cantering
and trotting!!! Kari was on Saranac, Tom had Black Jack, and Kerry was on
Chili. Our guide for the ride was Jillian, and she did a great job. All
in all it ended up being a really good vacation.
Below is a "view" from the top of the hike we took on the way back from
Lake Placid that Friday. We took the
Baxter Mountain Trail. It was a nice, albeit steep little hike
(about 45 minutes each way), but at the top things were completely socked
in.
The other picture below is just a view looking across Chapel Pond.
Below is nice shot of the kids at Chapel Pond, just prior to a world class
skipping stones competition, which I think that maybe Tom won. The
other
picture shows the kids at a stream, as we were heading to another little
hike on the Valley Trail. Probably the nicest hike we did was the little
hike up to Roaring Creek Falls, which was a very easy, but excellent hike.
Kerry did get a part day of rock climbing, and enjoyed some excellent
climbing. He climbed with Mark, and they got in six climbs
at the Deadwater Area. Below is one shot Kerry took looking
down from a neat corner they did. As mentioned earlier, Kerry and the
kids had a GREAT day of horse back riding that Sunday, and here's one picture
of Tom on his steed, Black Jack.
Again the kids had a great time, and it was a very, very nice trip.
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