Diane and Tom Camping
Indian Lake NY
Tom and Diane have been going camping for the last 23 years. We find it soothes our souls and restores our sanity. Every year we return to our favorite place in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. The camp is on Lewey and Indian Lakes about one hour northwest of Lake George. It is an area in the central Adirondack Forest Preserve that has the most wilderness area, good size mountains and the most bears. We have also been camping in Acadia National Park in Maine, and on the beach in Montauk, New York and Assateague Island in Maryland (wild ponies). We have had some very interesting experiences we would like to share with you. We've also added two photo albums so you can really get in the spirit. Take a look at our idea of heaven on earth--visit our Camping Album and our Waterfalls Album. We included pictures of the falls at Lewey Lake as they looked the day after Hurricane Katrina hit.
Camping with Kitties
In the past three years, we adopted a number of kittens and take them camping with us for the two weeks in the
mountains. The two oldest were a little over two years old last summer camping. This was really an adventure. Since
these "girls" are indoor cats, we wanted them to be able to enjoy and
experience the outdoors safely, so we hunted for quite some time for an
appropriate enclosure where they could see out, could not run away, be safe
from wild animals, and give them enough room to run and jump. In the end, we
got them their own tent. It had a regular closed tent in the back with
a fully enclosed screen room in the front. With this, they could spend
the day watching the ducks and chipmunks and people on the lake and then be
secured at night or if it rained. Now we have a sleeping
tent, a screen tent for eating, a kitchen canopy tent for our cooking area;
and the cat's tent. A neighbor in the next campsite came over and
wanted to know if we were going to have a big party with all those tents!!! Lots of people bring dogs, but we
have been the first to
bring cats to the campsite. They were the hit of the campground--people stopped
their cars on the road to look at them; people came into the campsite to see them and talk
to us about them; people brought their children to pet them; people took pictures,
etc. As a matter of fact, it caused such a stir that word even spread to the town of
Indian Lake. We heard town's people talking about it in the Laundromat and the local
pub!!! The cats adapted very well. They were mesmerized with the ducks,
birds and chipmunks in the site. They took to riding in a big carrier on the boat
and sniffed the fish we caught and showed them. They rode all over with us when we
went antiquing. Take a look at our "little girlies" (Marmalade--the orange one; Creamsicle--the buff one; Truffle
--the black one; Marshmallow --the white one; and Pepper the striped one) on our Camping Kitties page.
Camping Trials and Tribulations
During the years, we have encountered many (shall we say) challenges during our camping
vacations. They have ranged from relatively minor things like continually sliding off the
air mattress to life threatening experiences. Do you want to know more? Visit Trials and Tribulations in the middle
of the Adirondacks. Read about our latest adventures (including the adventures of
our camping kitties) from last summer while the thunder rumbles. 
Gourmet Cooking and Romance At the Campsite
If you have already visited our cooking pages, you're probably wondering what do these
people eat in the wilderness. Well, how many people do you know who take
Champagne vinegar, foie gras, lobster, crabmeat, sushi quality tuna, various honeys with nuts,
fresh herbs, figs, and Chanterelle
mushrooms camping? We take two HUGE 160 quart coolers chock full of good stuff. One
year a young couple came into our site to ask if we had an extra stick of butter. We
always laugh about us going to someone else to ask if they might have a few extra shitake
mushrooms. We do eat a lot of good stuff--you know the kind--stuff that tastes great, but
supposedly is not good for you--dry aged prime steaks, lamb, lobster, crab, foie gras, pancakes, bacon,
eggs, sour cream and chives, etc. We also bring a couple of bottles of wine for each
dinner. To avoid having the wine killed from the heat, we took a couple small
coolers, and let a little ice melt into cool water under the picnic table. It worked
like a charm and kept the wine at exactly the right temperature. Last
year one night after a weather front came through, the air was crisp, the sky clear with
millions of stars, and the evening still. We turned off all the lanterns and had
only the fire for light. We sipped more soft and velvety French Burgundy while
listening to Placido Domingo romantic ballads on the CD player and watched the stars
without saying a word. The evening ended with dancing by the fire under the whole
Milky Way---truly romance incarnate!!! We now have a seafood course
with every dinner, e.g., cold lobster with lemon dill mayo, fresh grilled salmon
cakes, grilled king crab legs with melted butter, etc. I also got great use of my
new battery operated blender! I realized last year that it is really easy to
roast peppers over the Coleman stove--so we had roasted red pepper and goat cheese grilled
pizzas and roasted pepper crostini as well. This last year we
replaced the charcoal grill with a small gas grill. It works very well
to slow cook something like ribs and then turn up the heat to caramelize
them with sauce for the last few minutes. It also is better for baking
since it holds an even temperature.. Want something else great, grill a piece
of foie gras with some grilled honeyed figs--to die for!!!! If you would like to
hear more about some typical camping meals, visit Gourmet Camping Menus .
We had added some new menus from last summer.
Camping Inventory
OK, OK--so we're into inventories and lists. Well, off in the boonies there are not a lot
of shopping malls and big stores, so we need to make sure that we take everything with us.
Well, do you really want to know what a couple of "foodies" and
"pack-rats" consider just normal and ordinary minimal camping requirements for
two weeks. Well, check out What we take to make it a memorable
vacation. We have updated it to reflect our new cooking experimentation.
Fishing
One of the activities we both enjoy is fishing. Of course, Diane won't put the worm on the
hook, or take the fish off the hook, but it's still fun for all. We have fished so much
that we have both worn out our poles and had to get new ones. A couple of years ago, we
caught over 120 fish a piece. We also got a new
electric ignition motor for our boat---no more breaking Tom's arm pulling the ignition
rope!! In the mountains, we rarely get anything big enough to eat, and always
throw them back in. As a matter of fact, there have been some smart-alec questions when
looking at pictures of our catches, about whether they were fish or earrings. In Montauk,
however, we chartered an ocean fishing boat and Diane caught a 40 pound striped bass.
Unfortunately, we had to throw it back in because it was one inch too short. So--you
don't believe it!! Just another fish story!! Ha--the one that got away!!
Well take a look for yourself!
For more information on the Adirondacks and camping, visit Adirondacks and Camping Hot Links
Updated February 18, 2008