3 Days in Lake George

                                                   3 Days in Lake George 

We traveled to Lake George October 5-7. The purpose of this trip was leaf peeping.  Generally, Lake George wasn't at peak, but as we traveled the area we found some beautiful colors of leaves...so that was all good!  We  love to travel and meet interesting people, and I will have to say we met so many nice, friendly people on this trip.  I think people are adapting to speaking thru a mask, and there is just a lot less stigma associated with it. Early in our COVID traveling people were literally scared to speak.  Now, with precautions that seems to be lessening. 

Although I am an 8 year retired Elementary Teacher, I also have worked the past 13 years for Choice Hotels.  That ended with COVID in March, but this hotel we stayed at was my final "Employee Discount"..and it was a perfect ending to 13 years of traveling with Choice Hotels!

Quality Inn Lake George   We arrived about 11:00, and were able to check in early.  We were given the best room literally at the hotel...top floor, slider door to a wrap around  porch...with incredible views of the Fort, Lake George, and the mountains.  Each morning we saw delightful sunrises (Al was less than thrilled that I was opening and closing the slider door early to snap pics...but the memories and photos were so worth it!!)  I am ALWAYS about the sunrises and sunsets...new beginnings, closure to a day!!

After checking in we walked into the village to find lunch.  Such a cute little community, largely empty on this particular October morning.  We saw a Visitor's Center that happened to be open. Lake George tourism basically closes down after Columbus Day.  The man was super friendly and gave us all sorts of great information about the area, and places that would be open.  Not surprisingly, many places are working on limited days and hours.

163 Tap Room   We settled on coming here for lunch...perfect for us!!  We met our server April, who was uber friendly.  She was outgoing, knew a lot about different kinds of beers, and also gave us so much information about the area.  April was a very big help to us in so many ways, and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch here.  

Million Dollar Beach  This beach is currently closed, and it is gated off so noone can walk on it.  The area around it is super quaint to walk around just adjacent to the village.  There are cute little shops (many closed...but we aren't really shoppers anyway), and we were grateful the sun was shining!

Fort William Henry  We pre purchased timed 2:00 tickets to the fort.  The fort was literally across the street from our hotel, but we entered from the beach area. This was OK...group was a bit larger than I might have thought.  The guide was a bit more "violent speaking" than I would have liked, but Al did remind me that that was how people actually were back then and that he was playing a role.  I guess I've been programmed to the 2020 political correctness.  The musket and cannon shooting was cool...and the view from the top of the fort over Lake George was beautiful.  I was glad we went.

We walked back to our hotel...and drove to Queensbury to...

Northway Brewing Company, Queensbury  When we were in Cooperstown we visited their sister brewery Cooperstown Brewing Company.  We had bought Sunrise Session IPA which was brewed at Northway.  This is a very cute place.  Looks like it gets pretty busy on the weekends, but during the week it is quiet.  They have a Brewery dog Maggie that just wanders around getting petted!!  

Log Jam   We then drove to Log Jam for dinner which is located in the outlets area of Lake George.  I had been before with my friend for lunch, and we really enjoyed it so much.  Our dinner was good.  The signature tradition of this restaurant is their enormous buffet.  That can't work with COVID...so they have a list of stuff that is on the buffet.  You tell the server what you want, and the server creates a salad for you.  It was SOOOO good...just as I remembered.   Although we are always excellent tippers, we tipped even MORE since she had to make our salads for us!  I can't even imagine a table of 6...

Prospect Mountain   The next morning we drove up Prospect Mountain.  Traditionally, there was a $10 per car fee, and they had a shuttle at the top parking lot to take you to the top.  They were doing some construction at the top, so they stopped the shuttle and the fee.  We met a super friendly DEC man at the top parking lot.  He works as a car counter...and answers questions tourists have.  He told us that on the previous Sunday 800 cars had gone up...$8,000 in lost revenue. So sad.  From the parking lot we walked up to the top.  The views going up the mountain were glorious, the leaf colors were good, and we got great pics-but from the top the fog had dropped in and our pics weren't as good.  Really a must do when in Lake George!!

Caffe Vero  We drove back to the hotel and parked the car.  We walked into the village for a quick lunch/brunch at this little coffee shop.  There was a line to get in-and the food was good.  Always eat at a place with a line... Cute little place.

Lake George Steamboat Company  We had prebooked a 2 hour noon cruise on the Mohican.  We arrived about 25 minutes early, only to find booking had clearly started...and the boat was "packed" (half of the occupancy is 160!!) already, and we ended up not outside (I am an outside person these days), and our seats were across from the place where people bought food.  Despite all of that...the trip on Lake George up to Bolton Landing and back was beautiful. This really was our only company option at this time to go on a boat in October during COVID...but I don't really recommend this company if you have other choices. 

Shepard Park   Beautiful views right on the main drag (Canada St.) in the village.  No swimming at this time, but there is a beach.  Bathrooms were available (because trust me on this...once I sat on that boat I literally left my mask on (as did everyone else) and did not move!!!)  The flowers in this park were in full bloom, which was so shocking to us!!

Adirondack Winery  I did know that there was reservations for this place, but thought we wouldn't need them on a Tuesday in October...we did!!!!  Due to the unexpected beautiful sunny day, the day trippers were in town from Long Island and NYC.  Luckily, we popped in right after the boat, and were able to secure a reservation 1 1/2 hours later.  No worries...we enjoyed the village until we got in.  Our server Randy was actually a graduate of our college in our town SUNY Cortland that Al and I graduated from!  We had a great time chatting with Randy and catching him up on the status of our area.  The wine was good, but we could only buy 2 bottles...since we were walking back to our hotel...they get heavy!

The Lagoon  When we were at 163 Tap Room, April suggested The Lagoon for dinner.  Located right on Lake George, it has a beautiful outdoor dining area. When we arrived, Jennifer greeted us...and let us know she was actually April's next door neighbor.  This place was our kind of vibe.  The bartender/server  was super helpful...and the number of lobster dishes on this menu puts New England to shame!!! And...it was all good too!!!

We returned to our hotel and enjoyed a relaxing night out at the Fire Pit on the hotel property.

Fort Ticonderoga  Ticonderoga  On the way home (no it actually wasn't, but we weren't in any hurry) we drove north an hour to visit this fort. The weather was scheduled to be really bad, but we woke to a sunrise, and decided to make the trip. We saw gorgeous fall colors, so it was worth it for that alone. We did not prebook tickets, but just paid at the gate.  We got in about 1 1/2 hours before the rain started. I liked this fort a lot better!!  Not so violent, but they got the point across.   We did go in the rain to King's Gardens on property just to see Lake Champlain from another view.  We saw strawberries and vegetables growing in the garden...didn't exactly know October was strawberry season!

Flanagan's Pub and Grill Schroon Lake Using GPS is a challenge in the Adirondack Mountains.  We tried to find a place for lunch, and I was able to see that there was an Irish Pub in Schroon Lake that was open.  We figured it out, and arrived just as they were opening.  Super nice people, great food, and excellent COVID rules.  It was raining when we arrived...but it stopped as we left, and mostly  was clear as we drove home. 

Lake George was a lot of fun.  The weather cooperated which helped.  We enjoy traveling on the off season during the week days.  Less crowds are good for us.

For further details on any places mentioned here, please check my review for those places on Trip Advisor. 

Travel Tip from Laurie: Going to restaurants near opening time, or at the beginning of the shifts it is quiet.  The servers aren't tired yet, they are more free to chit chat (if that's your thing).  We learn so much about an area from talking to those who actually  live there and frequently get good recommendations for other places to visit.