The Adirondacks, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011

Our original plan was to spend two nights in Plattsburgh, but since we did everything we wanted to do in the vicinity, we decided to check out of our room today, do some things in the Adirondacks, and continue west to make our drive on Sunday that much shorter.

After a gift shop, our first real stop was at Whiteface Mountain. We found that the gondolas were up and running, so we took the ride up to the summit of Little Whiteface. We could hear the skiers shooshing beneath us as we began the ascent. The entire trip took us up 2400 feet from the base of the mountain. The peak of Big White Face was still higher than us, but the rest of the Adirondacks were spread out beneath us. We watched skiers starting down from the summit, but we could not really see them on their journey down the front of the mountain. The best views were of the back of the mountain, and we could see the road we travelled on yesterday when we were looking up at this same spot. After soaking up the view for a little while, we got back in the gondola for the trip down. Julie was a little bit nervous about the ride, even though it was her idea. Once on the trip down, the gondola came to a rocking stop as the cable ceased moving for a moment. Mom let slip a naughty word, and the girls didn’t let her forget it for the rest of the day.

Our look for some hot chocolate became an early lunch before we left the ski area. We then made our way to Lake Placid, where we stopped at a few of the cute stores that Julie had spotted yesterday.

From there, we continued on to the Wild Center, further down the road. It’s an innovative look at the natural history of the Adirondack region and the creatures that inhabit it. It was definitely a fun place to visit, and not just because we learned that New York state teachers are admitted for free. The center is very new and filled with exciting exhibits. In the entry area, a grove of birch trees is growing indoors, and a small owl was being shown to visitors by a staff member. The first exhibit was saw is a look at the glaciers that created the area. We saw otters swimming in a tank, but also were able to smell them and compare their scents to minks and beavers. We learned the moose had been hunted out of the Adirondacks by lumberjacks who hunted them for food back in the 1800s, but they are slowly being reintroduced to the area. After exploring the large building and its exhibits, we walked briefly on the nature trails outside. The bridge over the large pond was cleared, but there was snow on much of the trail, so we didn’t do much of it. The girls couldn’t keep out of the snow, though. You’d think they were from Florida and had never seen it before the way they carried on. The weather was in the 50s, though and the sun was often shining today. Oddly, we didn’t see any wild animals the whole day except for those that were here at the Wild Center.

We continued on through the Adirondacks, and suspect that Julie had the secret plan to go all of the way home today. As we approached Watertown, Scott suggested that we stop at the Sacket’s Harbor Brewing Company for dinner. We got treated to a “bottle rocket” in the parking lot when Julie dropped a 2 liter Pepsi bottle. The top of it blew off and it went shooting across the parking lot, disappearing under the next car faster than we could react. In the brewery, we learned that we like the food on the “pub” side better than on the restaurant side. Scott tried the sampler again, and found that the 1812 Ale is still his favorite, though the Railroad Red Ale was also good. The University of Virginia was losing an embarrassing football game to Virginia Tech, so we decided to continue on down the road. Julie seemed to be wearing down, and though she tried, we didn’t make it home today. We stopped in a hotel in Auburn, a little more than two hours from home.