Leaf Peeping

Paul and I spent the weekend in the Adirondack region of NYS leaf peeping and touring the region. The fall foliage was just about in peek color and the little bit of snow we experienced while visiting the top of Little Whiteface Mountain was a sure sign of the cold winter months to come.

We spent Saturday in Tupper Lake at the new Wild Center and then headed over to Blue Mountain Lake and walked through the Adirondack Museum. The Wild Center is a beautiful facility with lots of educational displays on how the region was formed as the glaciers moved through the area and receded to leave the lakes and mountains. Of course I liked the information on the native dwellers of the region – those with fur, fins or feathers. My favorite exhibit was the river otters, what a fun to watch them swim and play as they retrieved pieces of apple from the surface and stones from the river bottom.

They were having a fall fest at the Adirondack Museum with pumpkin painting, hay rides, cider making and a bunch more activities including a big pile of leaves for the kids to jump in. I enjoyed sharing the cider making demo with Paul because as a kid we use to spend a day each fall making cider with an old press that my Dad had. For the demo they had the same type of press we used except they powered the apple grinder with an old steam engine and Dad had attached a motor to his press. The best part of the demo was the free samples of the fresh squeezed cider – that really took me back. We finished up Saturday with a hike on some of the trails at Paul Smith’s Interpretative Center as we headed back to camp.

Sunday we headed over to Lake Placid and took a gondola ride up to the top of Little Whiteface to see the mountains covered in their final glory before being blanketed in snow for the winter. The colors this year seem especially good after the last couple of years when due to drought and other conditions the leaves have just kind of dried up and fell off the trees. There was an October fest on the mountains so Paul had a brew and some german potato salad as we walked through the exhibits. We walked through the shops in town and then headed back to camp for the evening.

Monday was spent doing as much as we could to help close camp for the winter before driving back home. My Aunt and Uncle will finish closing it up on Thursday. I really enjoyed the weekend and have found that I am creatively recharged and anxious to get to work.

Have a great day.