Adirondack Mountains, New York

We left our campground north of Ticonderoga to visit the Ausable chasm.  Lots of great activities here besides viewing the dramatic falls - a little rock climbing, river crossing, hiking, and tubing.

Bet the grandkids would love this!

We drove west across the Adirondacks through beautiful mountain scenery - would love to return in the Fall to see Autumn colors.

Captivated by all the old barns, many literally falling down

Hay in the Loft!

We drove through Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics.  I wanted to stop to see the Olympic Training Center and walk through town, but it was mobbed.  There were parking lots big enough for us, but no spots were available.  Abandoned the idea and maybe will return in the Fall during the week when hopefully, it would be less busy.

We planned to drive up the summit of Whiteface Mountain, but it was party cloudy so decided to not spend the $25 to make the drive for poor hazy views. On to our campground halfway between Lake Placid and Saranak Lake - another pretty tourist town.

We drove to the Wild Center, and privately owned natural history museum.  What a fantastic job they did, teaching about nature in this part of the world.  Walked the treetop trails with lots of interactive exhibits about birds and other animals that inhabit the forest - including a replica of the largest eagle's nest every recorded that we could walk into and kids had a grand time playing in the bouncy "spider-web."  I thought I knew quite a bit about local birds, but learned these couple of new-to-me items about woodpeckers:  The head-bashing they take is equivalent to a car speeding 26,000 mph and making a dead stop; woodpeckers do not just peck for food, they peck to make noise - their equivalent of birdsong (now I understand why they peck the gutters and the house siding!); and when the do look for their favorite food, carpenter ants, they peck on the tree first to listen for the sound of scuttling ants, then bore in and can eat the entire colony.  So......there.

At the Wild Center, we also walked through a musical installation called the iForest.  The composer wrote multiple music pieces for a choir that he recorded each voice individually.  Then he mixed the tapes so that they would be balanced and heard throughout the forest walk through many speakers - an amazing ethereal experience!

Inside the Wild Center, many interactive exhibits of local animals and short films throughout the day about different aspects of wildlife, the iForest, and the Adirondacks.  Do not miss this if you are in the area, especially great for children.

Replica of largest recorded eagle's nest

Spider Web

Migration Distances

We stopped for the night at the only commercial campground in the area - an oldtime Adirondack seasonal campground - forested and very hilly with unlevel sites, electric, but no TV or WIFI and no toilet paper in the bathrooms - charging $35 per night.  Pretty darn high, but guess when you are the only game in town with electricity at the sites, you can get away with it.  They had a laundry that I was planning to use, but the dryers are so rusted, I would be surprised if they worked at all and the washers looked clean, but smelled a bit funky.  No way am I using that laundry - will find a commercial laundromat somewhere today.

Gorgeous weather - mid 70's during the day and great sleeping with low 60's at night.  We had a nice steak dinner last night, and noticed that it is getting dark earlier and ealier and the roadside wildflowers are dominated by Queen Anne's Lace and Goldenrod - late summer is upon us.