Old Forge, New York

If I lived in New York near the Adirondacks, I would definitely want to vacation there. Or even my own summer house.

While visiting my relatives in Utica, New York, for a few days, my cousin, a friend, and I drove up to Old Forge, New York, for the day. The day was hot and despite the heat, I still could appreciate the beauty of the area. Everywhere that I looked there were trees, mountains, lakes and more.

We parked and started to walk around the quaint little town. We walked in and out of the different boutique stores and eclectic shops. But my favorite store was the Old Forge Hardware Store. This store truly had everything from soup to nuts. The store was all on one floor and you could fine anything that you wanted and needed from camping, hiking, to fishing gear, You could also find camp dishes and  regular dishes and many amenities for a home, along with place mates, napkins, table cloths, glasses dishes, mugs, pots and pans, and more. There was every type of hardware. I came across three rooms that were filled with books and children’s toys. But my favorite area was the yarn and knitting books. I bought a few different skeins of yarn and a book to keep me busy with some knitting projects.

After visiting most of the shops, we ate lunch and then went to tour the Adirondack’s Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed because of a wedding. Maybe this was fortunate for us because we ended up taking a boat cruise on the lakes. We sat on the top deck for a two hour cruise of Old Forge. There are eight lakes in the Fulton Chain of Lakes that flows through Old Forge. Interesting, the lakes are named: 1^st Lake, 2^nd Lake, and 3rd, Lake, 4^th Lake, 5^th Lake, 6^th Lake, 7^th Lake, and 8^th Lake. Our cruise covered the first four lakes.

Along the landscape, were the houses and cabins, boat docks and boats filled the area. In the back ground were the Adirondack Mountains and they were amazing. The boat ride was calming and the view breath-taking. The sun was hot but there was a cool breeze. Along the way we saw Treasure Island, a small light house, the home of the former President Harrison, and many boaters and swimmers. Our cruise followed the old steamboat route through the Fulton Chain of Lakes. The day was perfect and beautiful. The trip mellowed me out making me wish that we covered the rest of the lakes.

Maybe that will be for another time. No, not maybe – I definitely will make the time to do another cruise on another visit.