Hotels & Lodging The Adirondacks: finding peace in nature Lake George lodging New York paddle sports Tea Island Resort The Adirondacks
by maribeth
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Finding Serenity at Tea Island Resort in Lake George
My New Favorite Place: Tea Island Resort
Teatime
As I wrote in A Cancer Journey of Heartbreak, Love, Resilience and Hope, these have been trying times. But there’s nothing like changing up your surroundings to gain a better outlook on a situation. Or even better, to forget about your problems–even for one brief shining moment–all together. I find this easiest to do in nature, in a spectacular setting such as the one that seizes all your senses, one amply provided at Lake George, New York in the Adirondacks.
Tea Island at Daybreak
Seeking solace at Lake George is not a new concept to me because for over forty years my family owned a house on this pristine body of water. There’s something very cleansing about her silky waters whether you’re swimming in them, floating on them or gazing at them from the shore; they sooth with a penetrating calm. Sitting on her shores listening to the water lap up onto a beach, a seawall or a dock is to me one of the most transcending sounds I know.
Tea Island Resort Morning View
Setting Up the Day
Ever since the family home was sold a couple of years ago, I’ve enjoyed experiencing this “Queen of American Lakes” from different vantage points. I love staying in hotels and have been delighted to find that there are many good ones on Lake George.
Hotels & Lodging New York The Adirondacks: Adirondacks family-friendly Lake George Lake George Steamboat Company lodging Surfside
by maribeth
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Surfside in Lake George: A Fun Place of Lodging for All
Surfside on the Lake
View from My Balcony
A Beautiful Day at Surfside
LG View from My Kayak
Like most people, I’ve been having a hard time letting go of summer. Although Colorado’s high peaks were frosted with the first significant snows of the season last week, here in the northeast where I’m currently based, the weather is gorgeous. Really. And the forecast continues to be fabulous for the upcoming week or more. I’m talking low to mid-80s glorious!
With this kind of sunshine, warmth and humidity, you can stick more than your big toe in beautiful Lake George, New York, one of the most heralded bodies of water in the Adirondacks. I did just that last weekend on a little getaway that I enjoyed toute seule (that means all alone, which is just what I very much needed).
My Surfside Suite
I picked Surfside on the Lake because I had heard they recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation and I knew I wanted to check it out. Plus, I remembered their iconic roadside sign from many many summers spent at Lake George. My curiosity was piqued on all fronts and I was longing to find out what kind of a property stretched all the way down to the lake behind their fun-spirited sign, one eye-catching piece of roadside architecture among many on the busy route that skirts the west side of the lake.
Outdoor Adventures Skiing & Snowboarding The Adirondacks: Adirondacks Lake George summer fun summertime memories waterskiing
by maribeth
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Summer Fun at Lake George, New York
Early Morning Waterskiing on Lake George, New York
It’s My Turn
I’ve been at Lake George, New York the past couple of weeks. With the exception of a stay in New York City, largely to attend the BlogHer 2015 Conference, I’ve been parked at my family’s camp on the east side of this thirty-two-mile-long body of water. Although I’m still spending inordinate amounts of time on my laptop, it has been delightful being at the lake and visiting with family and a few old friends.
My parents’ house, situated on the east side of Lake George, the predominantly residential part of this magnificent Adirondack lake, holds countless memories for me. I have spent many summers here over the past forty-four years and will always feel a very special connection to this place. It had been seven years since I had been here during this blissful season when the days are long and hot and the temperature of the lake is at its peak, so this visit has touched off an overwhelming sense of nostalgia in many ways. Water-wise, from jumping off the boathouse into the silky depths of the lake, to paddling around the bay in a canoe, to enjoying a sunset boat cruise with my parents, my heart has swelled in reliving some of my favorite summertime activities at LG these past weeks.
I didn’t realize that one of my most memorable moments from childhood would be recreated this summer. I never imagined that this summer’s big adventure would occur on Lake George with an adrenaline surge the likes of which I haven’t experienced in years. Twenty-five years to be exact. I’m talking about waterskiing as you’ve likely gathered from the photos at the top of this post. Phew–what a rush! I last waterskied two and a half decades ago in the Mediterranean, however, I hadn’t skied much on water ten years prior to that–in truth, I had hardly skied since I was a kid. Even then, I didn’t do it a whole lot.
Skiing & Snowboarding The Adirondacks: Powder Days Ski Instructor's Life Skiing in the West Telluride Ski Resort Winter 2015
by maribeth
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Loving the Crazy Powder Days
Exhilarated in the Gondola After Having Skied a Lap with Dave, a Fellow Ski instructor
Snowy Telluride, Colorado
Just after I posted my story The West’s Dry, Sunny and Warm Winter of 2015, the big snows began to arrive in the West, especially here in Telluride, Colorado. Woo-hoo! It has snowed 46” within the past seven days and it’s still coming down. Everyone from beginners to experts and visitors to locals are struck with pow fever. It feels like the Fourth of July with all the boom, boom, booms that can be heard resonating from atop the mountain for avalanche control work and throughout the energy level of all the snowsports enthusiasts feels electric. Yay, winter is back!
Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living The Adirondacks Travel: Hotels & Lodging Lake George Mountain Living The Adirondacks Travel
by maribeth
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Visiting My Beautiful Adirondack Lake with the Lake George Steamboat Company
Fall: A Stunning Time to Take a Boat Ride on Lake George, New York
Golden Vistas
I’m back in Colorado after my three-week trip to the Adirondacks in upstate New York. It’s gorgeous here in the Rockies and it looks like the fall foliage will peak this weekend in most areas. All next week should be spectacular as well, especially since it snowed last night and with the sun shining again the vistas resemble sugarcoated autumnal Candy Lands resplendent with red, orange, yellow, green and blue (the sky, of course).
Part of my heart, however, remains at Lake George, dubbed “The Queen of American Lakes” by Thomas Jefferson. I spent my time in the Adirondacks with my parents where they’ve had a second home on Lake George for over forty years. While I was there, I was busy doing my writer thing and helping them out, however, I seized every opportunity to embrace the beauty, wonder and comforting spirit of the lake, a crystalline body of water whose heavenly scent and silky feel I can still conjure in my senses. After having spent a dozen fat summers there while growing up and having returned for both brief and extended visits ever since, to me, Lake George feels like an old friend, a dear companion that always welcomes me home with heaps of love and reassurance. Even after eleven years in Paris and almost twelve in Colorado, I never tire of this lake and its shores; its beauty, grace, resilience and sometimes turbulent force continue to amaze me.
Art & Culture Food & Wine Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas The Adirondacks Travel: Art & Culture Food & Wine Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas The Adirondacks
by maribeth
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Adirondack Day Trip
On the Road to Paradise
It’s actually pretty hard to do a day trip to the Adirondack Park, the largest protected area in America as big as the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined. It’s also the largest National Historic Landmark in the country, yet much of the land within the Adirondack Park is privately owned including small towns, hamlets and islands. This impressive land mass—totally void of a real city—is in the middle of nowhere. But it is within driving distance of some 80 million people, so don’t expect to be completely alone in the woods. Although that can easily happen, too.
Lake Placid, the town (and, of course, lake) that to me represents the heart of the Adirondacks, is a two-hour drive from Albany and Montreal and a five-hour drive from New York City and Boston. (Although it’s only thirty minutes from I-87, also known as The Northway, if you forego the most scenic route.) The Park contains the Adirondack mountain range, some of the oldest mountains in America, verdant and thickly forested and best typified by a blue-green body of crystal clear water at their base. The High Peaks, the most formidable mountains of the Adirondacks, are located near Lake Placid which is largely why this resort town became such a hub for athleticism and outdoor activities. I find the history, culture and arts and crafts of the region to be immensely rich here as well, so that’s usually where I focus most of my attention whenever I venture into this part of the Adirondack Park.
I was stationed for a while at my parents’ summer home on Lake George, a thirty-two mile-long slice of spring-fed, glacier melt that borders the Adirondack Park to the southeast. And even from there, a day trip into the heart of the Adirondacks represented some doing. But my mom was always up for an adventure, a more than willing driver that loves to see new sites and revisit old ones. So I only had to don my tour director’s cap and off we went. It was a momentous occasion of sorts since my dad was joining us and as we commented halfway through the day, it was indeed the first time the three of us embarked upon a road trip together. (In fact my love for places of tradition and charm grew out of jaunts to Vermont country stores and such with my mother when I was a young girl. Dad was usually off working then and unavailable to join in our fun.)We drove the Northway a couple of exits up from Lake George and got off the highway to pick up Route 28 at Warrensburg, a sleepy little town peppered with antique stores. I remembered when I bought a whole set of wicker porch furniture from one of the dealers for a song.
