Adirondack Exploration

Ever had somewhere that you have always wanted to visit?  Well I have always wanted to see the Adirondacks and that was my plan setting out from Albany.  But first I was going to do a teeny detour.  Most everything we had done so far was for my mom, a little for me, but nothing that really thrilled my dad. I had spied a sign and so I had a plan. 

Of course we needed a restroom and I saw a place to stop.  What an awesome rest area in New York, called the Mohawk Valley Welcome Center.  There was a small museum type area inside with all sorts of information!

 We weren't far from Cooperstown, where the baseball hall of fame is located.  But that will be another trip.

Outside was a wonderful play area, and an informative walk along the river explaining how the lock system worked. 

We headed out again, my super secret stop was in Ilion, NY and the Remington Museum.  The Remington Foundry is one of the oldest continuously operated manufacturer in the United States.  The museum was small, but boy was it loaded with all sorts of neat things.

My dad thoroughly enjoyed the museum and he did a little bit of shopping for some memorabilia.

I was then off to explore the Adirondacks.  We started on Highway 28.  We stopped at a little farm stand, and picked up some tomatoes, and I so wish I had taken some pictures.  The owner's husband made planter baskets out of fallen tree limbs, and they were huge!  While I was waiting for my mom and chatting with the owner I told her I was a quilter.  Well did she have a quilt store for me, and it was on my way!

The Crazy Moose in Inlet was so completely worth the stop.  Small store, packed full of fabric, patterns and kits.  They had kits made up of so many patterns, I was amazed.

I couldn't resist the McKenna Ryan Welcome wall hanging, and they had two adorable Row by Row kits that I couldn't pass up. 

The scenery is beautiful, but man there are lots of small towns and most of the lakes have cabins packed around them.  A few years earlier my mom and a cousin had traveled the area doing genealogical research and had stopped at a small museum with lots of information regarding the Abenaki Indians.  I stopped at one museum and my mom said no, that is definitely not it.  So we drove on.  After a short time my mom decided I had went the wrong way and we should turn around.  We went back to the one museum and went in.  It is now called the Adirondack Experience, it is an interactive museum, very neat place, but a bit spendy at $20 per person. The original building sits way back on the property and has been remodeled, and there is a lot of new construction.  There is a lot of information about the pioneers, hunting, fishing, lumber barons, logging, mining,  transportation, winter sports, the Olympics and a little about the Abenaki, most of the collection is now in storage. 

I liked this sculpture but it is hard to see.  It is a person carrying a canoe with cat tails nearby. 

One of the stagecoaches that went to the Adirondacks between the lakes. 

 I liked this art piece that was painted on how the indigenous people feel about how their land is treated. 

 Some basketry

Very pretty baskets.  I think these were more of a commercially made basket to sell to tourists, not utilitarian. 

There were some interesting furniture pieces which had been donated.

 Coat rack made out of birch bark and deer hooves. 

I loved the porch overlooking the lake.

I have a hard time reconciling myself to how many cabins were around the lakes especially after growing up on the west coast where most lakes have few if any homes, and are easily accessible to the public. 

Even the islands had houses. 

We left the Adirondack Experience and headed North East toward Lake Placid.  But it was getting late, and so instead we headed toward Plattsburgh, where we were going to spend the night. 

Definitely a return trip someday to explore the area more thoroughly.