7/4/17 Saranac Lake, NY
It’s the Fourth of July.
This is a place I’ve wanted to visit for the past few years. I wanted to be in the mountains. I wanted to see them in the distance, to see
the night sky condensed with stars. To
smell crisp air with the fragrance of burnt wood. To listen to the birds calling. On the drive up we picked up Mo Cheeks who
took a bus from Boston to Albany. She
waited for forty minutes at the grungy bus depot among all sorts of
characters. We brought Buk with us and
stopped a couple of times. Traffic was
lighter than was I assumed. We rented a
sparkling new Pacifica. The roof opens
up, the seats are leatherette, and the council is sharp looking with a GPS. So, I drove up along windy roads where rivers
and brooks flow on the sides. I was
getting excited as we passed Saratoga Springs.
There were so many places which reminded me of the Delaware Water Gap,
the warning signs for tumbling boulders which could crush our rented minivan in
an instant. We found the house and claimed our rooms. It’s roomy in this log cabin. The house it situated in the woods, I don’t
see the neighbors, but can hear a large dog bark at times. It must be the size of a horse. I went out for a run on Saturday before it
began to rain. I may go out in a little
while for another. Eventually, we will
go for a hike. After all it is our last
day. We have taken the kayaks out into
Flower Pond. We have been into Lake
Placid at least twice and tried the local ice cream establishments. I have not found a place that makes a thick
vanilla shake, but altogether we are enjoying this trip. On Sunday, we went to Burlington
Vermont. The plan was to see The Burlington
Lake Monsters baseball game. I bought
the tickets in advance. Most of the kids
did not want to go. The trip to
Burlington was broken up by taking a ferry across Lake Champlain. Most places only take cash and this was not
an exception. Thank you to my son who
had some extra cash. Once across into
Vermont, it was another 40 minutes to Burlington. The parking lot at the stadium was full and
we parked a mile away at the Sheraton. I
was feeling stressed out and like I said none of the kids really wanted to see
the game. I wanted to see what it was
like since it’s one of the oldest stadiums still in use and Ali and I stayed
for two innings. She was complaining
since the late afternoon sun was burning her face. The Lake Monsters scored while we were
there. I ran back to get the minivan and
picked up the family. We spent a couple
of hours in Burlington, had dinner and of course Ben & Jerry’s. Church Street is closed to vehicles. Families were pushing strollers, some had
dogs. There were a group of kids playing
classical music and some pirates who has their own street folk
entertainment. It was relaxing and we
drove back as the sun was settling behind the mountains, casting off an orange
and yellow hue. In the distance, purple
mountains and stretched clouds, grazing cows, churches still in on a Sunday
night. We drove back to New York and
were amazed how light it was even when it was close to 10 PM.
Thank you for reading
