We woke up early so we could get a head start on the day, before the rain started to pour. Art Delvin’s Olympic Motor Inn really was a great hotel–we loved our balcony, and our room even had a couch and a fridge. Compared to the hotel in Montreal, this was very spacious and nice.
We drove to High Falls Gorge, a violent churning waterfall on the Ausable River. Unfortunately, the rain caught up with us, and so we carried our umbrellas as we walked the precarious paths and climbed slippery stairs to view the falls. I kept thinking of a story my parents told me as a child–a colleague or neighbor (I forget) had a daughter who fell into a river from a high trail and they never found her body. Granted, the trails there seemed well guarded, but you never know…luckily, neither of us fell in. I saw a frog (Grumpope, presumably) and a snail, but no more bears and no Rhett Miller.
We drove down the street, passing “Santa’s Workshop” (yes, who knew that Santa really lives in the Adirondack Mountains?) and paid the $14 entrance fee to the Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway. Visibility = zero. We didn’t care though. We drove up the mountain to the castle near the top, where a certain wheelchair-bound president had an elevator installed so that he could get to the very top. That elevator was in the middle of a creepy cave, and it really looked more like the elevator to hell. Going down? But it shot us 27 stories up to the very top of Whiteface Mountain, where we saw spectacular views of…clouds. It was like we were on top of the world.
We vowed to come back another time, another year, and take the elevator ride up on a sunny day, so we can actually see the elusive Lake Placid. We really do want to go back, because the whole area is beautiful, and we could really spend a lot longer than one day there. We’d like to return and go hiking, fishing, boating, etc., maybe rent a cabin on the lake. Would anyone like to join us another time?
Since the rain put a damper on most outdoor activities, we made the hour drive to Westport, where we were staying our final evening. Wow, Westport. There were a total of three restaurants, and NOTHING else. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Talk about a sleepy little town. We ate lunch at the Galley Restaurant right at the marina. Ok, the worst part about this restaurant was that the bathrooms were ACROSS THE STREET in the MARINA BATHOUSE. Ew. I know, I know, when you travel, you have to get accustomed to some not-ideal and not-so-clean bathrooms, but this was just too much for me. I’ve never had to go across the street to do my business.
So there we were, in Westport. The Inn we stayed at was very nice and pretty, and our room, although small, was well decorated and cozy. We pretty much just spent the afternoon hanging out, me reading and Larry playing on the computer. For dinner, we walked up the street to a pizza shack. The other clientele included a family wearing just socks and no shoes, and group of three families that had parked their yacht in the marina and stopped off for a pizza pie. Quite a mix. Oh, and the server was carrying her baby as she took orders and bussed tables. At least we were allowed to BYOB.
To top off our fun day in Westport, we watched three episodes of 24-Season 4 in our room. If you are reading this and you are from Westport, I apologize if I have offended. Maybe it’s more enjoyable for older people, because there seemed to be a lot of retirees. If you are reading this and you are retired, I apologize if I have offended. I’m just saying that I personally would not go back.
