We’re very lucky in the state of New York. We have the city down state, beautiful beaches on Long Island, and vast wilderness upstate. Lake George is a large lake that’s 3 miles wide and 32 miles long. The water is pretty clear and clean too. We breathed some of the cleanest air we’ve ever smelled in NY.
Lake George is about a 30 minute drive from our airbnb in Saratoga. We stopped at the Lake George Baking Company for their chocolate chip, peanut butter, and fudge fancies cookies (known for this particular cookie), and a cinnamon cigar. Vic and I weren’t into the fudge fancies but our friend loved them, they were too sweet for us. I liked my cinnamon cigar and they liked their peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. From here it was 10 minutes to Diamond Point where our boat tour was.
We hired a private tour with Bolton Boat Tours. They are a family owned little company. Captain Tim is the son (our guide), Captain Ted is the dad. Captain Tim was in the marines and he and his dad are volunteer fire fighters so you’re in good hands with them. They also offer fishing trips out on the lake. There are no bathrooms on this boat (bowrider) so plan accordingly.
There are islands you can reserve with the state and camp on. These look so cool. My city diva butt doesn’t want to but this is something Vic and our friend would try. I don’t like life without air conditioning, private showers and private toilets. I am curious about glamping because my diva city butt may take to that better. I’m am perfectly ok with admitting I’m a city slicker that doesn’t like to rough it. Some do just not me.
Captain Tim cruised us north, showed us Bolton Landing where we had lunch at the Algonquin because when I saw the view on their website, we had to go. I found Bolton Boat tours, the bakery and lunch spot by doing google searches.
View from the Algonquin. I stared at the view for awhile when I stumbled across the restaurant website.
On this trip we learned the real border of “upstate New York”, is Saratoga Springs and north; not north of the Bronx or north of Westchester like a lot of us NYC folk say (I myself am guilty). Now that I know where the real upstate NY is, I’ll use it properly. Captain Tim, our local guide enlightened us. He even said, it depends who you’re speaking to where upstate is so we asked for the REAL border. This was our first venture into real upstate New York and I noticed some people have an accent. The way they said some words with O reminded me of maybe a slight Canadian accent.
After the tour we went to downtown Lake George and hit the Frankenstein Wax Museum because ’tis the season for spooks and scares…’ (posting this in Nov, a little late for Hallow’s Eve or if you’re a huge fan like me – everyday is Halloween!). It scared our friend and we enjoyed it. It’s cute. It’s not a wax museum where you take pics and pose with them, it’s more like a haunted house story set up. In the video you can hear our friend freaking out.
Captain Tim asked us what we had planned for the rest of the day. He looked like he might laugh when I said the Frankenstein Wax Museum and a pumpkin light drive through. Then ended it with, “We’re kids.” Just so you know 3 adults traveling and hold on to this thought, it’s relevant for something else.
Jebus Mews & Andrea 
I probably would have stopped at the bakery and stayed there for as long as it took to try every single of one those pastries, lol. Once upon a time I didn’t mind roughing it, but these days my joints can’t take sleeping on the ground or hiking 100 feet through a cloud of mosquitoes to an unlit outhouse just to pee. I’m not even sure I could do glamping anymore, either. I think a real bed with a pillowtop mattress and hot showers inside of a warm, tiled bathroom with a locking door are mah-velous! Still, Lake George is beautiful. I miss Up North piney woods and blue waters. You and Vic look great!
Aw. thanks! There are plenty of hotels, rentals, motels, etc to rent too. I’m not that outdoorsy! have my limits. Vic keeps pushing me to camp….um, no. We ate ourselves sick. 40ish tummies shouldn’t think like teenage tummies! I did have a salad for lunch to get some greens in. ha.
The video was hilarious 🙂 It is great to be like a kid when traveling – and I think I would have picked up a few of the “chocolate chip, peanut butter, and fudge fancies cookies” those are right up my alley. It is funny to hear you be honest with your glamping requirements, it reminds me of going hiking with my friends in HK and they showed up in flip-flops thinking it was just going to be a walk around the village and time spent at tea houses and restaurants… I do think, though, as we get a bit older, being able to return to a nice hotel room and posh comforts is pretty nice 🙂 Great introduction to Lake George, I had never heard of it. Cheers to a nice weekend ahead.
have a confession…read in reviews it was a bit of a haunted house and didn’t tell her because I really wanted to go (never been to a wax museum). Reviews said it’s not that scary so I kept up with “wax museum” when talking to her. She did enjoy it. We learned that 40 something tummies aren’t built for teenage eating anymore. Too many things to try and not enough time to eat. Had to eat healthy when I got home because we literally at ourselves sick. You’d love the Adirondacks. You need a car for this area of the state. Hiking, fishing, hunting, winter sports, etc. It’s really outdoorsy. Hear Lake Placid is really pretty. One good thing about lock down is that I’ve been testing out different gear. Watching thru hikers on youtube we discovered Altra trail sneakers. They have been great for our wide feet. Still need to figure out how to get the backpack to not pinch my armpits. That gets painful and my armpit swells. Can’t wait for things to get better. Really would like to try an inn to inn walking trip especially since we found shoes that don’t kill our feet! Toe socks and altras have been a blessing, no blisters!