N.E. Wanderer: Lake George Vacation

Minne Ha Ha evening cruise on Lake George

Growing up in Vermont, I had always heard about Lake George. It was a summer vacation destination with amusement parks, outlets, a big lake and lot of stuff to do. It wasn't until this year that I actually stayed there on my latest family vacation.

It's nearly a six hour drive from our home in Maine, but it is also home to my wife's roommate from college, so we thought it would be a nice place to spend a few days.

Private Beach at Marine Village Resort

We arrived on the Fourth of July and checked into our room at the Marine Village Resort in the heart of town. This was by far the most convenient motel to the village. All you did was walk up the driveway and you were on the main drag of Lake George with all its shops restaurants and bars. This lakefront property had a decent size sandy beach with plenty of beach chairs, a good size outdoor pool and lots of little amenities that made for a pleasant stay. For more info on the resort, feel free to read my review on Trip Advisor.

After some stop and go traffic on Canada Street, the main thoroughfare through town, we checked in and were about to change into swim suits when there was a knock at the door. When we answered it there was a Marine Village staffer standing there with a big boxy object in his hands asking us if we wanted a safe during our stay. Now we've traveled a lot and stayed in lots of hotels, but admittedly Bethany and I were so surprised, we were momentarily at a loss for words. When the initial surprise wore off, we declined the offer. But we felt bad for the poor guy. There he was, lugging this heavy object from room to room in 90 degree heat asking guests if they needed a safe. All I could think about was that's the worst room service delivery job ever! He didn't even have it on a cart. Just hefted it along with his bare hands. Then I thought, what do you tip for delivery of a room safe?

It was close to 90 degrees, so the water was quite refreshing, even if it did take me 10-15 minutes go get in beyond my waist. I really need a dock to jump off of so I can get it over with quick.

We swam for awhile, walked to dinner and came back to await the Lake George Fireworks, which are set off just a few hundred yards down the shoreline from the town park. Our seat on the dock gave us the perfect viewing spot.

Lots of rules to be broken in Lake George

The first thing we noticed about Lake George was that there seem to be lots of signs with lots of rules, but enforcement of said rules seemed to be lacking. At the resort, there were signs about no jumping off the dock, but everyone did. No glass on the beach, but people frequently carried their beer bottles around with them. Don't feed the ducks. This one people seemed to obey. On the public beach there was a sign saying there was no swimming after 6 p.m. yet people were in the water.

The other thing we noticed is that smoking cigarettes and drinking beer seemed to be an essential part of many visitors' priority lists. Everywhere we turned second-hand smoke was wafting through the air. Now we're not prudes, so we don't mind people having a couple of beers. The only time it got annoying was when a group of guys sat on a deck outside their room drinking beer for about 3 hours straight, singing at the top of their lungs. Apparently it didn't occur to them that other guests didn't really want to hear their off-key serenade. I guess they just took the creed from our dinner check to heart (Below).

This about sums up the mindset of many people we saw in Lake George

By far, the highlight of our trip was the parasailing which I wrote about in a previous blog post, but we did some other fun stuff too. One afternoon we toured Fort William Henry, just few blocks down the road from the hotel. Fort Billy Hank, as I called it, was built in 1755 by the British to keep the French from attacking the colonies to the south. Apparently the book, Last of the Mohicans was loosely based on this confrontation between the two countries. We arrived just in time for a demonstration on how to fire a musket and an explanation and demonstration of how the cannons were fired. It could have been a much more interesting tour, but it was 95 degrees and our minds were more focused on how refreshing the sparkling lake across the street would be rather than standing around listening to people in wool uniforms talk about a war more than 200 years ago.

Cannon firing demonstration at Fort William Henry

Another side trip was the drive up Prospect Mountain. For $10 per carload, you can drive the six-mile access road to the summit...or almost to the summit. You have to take a shuttle bus up the last 10th of a mile. During that short bus ride, you learn about the old Prospect Mountain House that used to be at the summit and about the old cable railway that used to carry passengers from the center of town to the summit hotel. The view of Lake George from the summit was beautiful.

View of Lake George from the summit of Prospect Mountain

So we'd seen Lake George from the parasail and from the top of Prospect Mountain, but you can't really experience it until you've been out on the lake in a boat, and that's what we did with some friends. We had a quick pizza dinner at their house and boarded their boat for a short evening tour. We circled one island then zipped down to Sandy Bay where we moored up and went swimming. The nice thing about Sandy Bay is that the water is only about 4 feet deep where we were, so you could stand on the sandy bottom. The bad thing was that there were a lot of sharp shells sticking out, so some of us left with cut feet, but it was still fun.

And of course a summer vacation would not be a summer vacation without ice cream. We sampled a few of the sweet treats in the form of shakes, floats and cones while in the area. The first was Nina's Sweet Shoppe at 179 Canada Street. The second was Bob's Ice Cream up the road in Bolton Landing, and a Root Beer Float at A&W Root Beer in Lake George, one of the few A&W stands left in the Northeast.

Bob's Ice Cream - Bolton Landing, NY

Root Beer Float anyone?

In retrospect, Lake George offers a well-rounded vacation. The lake is a refreshing playground. The town offers many restaurants, shops, and arcades. You can hike a mountain, visit a historic fort or shop in the outlet stores. I hate to use the old cliche, but it seems to have 'something for everyone'.

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