Our day began in the Gateway Diner, a classic American diner. A similar mix of clientele and few to no children, mirroring the experience we had yesterday morning. The atmosphere was also a loud hubbub of chatter, which drowned out the four wall-mounted TVs. A quirk of this diner is the waitresses skipping around the booths eagerly proffering a pot of filter coffee, refilling your mug at any given moment. This is the job you need if you want to have an active job with a high step count. A major bonus for some, your day might start early at around 6am but you’re all done by midday or 2pm on weekends. 

Today we engaged all our previous experiences of portion sizes and made several tactical choices, which explains why in the baove photos Liz has pancakes and eggs sunny side up, and I have a bland-looking corned beef hash with toast. (Why don’t they have Daddies sauce?) Our other tactics included Char sharing her three pancakes one each, Liz split her waffle one quarter for me and Char, and I donated the eggs which were part of my menu choice to Liz along with a couple of triangle of toast. 

Lake George is a pretty little town cum village on the banks of Lake George, which is a large body of water at 32 miles long and 3 miles wide. The lake is named after George II. And dear reader, if you imagine Lake George‘s atmosphere is similar to the one at ‘well to do’ Henley on Thames you aren’t far off the mark. I’d suspect if Ronald McDonald pitched up in town wanting to hoist his flag bearing the infamous golden arches he’d be shown the quickest route out of town pretty sharpish. 

The buildings all seem to have a slight throwback to yesteryear, with one foot definitely in a bygone age with the architecture and decor, and the other way more modern with the neon signs, umbrellas and seats.

While waiting for boat tour to commence we took a stroll along the main drag through town, alighting at a little cafe for refreshments and a little people-watching. Then it was time to be aboard the Mohecan for a one one-hour tour of the southern shores of the lake. The Mohican has been in service since 1908, beginning life as a steamboat sailing around the lake. In recent years during it’s over-wintering in a shed it has been refitted to remove the wooden hull (fire safety), and is minus steam engines to be more eco-friendly. Most of the boats are removed from the lake over winter due to it freezing over. Apparently, the ice can be anywhere from one to three feet thick! And yes, they drive a snow mobile over it for giggles.

Our onboard guide described the houses on the shoreline, telling us who owned them and so on. The names didn’t mean much to us, not having a good grip on American history. Suffice it to say they were often millionaires or the founder of some large store chain, or a district attorney, or the NY State governor. But the one thing that did resonate with us was the way he referred to them as ‘summer cottages’. I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen a cottage this grand. We thought they were more accuarately described as ‘summer mansions’.

The boat house is a mini representation of the main house.

According to our tour guide, the above “cottage” aka mansion, has been under rennovation for the last three years with a new stone facade, major extension and the owners still haven’t moved in. Wow!

And if you want to buy something like the cottage above, you need to know they sell for $10-15M

The Mohican

Due to our one hour boat tour leaving its mooring at 1:30pm we had a late lunch but were fortunate to find a pizza and panini shop that sold a grinder (that’s kind of a subway sandwich). We opted for ham, swiss (cheese), lettuce, tomato and cucumber with mayo. Unfortunately, they were all out of cucumber, so I switched it to bell peppers and asked them to cut it into thirds. #sharing

The last item in our Lake George itinerary was to drive up Prospect Mountain Highway. A track (aka tarmac road) up the mountain with three parking spots where you can enjoy the view of the lake. Two of the viewpoints were obscured by fast-growing saplings which was a shame. I suspect they will have totally masked the entire view in a year or two. 

The south end of the lake seen from the mountain road

As you can see from the photo below which was taken by a couple we met from New York (who just got engaged), we’ve enjoyed another warm sunny day with highs of 28C and no rain. Are you jealous?

We ascended to the summit and checked out the old cable car point. According to the sign there used to be a guest house which burnt to the ground. So maybe that explains the presence of all of those saplings.

The remnants of the cable car, which used to run from pylons mounted on the pile of stones

That done, Captain Charlie drove us to Saratoga Springs. If this were England it’d be described as “a beautiful market town nestled in the rolling hills…”. If you think of Berkhamstead, but posher, wider and altogether larger you’re not far off (sorry Will, we love Berko really – honest). These photos don’t do it justice, because of all the cars and trees in the way. 

If you needed any more convincing about it being more upmarket, this was the post office! I know Berko boasts a castle, but don’t you agree this is more impressive?

We all agreed that Saratoga Springs was the kind of thing we were expecting to see when we visited Albany yesterday. But that’s the point of our road-trip. We want to expereince each place and discover what its like for ourselves. Now we know why Albany was “dead all over” with few people or cars, and by contrast this place was packed.

During our drive into Saratoga Springs, we passed a few open bodies of water but alas not a single waterlily in sight. After several instances, I complained. Quick as a flash Liz replied “They’ve all been removed. And will be back tomorrow after we’ve gone!” so you can see dear reader, the banter is thriving. 

From Saratoga, we drove in the twilight to Troy to visit Dino BBQ restaurant. A classic American BBQ shack. Although we have pulled pork, BBQ ribs and other smokehouse essentials available in the UK, they’re often factory-produced rather than smoked on-site. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but they’re few and far between. Given the we opportunity, I always fold in a visit to a genuine American smokehouse. 

Note the chimneys, they’re from the smokers which sit under a large canopy to the right of the photo.

1/3lb pulled pork with original sause in a martin roll with fries and homemade pickles.

BBQ brisket served on a pressed roll with peppers, onions and swiss cheese

Petite sampling of prime BBQ brisket, St Louis pork ribs and pulled pork with corn bread, coleslaw and fries.

All in all, a gorgeous day. And one I suspect Tim would have enjoyed immensely as there was significantly less walking than in Torronto or Niagara. We’re still missing you buddy, and hope your foot is on the mend, your blood sugar continues to remain low and look forward to you joining us on a future road-trip.

-o0o-

And just for fun we saw both of these signs yesterday, which made the ladies giggle.