Adirondack Park

With the sun shining, we left Schenectady this morning after a night of rain and wind. We drove north and west toward the southern Adirondack mountains. Long a famous summer retreat for well-to-do Easterners, the area has been set aside and protected for all to enjoy.

NY 50 took us to Amsterdam, New York, where a large Dutch population plied their trades and honed their merchant skills along the Mohawk River, which was a large component of the Erie Canal system, spreading trade goods from the Great Lakes throughout the East. Amsterdam still retains its old-world charm, even if the edges are a bit shabby these days.

After finding ourselves on the  Adirondack Trail,

our first stop was at Great Sacandaga Lake.

 Providing flood control for the Hudson and Sacandaga Rivers, the lake covers some 41 square miles. The name Sacandaga means "Land of the Waving Grass" in the local native language. Incidently, as the lake filled in 1930 after construction of the dam, many houses were moved, but a railroad station and an abandoned train were left at the bottom of the new lake.

Just a few miles north, we found a jewel of a lake near the village of Wells. Lake Algonquin is a beauty!

We soon reached the village of Speculator. Known to many locals as "Four Corners" due to the intersection of NYS Route 8 and NYS Route 30, the village is named for nearby Mt. Speculator.

Then the village of Lake Pleasant at the south end of Lake Pleasant.

Lake Piseco is extremely beautiful, and is surrounded by summer houses and resorts.

Cruising down the road, we came across this river, the West Branch of the Sacandaga River.

The light changed just a bit, and a short walk, gave a whole new perspective on the river.

After learning a good bit about the area, we sadly left this beautiful part of the country.

Back on NYS 5, we stopped briefly at Canal Lock 9 on the Mohawk River, still listed as part of the Erie Canal. The downstream side was waiting for a group of boats to arrive and be lifted to the upstream side, but they didn't appear during our visit. The lock is only open during the day, closing at 6:00 pm, and it was getting close to the witching hour, so the "flotilla" must have decided to overnight at a moorage downstream.

The statistics on the lock show how much water is flowing. 15 feet elevation change is quite a bit for the Erie Canal! Locks existed on the original canal system, but have been rebuilt a number of times over the years.

Upstream, the river appears to be a wide lake!

After dropping the dog off at the motorhome, we took a short journey into Little Italy in Schenectady. On North Jay St, just off the main drag, is More Perreca's. Called "More" because next door is Perreca's, a bakery that has been baking scrumptious bread for over a hundred years. A few years ago, Jack Nickolson was making a movie in Schenectady, and a local brought him a few loaves of Perreca's bread. He immediately ordered more, and ate it daily during his stay. He gave the "local boy" a part in his movie, and moved the family to Hollywood. Problem was, the missus had to constantly shuttle loaves of Perreca's bread to California!

A plate of Lasagna and a plate of Shrimp Scampi filled us to the brim!

On a back wall is a photo of a typical Italian "family" from days gone by!

As we left, we had to admire the simple one hundred year old building with granite curbs along the sidewalks.

As usual, we're finding that we have more to see and do in upstate New York than we have time for, so we'll need to put this area on our future to-do list!