Dar Williams!

April 18th, Lake Placid. The weekend which begins the boys spring break (!) Cue the chorus of angels. Any Dar fans going to meet me there? Dar is the personification of what Clarke calls my "strummy dummy" music. Enjoy!

The Other Side of the Tracks

Holy Smokes. This weekend, serendipitously, a friend from the city needed a ride up to Lake Placid because they had traded their Vermont timeshare for a weekend stay at The Whiteface Lodge. This is one of those places that we had passed thousands of times on our way to the barn and sniffed our noses at these ridiculous fancy resorts and how they are ruining the feel of the Adirondacks. I am certainly glad I had never put those thoughts in writing because wowza, did we have fun. So as guests of our friends, we had full use of the facilities AND our friends were treating us to dinner at the restaurant. The boys ice skated at the private rink. They warmed themselves in the warming yurt with hot chocolate. They played pool and bowled in the private gaming room. They contemplated watching a movie in the...say it with me....private movie theatre. Meanwhile the adults hung by the incredible fireplace in the grandest of rooms and had civilized cocktails. The picture in the post is the outdoor lean-to where you can order cognac and cigars outside, next to the private rink. We then had a terrific dinner with great wine and ended our evening with s'mores (this was after four desserts btw) from one of the dozens of fire pits and bonfires throughout the property. My only regret is we didn't get a chance to swim in the heated, steamy outdoor pool. As my brother in law, Doug is fond of saying, "if rich people do it, chances are it's pretty fun." After our day of luxury and fun, we were still so excited to get back to our own estate, The Barn, with our private bathroom...which currently has a mystery leak. Neighbor Bill (and Doodle) to the rescue!

Perhaps I have a disorder

After we finished the pump house, we were looking for a small adventure...and again we decided to go on a waterfall hunt. Yes, I have an obsessive, compulsive disorder regarding waterfalls and the saddest part is I have sucked the poor innocent children into my disorder. It's Folie A Trois. Armed with our trusty book, we decided to check out the falls of Wilmington, just NE (I think) of Lake Placid. First we stopped at Monument Falls, right at roadside 4.3 miles from 73/86 intersection on 86. These were nice, small, lovely for a few hours of wading. Sadly, we are becoming waterfalls snobs and moved on. We went further on 86 ( about .9 miles after High Falls Gorge) to the Wilmington Notch falls. Holy Cow. Scary. So Scary. No fences, warnings or anything and you are on cliffs looking down on a raging, huge, rocky waterfall. Really awesome. The most amazing we have seen. I kept screeching at the boys to stop throwing sticks and I kept hugging the nearby trees. The setting is weird. It is a public campsite, run by the state. You pay $1 and then basically head down this gulge- no real path. You just follow the sound of soul shaking crashing water. After that, we headed about 1.1 miles further on 86 to the Wilmington Flumes. You park in a designated area, just over a bridge on the left, cross over to the south side of the bridge and head down a path which takes you next to multiple falls and cascades. We continued further and landed at the Grand Central Station of swimming holes. About 30 people, swimming in an olympic sized swimming hole, at the base of a falls - very very deep. Of course, there was the requisite cliff and rock jumping which Oscar immediately jumped on (and Clarke joined later.) People were swimming under the falls and riding the current. Water was crystal clear and freezing cold. What a fantastic scene. We met folks from Montreal, Toronto, Virginia, Colorado...and Long Island of all godforsaken places. I practiced some french with the little Montreal kids who had the words for rabbit and frog mixed up. The thought of a large, green "rabbit", trapped under the rocks was almost too much for me to bear. Great day. We ended at tail o' the pup because we were too dirty and ugly for anyone else.

Side note, we have yet to pay for the commercial attraction of High Falls Gorge, though we have heard it is worth it. We thought perhaps when Joe's dad comes it would be nice, as it's not quite as rugged as the other hikes.

Playing Tourists

So even before we read the New York Times yesterday, we had planned to go to the summit of Whiteface, then troll around Lake Placid for a bit. BTW, we are none too pleased to read the plethora of recent Adirondack travel stories in the paper of record. Shhhhhhh. Everyone just keep going to the Hamptons and we'll be just fine. No need to travel up to these parts.

Anyway, we took 2 different scenic routes to the top of Whiteface: by car and by gondola. You'll notice I didn't say "hike", as my brother has 2 smaller kids so we still haven't conquered this one as a 46er yet. The girls (Leslie, Eleanor and me) drove to the summit while the boys (Joe, Michael, Oscar, Clarke and Brendan) took the gondola. The girls' adventure was short and sweet as our adorable Eleanor had just woken from a nap and wasn't dressed properly for summit weather. Still the views were wonderful. Then we headed to Lake Placid for lunch at The Cottage. We chose this as Joe and I had drinks there previous and loved the setting. The food was "eh", the menu was boring, the service was "eh"...but the view was great so next time we'll stick to drinks! We then strolled town and popped into the Ice Rink (Miracle on Ice baby). The kids must have drank their adorable juice that morning because before we knew it the guy at the door had let us all into the Junior Hockey Championships with USA vs. Sweden - great fun. The highlight was the small crowd of hockey buffs bowing to the Zamboni as it zipped by.

Impromptu Fun at Caribbean Cowboy

Our Rainbow Lake friends Linnea and Angus called with an offer to dine at Caribbean Cowboy last night. We hadn't been there since early winter, Joe was heading out of town early the next morning, and our cupboards were bare. SOLD. I am always impressed with this place. However, they don't seem to try as hard as their counterparts around here. Service and attitude feel much more Manhattan. Nevertheless, the most creative menu around for sure: a crazy mix of Asian, Jamaican, Mexican, Southern, Tropical etc. It is the only place I can imagine in the Adirondacks where a drink order of pina colada (me) and banana rum drink (joe - ahem no umbrella) would not be met with laughter and stares. Daily specials are always impressive. I wish I had the patience to type the menu because there are many great dishes but we were pretty conventional last night. Nevertheless, the food was great. Orders: from the specials, I had sweet potato chowder with bacon and cilantro pesto. Main course, baja cakes ( or was it bayou cakes....please note: not a professional restaurant reviewer). Seafood cakes. Accoutrements were impressive: chipotle sauce, salsa fresca, mango sauce and asian slaw. Joe had burger which was stuffed with blue cheese ( zzzz i thought as he ordered but oh no my friends, this was not to be poo pooed) Oscar: chicken tenders ( a definite zzzz saved by well prepared and spiced sweet potato fries) and Clarke had cajun chicken quesadillas which were great (again good sides with these). The corn bread is dark brown and seeped in molasses flavoring (thanks for the flavor tip Angus). Linnea had a vegetarian mole enchilada...and darn it, i forgot what Angus had. The desserts looked great but.....we went to Donnellys for black rasberry.

Embarrassingly....another dinner review

But this one was a winner! A few weeks ago I was buying some wine at Outpost Wine (in the same shopping center as Price Chopper on 86. Really nice people, great-value, off the beaten path wines) Anyway, they said the "best" restaurant in the whole area was right next store to them called Caffe Rustica. "The Best"? Strong words. Nevertheless, Joe is back from the heat, smells and explosions of Manhattan, and we decided to head to town and have a family dinner. I can't definitively say it is the best, but it was a really great restaurant, even given the strip mall location. Ordering run down: Joe had italian sausage, gorgonzola with herb risotto, boys had thin crust wood fired pizzas, I had seared scallops with new potatoes. Joe and I split their tropical salad which was hearts of palm, arugala, feta ( i think) and a lemon basil vinagairette. Service was lovely, wine list was good, outside tables were a hit. For a special, they were serving local, organic, grass fed, steak which sounded amazing but did not strike the mood ( if I were a real restaurant reviewer I would have tried it or at least remembered the name of the organic farm from which it was procured). Joe rightfully pointed out it was the most expensive ADK family dinner we had encountered but we felt quality definitely merited the cost. Entrees were around $18. After that, Joe and I dropped boys for a movie ( Ratatouille won the debate this evening) and we had a lovely glass of wine at The Cottage. Picture is view from our table.

Another Dinner

We've been dining out more than usual this week because we were without water and we blew off our grocery shopping duty until this evening. Tonight we wanted quick, casual, and filling (this applies to about 95% of the restaurants here btw) because we all missed lunch and we wanted close to Price Chopper in Lake Placid. We decided to give Desperados a try because the last time I was there I had the flu and couldn't properly judge. So bad. Lame menu, really poor execution. I am all for standard issue Tex Mex malarchy if you are clear that is your schtick and you prepare it well. This was awful. I tried the tortilla soup which was tomato broth with onions and tortilla chips on the side, not a chicken or lime to be found. Then I ordered ( don't ask my why) the standard taco salad with grilled shrimp. Outrageously bad. The shrimp were in a heated, ketchupy sauce and were the size of snails. I told them to hold the cheese, but little did I know the only other item in the "salad" was lettuce (possibly 1 or 2 tomato chunks). Oscar had a quesadilla which was literally a tortilla microwaved with cheese inside-no accompaniments, not even a browned tortilla. Clarke had deluxe nachos which looked mediocre. I would comment about the margaritas but I don't want to make my husband jealous as he sweats in Manhattan until tomorrow. Prices were same if not higher than Casa Del Sol ( I will wait until my next dinner there to give the low down but they are in different league than Desperado's). When I told Oscar how bad I thought it was he said "well at least the service is nice." Then, we waited and waited and waited for our check and he took it back.

Night on the town

Last night we dropped the kids off at the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid to catch a movie. This theatre is one of those great old-fashioned places, beautiful decor, community atmosphere, great prices. The kids chose "Live Free or Die Hard". Not one I would have chosen but it was intense negotiation as Clarke wanted to see Harry Potter and Oscar wanted to see Ratatouille and neither wanted to see Transformers. Joe and I headed across the street to the Brown Dog Cafe (you'll notice that most of these places don't have websites so I sometimes will link to another review with address etc.). We started off with a lovely Miner Viognier at the bar while we waited for our table. There are only about 6 tables in the restaurant with a big window overlooking Mirror Lake which make a really great atmosphere. We split the duck quesadillas, a Joe non-negotiable and jumbo prawn (they were the size of Oscar's head) with mint, spring pea risotto and asparagus, a Bridget non-negotiable. We ordered a Pinot which was "eh" and then I had a yummy dessert wine from Hungary, called tokaji. Really subtle and lovely with a beautiful pinkish color. Somehow we skipped dessert. Shocking but the items looked terrific anyway. Overall, the food was really well prepared and the menu was creative and fun, while still showing the favorites of the area - meat! As this was a wine bar, the selection was great. Service was efficient but not overly friendly or helpful. After dinner we were walking to meet boys and stumbled upon them on the street. Joe and I hung back and watched them. They had snuck into a candy store and were walking down the street with their bottles of root beer, and sharing a bag of candy. It was pretty adorable. They finally caught us and home to the barn we went.