In fact I will go on to say something complimentary about the area, just so there are no hard feelings. Due to a significant road closure on the ride up, I decided to negotiate my own route on the way home. I got some suggestions from google maps, took some advice from the Vermont road signs that indicated the direction of the "Bridge to New York," and sort of improvised my way back to highway 87. The route I took was magnificent, it really hit up what I would imagine are the most beautiful places in the Western Vermont, Northern New York area. I'm a sucker for mountains, coming from about the flattest area of land you can imagine, and when you get up that far into the Adirondacks, they are pretty legit. If you've gotta drive thru the middle of nowhere on one lane roads, you might as well do it negotiating the heart of a mountain range, sunlight filtering through the trees, breathtaking clear lakes nestled between them. Incredible, really really incredible. If I had either the ability to get a summer house or a job that would allow me to work from the middle of nowhere, I think this is the area I would consider. A boat, fresh fish, storms coming in over the mountains. I took the same route this last week, on the way up and the way back, its the absolute highlight of the trip.
One of the most highlightable moments of that highlight is the trip over Lake Champlain, which we spent a good amount of time admiring over the days I spent with Katie. She had a couple days off between high school and college institutes so we decided to venture to some place with good food, air conditioning, and comfy beds. My original thought was just that she would like a hotel nearby, but we eventually decided to venture into the exotic and generally geriatric world of bed and breakfasts. Anyway, we decided a night at the rustic Point Au Roche Lodge near Plattsburg, NY, right on the other side of the lake from Burlington, essentially. So, Tuesday morning we got up and headed up the actual highway towards the ferry.
I have never been on a ferry before but I love boats in general. Not to mention that this particular ferry cut about 40 miles off the potential drive. So we bought our tickets, got in line, and drove a car onto a boat. I suppose that its not surprising that I would like the concept, in a way its a bit like the turducken of the transportation world. I think we should also have the plane equivalent of a ferry, but I won't get into that for the moment. Maybe we could put helicopters on tanks or something. Regardless, the boat ride was fun. I was unaware, for instance, that Lake Champlain is the 6th largest freshwater lake in the US. We crossed at a pretty narrow point, the ride was only 12 minutes accross, others are up to an hour. Here's one of the ferries:
Its prolly not the most economical way to get accross, but it was worth the cash, both time wise and cool wise. You can sit up in the observation deck or just stand out and look out over the front of the boat. Apparently the boats run all day all year round. I think both the winter and the middle of the night would be cool rides, personally.
Since a big part of the whole getting away from debate camp thing was eating food that was not preparable by microwave without refrigeration, we ate pretty well. Had lunch at some cute little cafe called Irises. Katie had a tasty little chicken on foccacia, while I had a rosemary-mushroom bacon cheeseburger. To be honest I had never thought of rosemary as a cheeseburger herb, but it really worked well. We returned to the "downtown Plattsburgh" area to have dinner at Giovanni's (review=hilarious by the way, since there is obviously not an overabundance of quality eats in this town). It was a good Italian joint, good bread, a tasty appetizer of fried beef tenderloin with grilled polenta, some wine etc. Katie had a tasty baked pasta, which I cannot remember specifically at this point, it was manacotti-ish and filled with the various types of cheeses one might expect. It was really quite good. I was blown away by my cheese tortellini, which was stuffed with ricotta and parmesan, bathing in a tomato-cream sauce, and topped with a big clump of some of the best gorgonzola cheese I have ever eaten. It was so fresh and so perfectly tart, I was really blown away. Both of us were too full for dessert, which means alot when theres tiramisu on the menu.
Our other eating experience on the Tuesday we went out there is to freaking hilarious for me to accurately explain without first giving you this picture:
Thats correct, that is a big neon sign that indicates that this ice cream stand is called "Creamies." I literally thought I was going to crash the car, I couldn't breathe for like a minute after I saw it. We had to stop and get a cone, I insisted that Katie get a picture of me under the sign, cuz I don't think anyone would believe that someone named a business "creamies" without proof. I learned later on that in this area of the country (maybe in other areas for all I know, but I've eaten a fuckload of ice cream in my day, and never heard it before) soft-serve ice cream cones are referred to as "creamies." We stopped at a couple other ice cream stands, cuz Creamies got me in the mood (omg, it never gets old), and most of them seem to spell it "Cree-mees" or some variation thereof, hopefully to try to distance themselves. I tried to get Katie to rub the ice cream around her mouth and let me take a picture of her licking the cone under the sign, but she would have none of it. Regardless, it was good, so I can say with all certainty, if you are ever near Plattsburgh, NY, you should have a creamie.
The time that we didn't spend eating was spent in the "Garden Room" at the Point Au Roche Lodge. Katie was tired, so she took an afternoon nap, as has become her custom whenever we check into a hotel. I spent that time out on the sweet-ass deck in the Adirondack chairs (in the Adirondacks no less) reading Truman Capote. Total hipster was I. While I dig the rustic ambience and all, none of these rooms had television, which in my mind is just stupid. I understand the desire to be all away from the world and all, but when I was laying in bed, waiting for Katie to finish her chapter, tired and a little tipsy, I would have really liked to watch 10 minutes of sportscenter or an old sitcom. If you wanna get away from it entirely, just turn it off. Get some self control, hippies.
Anyway, I won't post a bunch of pictures of our hotel room, largely because you can see them on the hotel's website if you want. It was hella pretty. I don't think there is a shot of our deck, so here's that:
and here is the view towards the lake. In actuality you can see the fogged mountains behind the water, but it doesn't turn out well in the photograph. Regardless, it was a gorgeous place to relax on a summer afternoon.
I got up the next morning and got a cup of coffee before breakfast just so I could sit out on the chair again and read in the morning air. I'm not usually up at 7:30 in the morning, but when I am it always seems worthwhile. The mountain and lake combo is really the right way to spend a cool morning, even if you are reading about the gruesome murder of a rural Kansas family.
When Katie did get up we headed down for breakfast, which was in fact quite an affair. I had the Spinach, Bacon, and Cheese Fritatta, while Katie went for the Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes. I tried some of Katie's bfast as well, and while it didn't match up to the eggs, I must admit that I have never tasted a better fruit filled cake like snack. I think we both enjoyed the pleasant B+B hospitality factor, but luckily we didn't really have to interact much with any of the other patrons. Katie was all freaked out that we would be shunned for not doing crafts in the great room or something, thankfully, it was not the case. Its really just a quaint hotel, with the best continental b-fast in history. By my evaluation of the breakfast room we were the youngest people there by only about 10 years. If you exclude the woman who was there by herself, obviously on some sort of business trip to Plattsburgh that she managed to convert into a comfy B+B, it was at least 20. I'm not 100% sure that we will start spending all our vacations in overly-floral bedrooms lacking in fairly simple electronics, but it was fun.
Since Katie gave me this very useful list of state songs, I will lead into my tirade, to be continued next time, by letting Alabama, Alasaka, Arizona, Arkansas, and California know that you and I are cool. Beyond that its any-Hippo's guess.
Peace,
MB-K
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