Day 16....August 22, 2013

Spent the day driving to Lake Placid.  Taking the back roads is so enjoyable....makes the trip part of the fun, not just getting from Point A to Point B.  Today's trip took about 6 hours.  We drove through the Adirondack Mts.  We ended  getting lost as the roads we were on were not on the map.  Finally we stopped for directions.  (Why do men hate doing that?!). We were instructed to take Moose Gulch Road.  Drove through miles of forests.  A few houses...I always wonder where they buy their groceries.  Finally arrived to civilization.  Then we drove through a stretch of about 30 miles, following a chain of lakes.  Lots of cute lake cottages.

Lake Placid is very touristy.  It is the home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics.  We watched people training in the skating rink.  All kinds of motels, fancy inns, restaurants.  We went to 2 brew pubs.  Both were very cozy.  I imagine even cozier in the winter.  Lots of skiing nearby.  The bartender in one pub used to work in St. Augustine at A1A brewery.  Thinks he knows my brother Ken.  

 We  drove through pouring pain.  Found a state park near Lake Placid.  Small, rustic sites.  Almost got stuck finding our site.  We ate leftover salmon chowder under the shelter.  We are going to stay here through Sunday AM as finding new campsites on weekends is hard.

We developed a rating system for campsites.  Criteria are: showers, flush toilets, pit toilets, price, mosquitoes, view, cleanliness, quality of fire pits, noise level, and quality of site.  On a scale of 0-5, the Allegheny National Forest was 4.4.  The Onieta Lake State Park was a 4.0.  I think this Lake Placid one will not fare as well