Lake George Weekend Getaway!

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When my husband came home on Thursday and said we're headed on out of New Jersey the next day I was all for it. During his ridiculously long day at work, he had managed to find us a weekend getaway and jam pack it full of fun stuff. Race, Chili Cook off, Painting, Wine, and a Helicopter Ride, I pretty much feel like saying out day was jam packed is an understatement!

Both of us managed to get out of work early and we headed off. Where were we going you ask? Lake George! I had never really researched Lake George at all before, all I knew was that it was a party place in summer time but what was is like in the winter? We were about to find out. The easy 3 hour drive north really was easy, 287 followed by 87, I'm pretty sure there were about three turns throughout our whole journey up and that is the way I like it.

We arrived at our hotel at the uber late hour of 8pm. Seeing how late it was meant that we had very limited options as to where to to go for dinner. Lake George was already reminding me a bit of the shore. When I lived in Manasquan for a winter, everything closed down by 9pm just like Lake George, however if this was summer time the place would be absolutely popping. I was kind of digging the whole zombie apocalypse vibe going on as we walked the short distance to the Adirondack Brewery.

A very short wait later we were sitting down sampling some delicious beers that were being brewed right in the area. Already a very good night. Grant it the food wasn't all that solid, but beer did the job of satisfying our palates that night. Even if we had wanted to make it a late night, we couldn't have since everything was pretty much dead. However we were okay with that because the next morning we already had plans, a four mile race!

I"m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous for the race. It has been a LONG time since I have legitimately gone running. Sure I hit the gym and lazily do my best to accomplish the three miles I have in mind of doing for the day so the thought of a four mile one outside in the cold where it would potentially be snowing sounded.. well it sounded cold.

However the morning of the race, despite the cold and the few flurries that fell, I was PUMPED. I layered up in my uber stylish spandex underarmor pants and neon blue shirt, put on my layers of gloves and awesome ear muffs and got ready. Grabbing a healthy breakfast and heading over to register the butterflies that usually occur before a race hadn't arrived. And when the "gun shot" went off we headed off. Derik took off and I casually ran at a pace that wouldn't kill me.

Forty two minutes later I was crossing the finish line, that is six minutes faster than my fastest treadmill time! The run was beautiful too, we went up and down little hills, through back roads that lead us past trees dusted with snow. The entire time, instead of feeling like my chest would explode I had a smile on my face enjoying to cold air that was freezing my nose and invigorating my body. Derik beat me by just three minutes, I proud of us both!

Not wasting any time, we crossed the finish line and headed to our hotel to take a shower. This was done quickly because our bellies that were now gurgling with hunger were desiring something very specific, a Chili Cook Off at the Winter Carnival. Every weekend in February, Lake George holds a winter carnival with things such as outhouse racing, helicopter rides and most importantly chili cook offs. I don't know if this is held every weekend, but all i care about is the fact that it was held while we were there.

Desperate to be up front, I hoped in line with time to spare and this was a wise calling seeing how the line would eventually snake around the area. Paying up our $5 we got ourselves a little plate with eleven cups. Four at a time were filled with very descent sized samplers. We got in line for our next four samples, and our last three samples most of which were AWESOME. We then casted our vote and then headed onto the ice.

The two feet thick ice was now supporting both a helicopter to my left and an outhouse race to my right. Yes you read correctly, an outhouse race. This was hands down one of the more interesting things I have every witnessed. Four men surrounding a outhouse conducted specifically for racing. Inside sat either a young girl or a small child, clinging on for dear life as the four men pushed the outhouse along the ice. It was HIGHLY entertaining.

But what was more entertaining, the helicopter ride! Derik had put in over 2000 hours in the back of a helicopter, I have put in ZERO. We'll we changed that, I now clock in at 20 minutes and it was an AWESOME 20 minutes. Derik had chatted with the owner for quite some time, sharing stories of his plane flying days and helicopter riding days. When our time came, it just so happened to be time for gassing the helicopter up which meant we got to spend an extra ten minutes in the air! The experience was AMAZING. We got to put on the headphones and headed up over the mountain, we could look down on what was a beautiful winter landscape. The driver also entertained us by banking this way and that, it really was AWESOME!

I got out of the helicopter feeling more euphoric than after the race! I wanted to do it again and again, it was just such a cool experience! Following that we started making our way back to the hotel, stopping along the way. Our first stop, Adirondack Winery. Excited to try a few wines in the area, we walked on in and found a spot for us to stand. We ordered up a cheese, cracker, chocolate and jam plate and awaited the seven samples we had decided to go for.

Ranging from white to a dessert wine, I was excited to give them all ago. There were pros and cons to the whole experience, the pros being that the wine was all delicious! Honestly out of the 14 we tried, 13 were really good. The con being that it took forever and a day to get our wine. Seriously, we ate almost our whole plater before we even got the third wine. So much for trying to hold off on the chocolate until the dessert wine, if I had done that the little guy might have melted! Okay dramatic, but still it took forever. Either way, we walked out purchasing a white and a red so it clearly wasn't that awful an experience.

Our festinate for that evening was just fifteen minutes from where were staying in Glenn Falls. Derik had found a joint called Sip and Canvas, and what it was was an art class paired with drinking wine! We grabbed our aprons and a glass of wine and found ourselves in front of a canvas. We were painting an African sunset and although our instructor kind of acted like the class was a burden on her, the experience was a lot of fun. Derik and I both go really into it, and using acrylics was soooooo much fun!

Accomplishing our great works of art, we headed back to Lake George for a quick dinner. The following morning we were already heading out. With an impending snow storm we wanted to get a head start on the drive home. We stopped for breakfast at The Silo, took in enough substance to make our way home and off we went!

Lake George was a fabulous place to get away for the weekend. Sure the food wasn't great, but between races, helicopters, beer and wine I'd call it an ABSOLUTE success!!!

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