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Published: August 18th 2012
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Friday, July 20, 2012
We left home at 6:00 A.M. for a five day trip to Speculator, NY, a small village in the Adirondacks. Our best friends, Rod and Mary, were attending a wedding, and we were tagging along. After stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel just this side of Columbus, OH, we passed Cleveland around one, and then took a break from driving at Presque Isle Casino in Erie, PA, for about 2 hours. Just a mile down the highway construction caused a miles long backup. When we finally came across an exit, we took advantage and enjoyed a scenic detour. We spent the night in Rochester, NY, at a less than 2-diamond Comfor Inn.
Saturday, July 21st
After breakfast, the only good thing about our stay, we completed our drive to Speculator. It is a very small village on the shores of Lake Pleasant. You will find no franchise restaurants or hotels. We stayed at Timber Ridge Cabins, a grouping of 4 mountain style cabins. Very nice. After settling in we had lunch at Logan's Bar and Grill. We dropped Rod and Mary off for the wedding, then picked up ice cream sundaes from Lakeside Licks,
which we took to the beach to enjoy, while watching the sunset over Lake Pleasant.
Sunday, July 22nd
Up at 8:00 A.M. Breakfast was donuts from Donuts & More. One of our greatest pleasures when traveling is experiencing different restaurants than we are used to at home. This was certainly no problem in Speculator. While Rod and Mary went off to the reception brunch, we read, had lunch at Logan's, and returned to the beach to relax and read some more. It was a beautiful summer day. Lake Pleasant was filled with boaters, swimmers, and others enjoying the day as we were. After picking up Rod and Mary, we went to Melody Lodge, an Adirondack style restaurant and bar for dinner. This restaurant sits above Speculator with a panoramic view of the lake and mountains. We sat at the bar for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Monday, July 23rd
Today was our excursion day. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Albany, the capital of New York. The plan was to tour the State Capitol, New York Stage Museum, and take a narrated boat tour on the Hudson. We opted for the self-guided tour of the State
Capitol. It is a very impressive building. It is not as open on the interior as Indiana's State Capitol building. The hall of governor's was most informative. A portrait of each of New York's governors hung on the wall along with a short biography. Between each portrait was historic information for the intervening years. While we could have spent a lot more time here, it was only a day trip, and we had more to see.
A short walk across the plaza from the Capitol was the New York State Museum. Unlike Indiana's, New York's is free. Like most museums of this type, you could follow the history of New York from its beginning to the present. One of the most memorable, but somber exhibits was that honoring the events of September 11th. Artifacts, photos, and the remains of a fire engine are but a few of the many items you will see. I'm glad we went.
As usual, not all plans go as scheduled. Unfortunately for us, the boat excursions were not running on Mondays. We had lunch, and returned to Speculator. Dinner was not good. We ate at the unmemorable King of the Frosties.
Tuesday,
July 24th
While Rod and Mary went to visit Sharon, and hike to a nearby falls, Karen and I had lunch at the Sunrise Cafe, took the scenic River Walk, and enjoyed one last day of reading at the beach. We concluded our restaurant eating in Speculator where it began by having dinner at Logan's Bar and Grill.
Wednesday, July 25th
We left at 8:00 A.M. for our return trip. We drove as far as Cleveland. Our plan was to enjoy the evening at Horseshoe Cleveland. All went well until we came to within 2 blocks of the casino. Who knew the Cleveland Indians were playing the Detroit Tigers at home, and that the baseball field was only 2 blocks from the casino. Well not us! After finally getting parked we enjoyed a couple hours of fun at the Horseshoe. It's a beautiful, non-smoking, casino in a remodeled old building. A short drive to the Hampton Inn ended a long day.
Thursday, July 26th
After breakfast at the hotel we concluded our New York trip arriving home around 3.
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