Driving to Lake Placid, New York

One place that we knew that we wanted to visit while traveling in the area was the King Arthur Headquarters in Norwich, VT, so it was our destination as we drove to Lake Placid today, arriving at 9:15am after leaving Lincoln, NH at 8am. 

 

 

Inside was basically a store (all the same stuff can be purchased on their website)........ 

 ..and some classrooms for their cooking school......

 ....freshly made bread.....

 ...and a small restaurant,,,,,

 

We had breakfast there ~ Brad had the "best cup of coffee on this trip so far" and an awesome cinnamon roll. We did buy a few things in their store, most importantly an awesome Big Book of Bread Cookbook that Suzanne is super excited about! 😀 (All that being said, we were a bit disappointed in the entire experience - mostly because the staff were just not very friendly.)

 

We the continued onto the Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, VT for some Vermont maple syrup - yum! 😋

 

It was a bit of a "take this tiny road, now turn onto this tiny road," drive to get there, which often had us questioning if we were on the right road, but clearly we were not the only ones with that thought......😂

 

 

It was a very unassuming and low-key farm, not commercial at all. 

 

What we did not realize when we (actually Brad) found this place, was that it is not only maple syrup that they produce, but cheese as well. Well, double yum! 😋😋

 

We first took the self-guided tour through the sugar house......

 

Sap holding tanks..... 

 

The sugar evaporator ~ where the sap is boiled down into syrup......

 

Fuel for the sugar evaporator......

 

This shows the snowfall each year - as before, use Brad as a 6ft measuring stick......😂

 

We then went into the tasting room, and were surprised to see three women cutting and sealing cheese. One woman stopped working and explained to us that they do everything by hand - from cutting the cheese ....
 

...to dipping the cheese in wax to seal it.  

We sampled five cheeses and some different maple syrups, learning that the color and grade of maple syrup is dependent on the weather (temperature) over the winter season. The darker (Grade B) syrup runs during warmer temperatures, so due to global warming, they are getting more of the darker Grade B syrup than the lighter Grade A syrup. 

We then went into the shop, where we sampled more foods and met the owner (second generation) and were surprised to find out that they get 200-300 visitors a day. We bought some cheese and a sampler of the different maple syrups, then took another self-guided tour of a small part of their maple trees.....

 The sap flows down the tubes into the holding tank.......

 

It was (somewhat surprisingly) a lovely visit!

 

We were back on the road about 12pm, but did not get very far as just a few minutes later we stopped in Woodstock to meander the charming town.

 

We finally made it to Lake Placid and our hotel ~ The lake Placid Inn, which used to be a private preparatory school for elite winter athletes and housed the Italian athletes during the 1980 Olympics. 

 

We originally wanted to come to the Adirondacks to hike, but after chatting with guy over dinner at a nearby bar, we decided to enjoy the Olympic-aspects of the area and forgo a hike. 

 

We took a walk after dinner and stopped by the Olympic Center.....

 First taking a look at the 1932 Jack Shea Arena....

 Then of course the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena where The Miracle on Ice occurred.....

 

 (More on The Olympic Center in a future post.) 

Franconia Notch State Park, NH

We slept great and were up around 7am. We spent some time still discussing where to hike today in Franconia Notch State Park and where we want to go from here. (Reminder, we have no pre-set plans as we travel - yay!)  We were sort of all-over-the-place with both decisions,  and two hours later finally made our first decision ~ breakfast at Polly's Pancake Parlor! 😂

It was a super cute place ~ and like when they opened in 1938, your table's server (and our waitress was awesome) makes your pancakes. (Anything else on the menu is made by the kitchen staff.) 

We decided to share an order of six pancakes - one of each - sort of like a tasting flight of pancakes! 😄 Pancakes come with real maple syrup, Polly's Maple Spread, and Polly's Maple Sugar.

 

(Should have taken a pic before we split them.....)

 

So like with yesterday's distillery tastings, our thoughts on each:

• Plain with blueberries - good. (Both of us.)
• Buckwheat - Suzanne did not like (nor did she expect to); Brad's least favorite.
• Gingerbread - Suzanne wanted to try this one; Brad was reluctant. Suzanne really liked it and immediately looked for a recipe online; Brad said this was a "sleeper" and it ended up being his favorite. 
• Whole wheat - just okay for both of us.
• Cornmeal - Suzanne was hesitant on this one, but ended up liking it - it was like corn bread with maple syrup. Brad liked it more than he expected as well.  
• Oatmeal buttermilk - Surprisingly good. (Both of us.)

 Of course, we ranked them as well:

• Suzanne: gingerbread, oatmeal buttermilk, plain, cornmeal, whole wheat, buckwheat
• Brad:  gingerbread, plain, oatmeal buttermilk, cornmeal, whole wheat, buckwheat

 Overall, we both enjoyed the pancake tasting WAY more than the liquor tasting yesterday! 😅

 

We went back to the hotel where we decide our next destination and Suzanne looked for hotels while Brad looked for a hike today knowing that rain/storms were expected around 3pm. We finally were heading out at 11am ( late for us) and stopped at the Basic Cascade Trail first for a few minutes.

 

 A small waterfall along the way.

The Basin

 We then headed to the Lonesome Lake Trailhead, and started hiking at 11:45am. 

 

 

We arrived at Lonesome Lake about 45 minutes later.....

 ...and made our way to the Lonesome Lake AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Hut .....

 

 The hut......

 What is an AMC hut? (From Google....)

The AMC huts are a system of eight historic, backcountry mountain lodges operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire.

• Location: Spaced roughly 6 to 8 miles (about a day's hike) apart along the Appalachian Trail, ranging from Lonesome Lake in the west to Carter Notch in the east.
• Accommodations: They offer rustic, co-ed bunkrooms with mattresses and blankets during the main summer season, though the bunkrooms are unheated and off-the-grid.
• Meals: During the full-service summer season (generally early June to mid-September/October), resident staff known as the "Croo" prepare hearty family-style breakfasts and dinners for overnight guests.
• Amenities: Facilities are basic, featuring composting or waterless toilets, cold running water, and common areas, but no electricity for charging devices, no Wi-Fi, and no showers.
• Self-Service Season: In the shoulder and off-seasons, the huts remain open or accessible on a self-service basis where hikers must bring their own food and sleeping gear.

 

We hung out on the dock......

 ...chatting with two other couples and enjoying some snacks......

 ...hiking out and arrive back to the trailhead around 2:15pm. 

 

(We did the same hikes 13 years ago.......link) 

 

The it was back to the hotel for showers and our dinner decision which took us to The Common Man where we sat at the bar with a bunch of locals and had another excellent meal.  

 

Driving to New Hampshire

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and were on the road by 9:30am heading west, first stopping at Grafton Notch State Park (still in Maine). We walked a bit to Mother Walker Falls - it was okay.

 

As we continued driving west, we stopped at Gemini Cafe and Bakery in Bethel, Maine.....

 

 

It used to be a bank ~ the old drive-thru is now an outdoor patio!😀

 

The food was great as well as the tea (in super cool mugs).

 

We then continued into New Hampshire and stopped at Cathedral Ledge Distillery, thinking/hoping we would try some really yummy maple liquor. (We had some in PEI, but had already purchased our "one liter per person US/Canada tax-free border" limit, so were looking forward to buying some in the US.)

 Once inside.....

 ...we were given a menu and we could try five 1oz pours for $15. We split a taster flight since we were driving and knew Suzanne probably wouldn't love the tastes anyway. 

Our tasting flight arrived......

 Happy Brad!

 

Our samples and thoughts on each:

• Straight Rye Whiskey 
• Brad: "smooth"
•  Suzanne: "turpentine"
• Blueberry Vodka
• Brad: "no"
• Suzanne: "no"
•  Fig Vodka
• Brad just shook his head no.
• Suzanne: "least offensive so far"
• Organic Aquavit
• Brad: "My #2."
• Suzanne: "Disgusting." 
• (Though we both agreed that it smelled the best of the five.)
• Organic Maple Liqueur
• Brad: "Not bad. PEI place was better."
• Suzanne: "NO!"

 So needless to say, we did not buy any! 😂 

 

As we continued on the drive, we found ourselves along The Kancamagus Scenic Byway, but it was raining, so we did not get out to do any walks or hikes.  (We were here in 2013 as well.)

 

We finally arrived at our hotel in Lincoln, NH (we are staying here to explore Franconia Notch State Park) around 3:30pm, got settled, and had a great dinner at Five Main on the River....

 

 ...where we had awesome butternut squash ravioli with a maple cream sauce ~ yum! 😋

 

We came here to do the Franconia Ridge Loop trail, but it has been raining and more rain is expected, and that is not the hike to do when the trail is wet (slippery rocks and boulders), so we spent some time thinking about what other hikes we wanted to do.........

Hiking Saddleback Mountain to The Horn, Rangeley, Maine

After an awesome night’s sleep and a great breakfast, we got ready for our hike from Saddleback Mountain to The Horn. The distance is not very far: 2.1 miles each way, but it was a technically difficult hike due to the multitude of rocks and boulders.

We started by taking the Saddleback Mountain Ski Lift up Saddleback Mountain as far as we could (hiking up/down ski runs is boring)....

 

......and already enjoyed some great views once we were off the ski lift.

 

We still had a bit of ski run to walk up .....

...and then we picked-up the spur trail to start our hike.

 

 

We forgot to note the time when we started truly hiking, however it was 40 minutes after getting on the ski lift that we made it to the Saddleback false summit....

 

We continued hiking, enjoying views and the trail.....

 

.....20 minutes later arriving at the true summit at 4,515ft.....

 

 We continued our hike over many rocky areas.....some flat......

 

...and some quite steep.....

 

...always keeping The Horn in our sights......

 A bit of the the hike was in the trees....

....but not all.....

 

 

...still keeping The Horn in view.

 

The hike continued to be super rocky at times......

 

Brad stayed on his feet the entire time......

Suzanne stayed on her feet most of the time......

 

 ....but not always! 😂

 

Some of the boulders were pretty big......Brad is 6ft, for perspective.....and we would look at it and think, "huh," and then manage to climb up and over (or down on the way back). 

 

The Horn was getting closer (well, we were getting closer to The Horn....😉)

 

 ....finally arriving at The Horn Summit (4,530ft)  at 12:20pm.

 

 

We took a 10 minute snack break and then turned around and hiked out, taking about 1 1/2 hours for us to get back to the ski lift to take it down the mountain. (Honestly, our knees were shot after all the boulder ups and downs, so not walking down literal miles of ski runs was fantastic!)

 

We had an early dinner at The Furbish Brew House in Rangeley and enjoyed some music on their patio......

 

It was then back to the hotel for showers and packing, as we were heading out the next day.  

 

We very much enjoyed our short stay in Rangeley, Maine ~ we had good meals, the townspeople were super nice, and the town itself just adorable. It is really the first time we have spent any time in western Maine and we are super glad that we made the stop.