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When in Saranac Lake, NY try breakfast at the Blue Moon Cafe on Main St...nice owners, great food and interesting people...not fancy...could use sprucing up and a screen door but we love it anyway. Best b'fast in the area not to mention awesome coffee. Only place we go for pizza is Little Italy...head to the back for sit down dining...very nice.
Saranac Lake= A nice village with a northwoods Canadian flavor. The scenery was very nice with neat looking houses and local restarants. In the Adirondack Park their does not appear to be many roads that lead to the higher elevated mountain peaks. It looks like you have to do some hiking to get to those rugged areas when the weather is good.
The lack of roads to the mountain tops in the ADK's ,thereby forcing one to hike to get to them, that you mentioned in your previous post, Plains10, is one of the reasons that make this area so great, IMO. Unlike many other mountain areas, and unique to the eastern half of the USA, there are hardly any roads at all in the entire 6 million-acre Adirondack Park. With this being the case, the integrity of the local environment is kept more whole, and helps preserve the natural wilderness quality. With so much of the rest of the nation being swallowed up by urban sprawl, having a 10,000-square-mile area covered, for the most part, in green, forested hills and pristine lakes, with a noticeable lack of cities, subdivisions, mega-malls and large farmland, makes the Adirondack region extra special and important. BTW, when you were in the ADK's, did you check out the top of 4,867-foot-high Whiteface Mt. in Wilmington? It is one of only two driveable mountain peaks in the 'Dacks; Prospect Mt in Lake George being the other. It's a spectacular experience. If you haven't, it will more than meet your expectations for being a huge mountain that you can drive up to. At the top is a small visitor's center, weather station and snack/lunch bar. It has a cool and unique elevator to the very top. To get to the elevator, you walk through a doorway that leads to a 400 hundred foot tunnel "corridor" cut through the mountain. At the end of the corridor is the elevator that will ascend 20 stories to the top! From the peak, you get a wonderful 360 degree view that surveys 4 states and 2 Canadian provinces!!.....
Your observations of Saranac Lake are quite accurate. It sure does have a northwoods flavor. And, yes, Dianalb67, the Blue Moon Cafe is a wonderful cafe that serves Cold River coffee and is especially noted for their gormet-style pastries and hearty breakfasts. When in town, also check out the realtively new cafe called "Adirondack Bean-To" on Shepard Ave. They have WiFi and serve socially-responsible fair-trade coffees.
Can't agree more. I was camping btwn LP and Saranac Lake in the summer of 1991 and my friend and I went into Saranac for dinner and go to some bars etc. As we approched a bar, literally the doors flew open and a brawl with about 10 guys started. Nobody seemed to stop them and we decided to head to LP to some pubs.
The Paul Smith's Inn is a bit of a let down as well.
Good point.
I am from upstate NY and I am very observant. And yes, NY has its share of rednecks. When I moved south, so many of northern transplants, especially NYers, would complain about the rednecks. Hello! NY has them too. They act like we don't have issues like poverty and ignorance. Although the south is indeed poorer overall, the northeast isn't perfect either.
Thank you! I will definitely try 'Bean-to' this week! As for mountain roads, the hiking is what it is all about! Park the car and see the Ads from atop one of the beautiful peaks..get great bang for your buck on Cascade Mt, Noonmark Mt and tiny Mt Joe at the ADK Loj for those beginner hikers. So worth it!
Just got home from taking my grandson to Lake Placid/Whiteface Mt./Saranac Lake. We chose to ride the Gondola up Little Whiteface and what an experience, he said it was scary! What a view going up, up on top and going down!!
Then he really wanted me to drive the Whiteface Highway up to the top of Big Whiteface but I declined that one, been there, done that and next yr. when he visits may be a good time to try that one.
We ate lunch at Tail o The Pup which was located almost to Saranac Lake, unique place, lots of outdoor tables, a big roll of paper towels on each table to use if you order the barbeque. We had the fish and chips, was good but he didn't like the fish. I loved it!
Great area to visit, spend a lot of time or a day!
Adirondack area is beautiful, we live near the Canadian border, north of Plattsburgh, so travel to these areas is simple most times of the yr.
Burlington is just a quick ferry ride away or a trip up to Rouses Point (which is a picturesque village on Lake Champlain), across the Korean War memorial bridge into Vermont and on down to Burlington on Interstate 89 or down through the Islands, which is a wonderful trip. Lots of cottages, motels etc. to stay in, in the country or on the Lake.
I am from upstate NY and I am very observant. And yes, NY has its share of rednecks. When I moved south, so many of northern transplants, especially NYers, would complain about the rednecks. Hello! NY has them too. They act like we don't have issues like poverty and ignorance. Although the south is indeed poorer overall, the northeast isn't perfect either.
Your post is overly negative....yes, I once asked the question of rednecks in NY State and Vermont. I have learned before moving here that indeed there are rednecks in these areas. But I was also informed that the ADK's and Vermont have so many benefits that outweigh the redneck factor. In fact, it is a non-issue as people up here practice the credo of "live-and-let-live" in their general attitudes. That is a quality that is generally NOT found south of the Mason-Dixon line I can tell you. I lived in the poorest part of southwest West Virginia--it's the poorest part of a poor state). Although there were many pleasant experiences living there, it was not a particularly open-minded place. The rednecks of WV were not content to live their lifestyle quietly like they do up here. They made it a mission to wear their religion and their politics on their sleeves, and, worse yet, they wanted me to wear their beliefs on mine! I have not (yet) found any rednecks up here who were as "in-your-face" on these issues as they were in WV. While there are some people with whom we do not wish to socialize up here in the Adirondacks, we seem to live peacably on a day-to-day level. The quality of life up here is high, but not when judged by the typical criteria that are used in suburbia. In suburbia, the quality of life is rated on the ability one has to earn money--(LOTS of it)--keep up with the (mythical) Joneses--drive the biggest SUV--and have a trophy mini-mansion with ridiculously perfect green lawns. To the typical suburbanite, the casual, unkempt and fiercely independent look of the Adirondacks is anathema; he/she would rate it as a place that has a low standard or quality of life. But up here the trade-off of lower wages (hence, less money), is freedom to not keep up with the Joneses, for the Joneses do not judge their neighbors based on the size of their house, their car or the color of their lawn. Further, the fresh air, abundant lakes and ponds and lush, green mountainscapes provide a platform to enjoy a healthful outdoor lifestyle for those who pursue it, often at no or little cost. The locals are usually--not always, but usually--friendly and help their neighbors when asked. The area has ridiculously low crime, which pays untold dividends to one's quality of life. In short, there is a high qaulity of life here that cannot be measured with the rest of suburban/urban America.
I hate to sound like Jeff Foxworthy but really...............what do people consider as redneck? I was born and raised in the deep south and have spent equal parts in the deep south and wayyyyyyy up north. Talk about your culture shock! Both areas have their pluses and minuses IMO. IF the only qualifier to be a northern redneck is their tendency to not shove their views in one's face, then that might qualify............However, I do think that as a rule, southern people are stereotyped as being rednecks 99% of the time. I have shown people pictures of nice homes in the south and they can't get over that there are huge homes with nice malls, shopping centers and traffic, etc. I think some people think of the Beverly Hillbillies when they think of the south! Most are truly surprised when they visit...........
I have to say that if you take a drive along back roads......say on Rt. 9 from Pburgh to Lake Placid along Ausable Forks, Keeseville, other rural areas...........You will not only see lots of abandoned cars in yards, trailers run down and rusted, clothes hanging outdoors in 0 degree weather on several clotheslines, and lots of plastic lawn ornaments, plastic lawn chairs with maybe a couple of dogs running around here and there. Most of the people probably don't have a lot of education and don't have most of their teeth. One of the social workers in this county told me that the one of the highest rates in the entire country of incest is in this area............I am just not sure what constitutes a redneck? IMO, there is in every area of the country a huge difference in a "city" or suburban dweller and a rural dweller...............There are many second/vacation homes in the ADKs and I love the mountains and its people, but there are also second homes in the Ozarks and the Smoky Mountains that are half million dollar homes also. I know in Vermont also there are folks that leave their Christmas decorations and lights on their homes year round and all the other things that might constitute being a redneck? I bet if a stranger showed up on either a southerner or northerner's "redneck" trailer-park front yard, you might not be very welcome in either place..............Think both areas might have easy access to a firearm or two.............? I absolutely think there are rednecks everywhere...........(not that there is anything wrong with that!)
I agree with most of the observations already posted, but I would add one that I feel is significant, which is the abundance of water in NY! There are many, many lakes in the Adirondacks, so opportunities for boating, fishing, swimming, waterskiing, etc, abound, whereas you'd be much harder pressed to find water in such close proximity in Vt, unless you are close to Lake Champlain. But there too, you are dealing with a very large body of water, and may have to look harder for smaller lakes and ponds.
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). Although there were many pleasant experiences living there, it was not a particularly open-minded place. The rednecks of WV were not content to live their lifestyle quietly like they do up here. They made it a mission to wear their religion and their politics on their sleeves, and, worse yet, they wanted me to wear their beliefs on mine! I have not (yet) found any rednecks up here who were as "in-your-face" on these issues as they were in WV. While there are some people with whom we do not wish to socialize up here in the Adirondacks, we seem to live peacably on a day-to-day level. The quality of life up here is high, but not when judged by the typical criteria that are used in suburbia. In suburbia, the quality of life is rated on the ability one has to earn money--(LOTS of it)--keep up with the (mythical) Joneses--drive the biggest SUV--and have a trophy mini-mansion with ridiculously perfect green lawns. To the typical suburbanite, the casual, unkempt and fiercely independent look of the Adirondacks is anathema; he/she would rate it as a place that has a low standard or quality of life. But up here the trade-off of lower wages (hence, less money), is freedom to not keep up with the Joneses, for the Joneses do not judge their neighbors based on the size of their house, their car or the color of their lawn. Further, the fresh air, abundant lakes and ponds and lush, green mountainscapes provide a platform to enjoy a healthful outdoor lifestyle for those who pursue it, often at no or little cost. The locals are usually--not always, but usually--friendly and help their neighbors when asked. The area has ridiculously low crime, which pays untold dividends to one's quality of life. In short, there is a high qaulity of life here that cannot be measured with the rest of suburban/urban America.
Just wondering.................
