My husband and I just came home from vacationing in the Lake George area. We stayed in a very nice lodge off Route 9N and we have absolutely no complaints about that, but…allow me to say that I had one of the worst times in…Read More

My husband and I just came home from vacationing in the Lake George area. We stayed in a very nice lodge off Route 9N and we have absolutely no complaints about that, but…allow me to say that I had one of the worst times in my life.

First of all, for the entire two weeks that we were there, the weather was horrible. The tropical storms in Florida caused rain up and down the east coast. We had conversations with locals of the area who told us that it was one of the wettest summers that they could remember.

The Adirondack Mountains and the waters of Lake George were magnificent, and it was wonderful to be amongst natural beauty, to breathe clean air (my nose got stuffed up as soon as we returned home because of the pollution), to smell good dirt and to see clear water.

No, it wasn’t the lake or the mountains that caused me to dislike my vacation; it was the atmosphere of the place. I felt as if I’d become a prisoner in a theme park. The entire region is stuffed with tourists, noisy arcades, cheap restaurants, outdoor ice cream and taffy joints, and stores that specialize in schlock-filled memorabilia and T-shirts.

This wasn’t the first time that I’d visited the Lake George area; I’d been there with my family in 1970, but we'd stayed in the quaint town of Bolton Landing, in a rural cabin and hadn't been surrounded by tourists. I suppose I’d romanticized everything over the years and forgotten about how things change.

During this most recent visit, to my sorrow and nausea, I discovered that Bolton Landing has become a mini-Lake George Village, with its own street-lined shops, backed-up traffic and ubiquitous tourists walking with, seemingly, no destination.

I will admit that the Lake George Village area is a perfect place for a family with young kids. My husband and I observed many families with accompanying grandparents, looking to be having a grand time, but in my opinion, Lake George Village does not have much to offer the single adult and/or the adult couple.

In the town of Lake George, there are such tourist wonders such as a wax museum, a museum specializing in aliens (we never went in, so I can't tell you what was inside) and a "Frankenstein House", which will remain a mystery to us. On some evenings, Frankenstein, himself, stood outside the doors, waving at tourists.

In the area, there are restaurants aplenty, but the food was, as we were to discover, WORSE THAN AWFUL, so much so that I actually got sick. I guess I'd spoiled myself, all these years on organic fruits and vegetables.

The gourmet specialty in Lake George Village is Italian food. Everywhere you go, you see signs advertising this type of cuisine. Is Italian cooking the only stuff that Americans eat when they dine out? In my opinion, not having any alternative restaurants, from which to choose, was just another sign of the "dumbing down" of the American vacationland. I know that I sound like the TV character, Frasier, but why couldn't there have been a few restaurants in town that offered fine wines and diversity in menu?

To give you an idea of how disgusting the food was, one night, we ate in a place where everything on the menu was chicken, fish, or meat. I have been 95% vegetarian for over 30 years. There was one eggplant dish listed on the menu. After clarifying that there would be no meat, I asked the waitress if I could have the sauce on the side. She beamed at me and said, "Sure". (By the way, the kids who work in the Lake George area, as service providers, are all fantastic. They all get an A+ for their skills in Customer Satisfaction).

When she smilingly brought me my dish, it appeared that the cook (I won't use the term "chef") had gotten interrupted while pouring 10 jars of Ragu Sauce over my food before realizing it. You couldn’t see the eggplant on the plate; there was just an ocean of red sauce from rim to rim.

We had about three days of fun on this vacation. One cloudy, but not rainy afternoon, we went tubing down the Hudson River. Our guide was an affable, young man who followed us in a kayak.

On a positive note, we survived this vacation, realizing that we are city-folk at heart. We relish in walking city streets, discovering little coffee shops, eating in ethnic restaurants, visiting museums and art galleries. We are also very independent; sharing one rain-darkened hotel room for two weeks while up in the mountains proved to be the worst possible vacation experience for us. But we learned. We learned what not to do together. Next year, things will be different. We’re already planning our trip to Florence…

The town of Lake George is where you have all the restaurants, shops, and hotels. This area is where all the tourists come so it gets crowded here on weekends, especially in the summer so be prepared for traffic and long lines when dinning…Read More

The town of Lake George is where you have all the restaurants, shops, and hotels. This area is where all the tourists come so it gets crowded here on weekends, especially in the summer so be prepared for traffic and long lines when dinning or cruising. There is a lot to do here and the tourist office is a good stop if you want to check out all the attractions that are offered here. There is para sailing, white water rafting, camping, hiking trails and so forth so enough things to do for every one.

I would suggest parking your car in the lot and then walking around this area because street parking here is hit or a miss and you have to keep putting in quarters which gets annoying after a while. The traffic cops are also every where so expect parking tickets if you run out of quarters. This can be a headache so unless you have a lot of time and patience waiting around for a parking spot, I would just recommend parking in a lot and use that time for some thing else.

There are a lot of restaurants so I would suggest making reservations beforehand or else you will end up eating at a fast food place. The variety of restaurants is impressive, if you walk around then you are bound to find a restaurant to your liking. There are also a lot of shops here if you want to buy souvenirs, I would suggest vising a couple of them and then settling on an item and the price.

While I did not have enough time to do para sailing and many of the other events, I can see myself going back next year and tackling many of them. The local people are nice and I can see why so many New yorkers make a trip here yearly. This was my first time here and I am glad that every thing worked out even with all the last minute planning. I really enjoyed Lake George even though its becoming too touristy. If you are living in New York then its a great, quick getaway and will replenish you before you head back to work.Close