Lake George

Miles: 220

Route: Boston, MA - Lake George, NY

Tuesday morning Alex and I both woke up around 5am for no real reason. After a while I gave up on sleep and headed for a run across the Charles River to a Pure Barre class. The 55-minute session was hard (my first time!) but it felt great to get back into the groove of taking a regular exercise class.

After walking back to Todd and Shannon's apartment in Cambridge (thanks for being such gracious hosts!) Alex and I got organized and began the drive to Lake George, NY.

The trip was only 3.5 hours long and much of it was very scenic given the beautiful weather we had. While road trips generally mean multiple stops at fast food and/or chain restaurants - which I normally do not complain about - Alex and I wanted to try and find some local joints too. Enter Housatonic Café in Lee, MA, where we enjoyed some of the most delicious sandwiches (50/50 split, score!) we've had so far on our trip. The sign out front said they "Put Panera to shame" and we would have to agree - definitely stop by if you are ever driving across Massachusetts into New York.

Arriving in Lake George around mid-afternoon, we were surprised at how quiet the town felt. There are very few other visitors around so we have the town pretty much to ourselves!

View of the lake from our motel dock.

So much blue.

We spent some time checking out the lake and drove around a bit in search of a scenic vista or pull-over point to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, Prospect Mountain was closed for the day so we ended up checking out a golf course and small beach along the water instead.

We took a drive up to the Top of the World golf course in search of some panoramic views - success!

We found a couple Adirondack chairs near Fort William Henry to watch the sunset.

A very relaxing way to end the day.

One of the few boats we saw.

Even the dock looks pretty picturesque.

After taking in the sunset, we relaxed for a little bit before dinner (the 5am wakeup and driving really wore me out) and called it an early night.

In the morning we headed to Prospect Mountain to check out the views of Lake George (we were now armed with the correct opening and closing times). We were lucky to have another beautiful day and happy we got to see the lake from another perspective.

Panoramic view of Lake George from Prospect Mountain.

We finally found another couple to take our picture!

After leaving Prospect Mountain we headed to grab sandwiches and rent a speedboat for the day so we could enjoy the lake. I was slightly disappointed that waterskiing was a non-starter given the cost ($600 for 2 hours!) and our two-person group size, but we had a great time anyway.

Alex was captain for most of the day.

The lake was practically deserted so we enjoyed clear skies and open seas all day.

Approaching The Sagamore, one of the fanciest and most beautiful resorts in Lake George.

View from the boat!

Alex was brave enough to let me drive for a while.

After spending almost five hours just hanging out on the water and driving around the lake, we called it a day and headed back to our motel to rest and get cleaned up. We ended the day with a delicious meal (definitely go to Bistro LeRoux if you come to visit Lake George - the reviews are true!) and a round of mini golf, which Alex narrowly won.

The course was appropriately named 'Around the World" and of course the 18th hole was NYC-themed.

Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning for our next stop: Niagara Falls!

The End of "The End"

Alex and I spent the past Thursday and Friday enjoying our final time in Montauk. We relaxed at the beach, walked around town and ate some good food (and of course, continued to write thank you notes). Our Montauk send-off meal was at Dave's Grill; we left feeling very full and content.

Cioppino at Dave's Grill - Sarah's favorite meal.

On Saturday, Alex and I packed up the car and said goodbye to Montauk, hoping to return sometime next year to celebrate our one-year anniversary.

Sunset at The Crow's Nest. The view is incredible but the gnats are not - bring bugspray!

We got these Montauk t-shirts at Local Knit and are packing them for the trip. We figured it would be a good reminder of our friends and family when we're far from them along the way!

We spent a few brief hours in NYC on Saturday so that we could run a few final errands. I wanted to get a "trip-appropriate" haircut (5 inches later I am still in mourning!), Alex wanted to check out Central Park one last time and we both wanted a final meal at PJ Clarke's.

The Great Lawn, Central Park. We will miss this view.

The Mall, Central Park. One of Alex's favorite spots in the city.

We spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in New Jersey (using Alex's parents' house as a "home-base") so we could pack and take care of our final To Do's. Monday involved multiple trips to two different malls AND a meal at Grand Lux Café so basically it was my ideal day in the suburbs. (To my new in-laws and Alex: it's too late to get rid of me now)!

Tomorrow morning we fly to Costa Rica and begin our trip around the world. After researching and planning for nearly 18 months, it is hard to believe we are really leaving with nothing but 2 backpacks. (To be fair, we only spend 2 months in South America before returning to the US for our road trip, but whittling down all of our belongings to something we could easily carry was quite the experience). Below are a few pictures of everything we are bringing for the first two months.

Sarah's clothing.

Alex's clothing (& our travel documents).

Everything else.

I would detail each item we included but really the list is pretty mundane. Basically a week's worth of clothes, toiletry "essentials" (Alex's definition of "essential" obviously differs from mine...), first aid necessities and a few "luxuries" (i.e., laptop, kindles, one pair of shoes that are actually cute).

NOT the cute shoes.

It's now only a few hours until takeoff so hopefully we packed everything we need! We can't wait to start this journey and are so excited to share it with you. Carpe Diem!

The Great Saunter

A few weeks ago, I began thinking about our pending departure from New York. I wanted to do something memorable before we left that would allow us to see some of our favorite parts of the city again, as well as explore some new ones neither of us had seen. I thought "Wouldn't it be cool to walk the perimeter of Manhattan?"  Well, after one Google search, it turns out this is an annual event hosted by Shorewalkers and it's called The Great Saunter. We'd missed it this year (it takes place the first Saturday of every May, FYI) but decided to follow the course ourselves (but in reverse).

Mom, Sarah, me and Nick (and a bunch of tourists already swarming The Charging Bull).

We started our walk at 7:30am down at Bowling Green. This is the same starting point as the official Great Saunter, but we wanted to walk up the east side and finish on the west side (the official map takes you up the west side to reduce sun exposure). The first couple miles were pretty easy - the path along the East River is well maintained and we were shaded by the FDR or trees for most of it.

DUMBO.

The pedestrian walkway ends around 35th Street and we had to walk up 1st Avenue until we got past the Queensboro Bridge. Beginning at 60th Street, we could get back over to the water and continue north-bound until around 125th Street.

Roosevelt Island. Looking south around 90th Street.

The next part is a bit tricky as you have to zig-zag through Harlem until you can return to the water around 155th Street. By that point, it was around noon and we could see Yankee Stadium - somewhat of a reality check on how far we'd actually walked. We continued north along the Harlem River Drive to about 210th Street, then headed west to Inwood Hill Park.

The George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and High Bridges.

We stopped to eat the lunch we'd brought along at Inwood Hill Park. It was a beautiful day for baseball and we were able to watch a little of the action while we rested our feet and changed our socks (a key for success on a walk this long - bring extra socks!).

Recharged (and re-socked) my mom, Sarah and I headed for the west side. Nick wore hiking boots that were not properly broken in and got some pretty bad blisters as a result. He took the subway home with 17 miles under his belt. Still worthy of the relaxing afternoon he had by the pool afterwards!

The west side is much easier to navigate than the east side. There is a path by the Hudson River for the entire route south and the views were great given the slowly setting afternoon sun.

View from under the George Washington Bridge.

Hudson River looking south, just below the George Washington Bridge.

We helped motivate ourselves by agreeing to stop at The Boat Basin for a drink along the way. By the time we arrived (around 5pm), it was so crowded we could only perch on a step, but the brief rest was very welcome. The views weren't too bad either.

Boat Basin.

From here it was only 6 more miles to the finish line. We were exhausted, sore and our joints ached, but we were determined to finish! Mom and Sarah listened to music for most of this last leg (I let my mom borrow my headphones) so I was left to listen to them hum (and sing!) along out loud to their music. Turns out my mom is quite the Katy Perry fan...

Almost there!

We made it to Stone Street by 7:45pm. The walk had taken us 10 hours and we rested for about another two along the way. We were all ready for bed, but first we enjoyed a cold beverage and Mexican food as a reward for the ~3,000 calories we'd just burned.

All-in-all it was a great experience. There were some interesting parts of upper Manhattan that we'd never seen before (and some we probably would be okay if we didn't see again). The weather was perfect. We broke in some of the gear we'll need on our trip. And most importantly we all had fun. I'd highly recommend this to anyone adventurous enough to commit a day to the walk and two to recovering!

Beer, margarita and Mexican food at Mad Dog.