boating & the rest of lake george!!

we spent mike's 38th birthday at lake george. 

he was a champ and woke up at 5am on his big day just to stand in line for a boat. see, they have lots of boat rentals, but none of them reserve boats in advance unless it's a multi-day rental (see: $2000+), so birthday boy got up and stood with about 100 friends all from long island to get a boat. i love him. and it was the very best part of our trip. so good that we did it again the next day. we also decided at the last minute to extend our trip 1 more night. the hotel was full, but about an hour before check-out they called and told us someone's credit card wasn't working so we could stay after all! thank you, sweet marriott. that last day was the time we needed to feel "done." you know that feeling? before then it felt rushed and crazy. we needed 1 more night to breathe. plus, it took us 2 days to find a good restaurant, ironically, the restaurant was in our hotel- charlie's, if you're in the market. their breakfasts were INCREDIBLE. we went down to get food each day and brought it back to our room to eat a-la-room-service, but not actually because, you know, covid (if you haven't traveled during covid, it means zero room service and/or hotel housekeeping, etc.).

we boated for an hour, up to the sagamore (gorgeous), then turned around and headed back to swim for a bit before returning the boat. the water was cool and calm, and the lake was MASSIVE. i googled the depth (almost 200'), and then no one wanted to jump in with me! rude. i mean, i convinced them, but it wasn't easy. mike forgot his swimsuit (????) so he swam in his underwear. he sat accidentally on the anchor back on the boat and ripped them open, so then he went commando until we got back to port. cool.

but really, jumping in was the best part of the trip. to me. mike thought he was going to die. he can only doggie paddle.

we went horseback riding one day at adirondack ranch! that was fun.

we also got a spot at the tiny beach near our hotel and swam for an hour or so until one too many kids had to pee and we left. 

mike waited & called & waited & called the boat place again about 75 times and finally got a boat at 3pm on that last night. he made a dead sprint to get the last pontoon before someone else got it (made it by the skin of his teeth). that second time-- around 3pm-- the water was rough. it was no bueno. i'm not a boater, as confirmed by my nausea. elle was paranoid she'd get nauseous, jude was mad he didn't get enough notice to get a boat, and harvey fell asleep sitting up.

i jumped in again to ease my barfiness, and it helped. no one wanted to get in with me though.

extra rude. mike rigged a floaty with a life vest to the boat and called that "getting in."

all in all, such a great trip. the kids have talked about it everyday since we got home. it cost as much as a freaking trip to europe, so i'm not sure i'd ever do it again... i think we broke every rule of frugality in terms of traveling (go during off season! bring groceries!), but summer 2020 was brutal on our mental health, and we all needed a BREAK. so i'm trying to live with no regrets. plus, the rest of the fam said it was worth it. so i agree. 

worth it.

saratoga springs & lake george!

on our way to lake george, after art omi, we stayed the night in saratoga springs. 

what i knew about saratoga springs before researching saratoga springs: disney has a saratoga springs resort. it's cool. i learned thereafter it has a seabiscuit statue (+ the racetrack), it's the home of the club sandwich, and it has fresh springs where you can drink the water! we tried the latter, and it was awful. it was like sucking on pennies. but it was cool in theory.

during our 18 hours in saratoga springs, we walked around the park, ate ice cream on a giant swing, devoured some mexican food, swam in the hotel pool(s), and jumped on hotel beds. 

apparently lake george is the mini golf capital of the world (not an actual fact, just made-up-by-me fact), so naturally, we mini-golfed pre-check-in. the family behind us was breathing down our neck (also slightly figurative, but not entirely)-- it's an uncomfortable feeling to have someone in your personal space during covid. we're VERY PROTECTIVE of our personal space! also, we weren't doddling, so they had no excuse. but besides that? good. 

we swam at the hotel before making our way out to see the shops and watch the sunset with a bonus rainbow near a field. 

for only being a few hours outside nyc, it felt like a world away. it was BUSY-- since new yorkers really can only stay in the tristate area, i think everyone chose lake george on one of the last weeks of summer, just like us. it stressed me out. a lot. there are the same mask requirements, but people weren't as diligent as they are in the city and it made me feel really uncomfortable, frankly. in addition, i thought we would be able to swim in the lake, but the beaches only let a handful of people in and then closed them because, again, covid. it all kind of threw me for a loop to start with, but thankfully mike found us this big field just to run free in... which was really, really nice. and it looked like hawaii, so that was EXTRA NICE:)

*a note that although we aren't wearing masks in most all the photos, we were wearing them anytime we were within 6' of people, per the requirements, and per my preference as well. just saying.