civilized ku # 2881-90 / doors 24-25 ~ enjoyable un-planned pleasure

Essex Inn porch ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
tree /Lake champlain ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
buds /Lake champlain ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
restaurant on lake ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Vermont view ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
GoldMedal Flour ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Federalist house ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
gazebo ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
window and flower ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
purple door ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
white doors ~ Essex, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
shuttered motel ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
motel sign ~ Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Spent an inordinate and unplanned amount of time this weekend past along the shores of Lake Champlain - often referred to in the tourism marketing world as the Adirondack Coast*.

It started on Saturday with a noon drive to Plattsburgh for Hugo's hockey game. I went and returned via a route which runs for most of its length along the shore of Lake Champlain. On the drive home, I stopped to make a few pictures, to include the motel pictures.

Those pictures were made along a strip of motels adjacent to Au Sable Chasm, a once thriving tourist destination, now re-emerging as a resurgent and popular destination, albeit no where near the draw that it was in its heyday. The motels have not enjoyed the same resurgence. Some are shuttered while others have been converted to Section 8 (low income, government assisted) and transient units. The chasm and the motels are but a proverbial stone throw away from Lake Champlain.

Sunday noonish I drove the same route to and from a driving range (golf), again, stopping to make a few pictures. After arriving home, the wife and I headed out to look for Westport-style Adirondack chairs for the front porch. As you might surmise, Westport is located on Lake Champlain so our route took us in the direction of the lake.

Had no luck in finding the chairs, at least not locally made ones. However, we did end up in the village of Essex on the shore of Lake Champlain. The entire village of Essex (pop. 600-700), founded in 1765, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village has one of the finest and most intact collections of Federal and Greek revival architecture in New York State and, for that matter, in all of rural America.

After a walk around the village complete with picture making, we dropped into the historic 200-year old Essex Inn for drinks and shared appetizers: Stuffed Artichokes - poached artichoke bottoms, maryland crab, smoked gouda and Pigs in a Blanket - smoked wild boar sausage, flaky pastry, maple pomerey. After leaving the inn, we took a very short walk on Main Street. A few more picturings ensued and then it was in the car and north along the lake for the 30 mile drive to home.

Indeed, a very nice weekend.

*FYI, Lake Champlain is approximately 125 miles long, 14 miles wide at its widest point, and covers 490 sq. miles. It is bordered on the west by New York State, the east by Vermont, and the northern most reaches crosses the US - Canadian border in the province of Quebec.