Travel Dates: July 24-August 1, 2018

Our time in upstate New York ended up being one of our favorites.  We finally caught up with our friends, the Erickson’s, at Delta Lake State Park outside of Rome (not Italy).  Mostly we just needed a place that wasn’t too far of a drive where we could all hang out for a few days. This totally qualified.

We arrived late in the evening and all the kids were incredibly excited to see each other! Even Kai, the dog, got in on the action. Once we were parked and leveled (and this was the hardest level I think we’d EVER done in the last 4 years) we stayed up way too late talking and catching up.

The next morning, the dads needed to work so Alyssa and I dodged rain storms and scrammed with the kids to the nearby Fort Stanwix for a little road schooling field trip.

We managed to make it back to camp just before it started a downpour. Luckily games are much more fun with friends and no one got too bored. It was actually nice to have a down day and an excuse to stay inside and relax.

We recently purchased Splendor, which is a super fun 4 player game. I think Anibel and Rachel have now played it over and over and they are ready for the expansion!

The following day, the skies cleared, the sun came out and we spent the day at the beach. Sam and I were finally able to pull out the new Needle Nose SUP board that Sea Eagle boats sent us to test out. Unfortunately the beach wasn’t very launch friendly so it wasn’t an amazing test but felt good to be back on the water!

Lake Placid, New York

After a few days, it was time to move on. After debating back and forth about whether or not to visit Lake Placid we decided to go for it. Mostly we were concerned about cell signal (have to work) and whether or not we could find an electric site (the humidity has been nuts). Turns out the weather was perfect, we found a great little RV park to stay at and Lake Placid is now one of my favorite places.

“We paid for one night. And then another. And then three more after that. We almost skipped Lake Placid but I’m so grateful we didn’t. The cool night temperatures, mountain air, and relaxing friend time has been exactly what we all needed. Running around barefoot on the grass creating obstacle courses doesn’t hurt too much either.”

Our first order of business was to take a short walk on the Peninsula Trails and jump in Lake Placid.  The trails were fairly flat, the humidity bearable, and lake swimming is awesome. Perfect combination.

Swimming in Lake Placid

“There are some days where I look around and think, “What decisions did we make in our lives to land us here at this exact moment? Cause it’s pretty awesome.” Swimming in Lake Placid today was one of those.” – @currentlywandering

Hiking Cascade Mountain

One of our primary goals for the Lake Placid area was to HIKE. It’d been way too long and the Erickson’s, especially, were totally hankering for a good summit. After a bunch of research (mostly done by Alyssa) we settled on Cascade Mountain.

“Trees, rocks, more trees, lots of rocks. Sweat. A lot of sweat. Stair climb for hours and then an audible sigh of relief as the trail opens up near the top.

The kids give a whoop and are off like rockets scrambling their way to the summit.

It feels so good to be back in the mountains. The temperature has cooled down, the humidity is less, we don’t run the a/c all the time and have pulled out hoodies and long pants for the evenings.

We could definitely stay here for a bit.” – @currentlywandering

Starting our hike with a talk on Leave No Trace by the trail volunteers.

“There’s something incredibly disappointing about reaching a summit and having it be tree covered. @alyssakerickson worked hard to find us a rocky summit with a view and this one was pretty spectacular. The tallest peak here is only about 5,000 feet (so less than the town we live in) but what they lack for in height they make up for with vertical feet per mile on the trail. This one was STEEP. Which is killer on the way up AND on the way down.

Our kids were troopers and totally rocked it (literally) with only a few minor meltdowns along the way.” – @currentlywandering

Almost there! Short snack break with a teaser view.

Summit looking towards Mt. Marcy

Overlooking the town of Lake Placid

Mountain Biking and ALL the Swimming

Once again it was the mom’s turn to take the kids out while dads got work done. We do this often, mostly so Sam can have peace and quiet and everyone else is entertained but its way more fun with friends! We had kind of an epic afternoon.

Mirror Lake has a FANTASTIC public beach. The water is clear, the sand is good, there’s docks for the older kids to jump off and the boat launch is steps from the beach. All good things when two moms are trying to wrestle six kids.

Everyone liked it so much that the unanimous vote the following day was to return to the beach. Alyssa and I were able to sneak in a trail ride first thing (ALL the roots!) and then we took our paddle boards and played at the beach again for a few hours. We couldn’t have asked for better weather!

“Mirror Lake is a beautiful paddling location. It’s not overly large, and while it would take effort you could paddle across the entire thing. Sure the area is touristy, but not overly so. The weather yesterday was perfect and the water was like glass.

I had my first chance to really take our new @seaeagleboats Needle Nose SUP for a spin and this thing can really MOVE. I felt like it cut through the water with ease, its super stable, and easy to paddle. So excited to keep testing it out as we travel further east!

Thanks @alyssakerickson for standing on the shore and grabbing this shot of me. I love it!”

We spent some time in downtown Lake Placid (touristy but there are some fun shops. Its super cute!), the adults made it down to Keene for a pie date and then it was time to move on!