Adorable Adirondacks Travel Task For Governor Cuomo?
Not only is the Governor of New York battling Covid but he also seems to battling his President too!
Although steering clear of politics, my interest in New York state is the battle he will be facing soon to build up tourism again to the Big Apple and also Upstate New York!
The Adirondacks great for many sports: kayaking, white water rafting, hiking, fishing, sailing and biking.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is in charge of one of the most visited areas of the USA, the city of New York. However, for me the area referred to as Upstate New York is in many ways a wonderful yet mostly untapped tourism resource that many of the wider public around the world, have just not heard about. Unlike that of Niagara, Yosemite or Grand Canyon for instance. Who has heard of the Adirondacks?
The Adirondacks Museum at Blue Mountain Lake.
If tourists are wanting to be visiting the more crowded city itself after Covid well as an alternative I would like to propose to them that instead they look to an area within Upstate called the Adirondacks.
Which is a stunning area of majestic mountains, valleys and lakes in other words a gem of a tourist spot that many would not necessarily think could be so close to New York city itself?
The Adirondacks part of New York State that are great for many outdoor sports such as: kayaking and white water rafting
For the British, I would liken it to the Lake District. But here the lakes are bigger and more numerous, the mountains and forests both grow as you would expect for the USA to huge scale and yet, and this is the even better news, with just a fraction of the traffic!
The Winter Olympics Museum in Lake Placid.
My visit was based in and around Lake Placid a former Olympic Winter sports venue. But here the summers are balmy and warm with dozens of mountain walks and trails to explore on foot or by bike.
The Adirondacks are famous for this image of a portaged canoe.
Getting on the water in the Adirondacks is almost compulsory. Kayaking, canoeing, sailing or paddle boarding on the lakes. For even more excitement white water rafting along the Hudson River or North River.
Andrew Cuomo is the 56th Governor of New York State took part in a raft race in the Adirondacks.
Something I was very lucky to experience, actually with the Governor Cuomo a few years ago whilst taking part in a media raft race challenge in the park.
Or, how about a more sedate trip on the water at Lake George where you can get a delightful excursion around the lake on a paddle steamer. Certainly, it was real surprise for me to discover that these paddle steamers were on the lakes here in the mountains and hills of the adorable Adirondacks.
White water time in Ausable Chasm.
Also, at Lake George is Fort William Henry. This well preserved and restored former British military fort that the current incumbents are ready to welcome inside all visitors, including its former owners, us Brits!
Fort William Henry at Lake George with guides more than ready to show even the Brits around.
The fort has excellent guides dressed in costume to show you around and explain the history. Lots for the children to see and take part in. With many demonstrations providing some great visuals also with the sounds of cannon fire or muskets to complete the picture of fort life in the 18th century.
Still firing cannons at Fort William Henry plenty of colour and noise on your visit.
Lake Placid itself has a very good Winter Olympic Museum and ice rink with on the outskirts of the village, and it surprised me that it was and still is a village! The Lake Placid ski jump complex where you can see the ski jumps towering over the park.
Lake Placid ski jump towers. (CC Image)
Perhaps after that aerial interlude, you may want to come back to earth and visit the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. This tells the story of this dramatic park and those that first explored and opened it up. Featuring in the museum are the canoes and boats that made it possible to explore the area long before many of the roads were built.
Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake the type of yachts raced by the Vanderbilts!
They came mainly in the early 20th century quite late for most states. But in time enough for the rich and famous to have easier ways to come and take their holidays there away from heat and bustle New York. The Fords, the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilt’s, all headed out to the Adirondack Park that was created in 1892.
Elk Lake Lodge a private campsite with charming timber cabins in the Adirondacks.
These affluent families all had large estates constructed in the wild forested hillsides where they could pursue interests like sailing and fishing on the many lakes and fast flowing rivers that cut through the mountains.
Fishing on Mirror Lake, Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.
Visitors to some of these lodges were like inventor Thomas Edison, John Fennimore Cooper author of ‘Last of The Mohican’s’, Theodore Roosevelt the 26th President of the USA, a conservationist and naturalist helped to set up and protect parks like the Adirondacks.
Adorable Adirondacks Seem To Have It All!
Today private camps like Elk Lake Lodge offer lakeside cabin accommodation with 40 miles of trails all for the exclusive use of their guests. The clear 200acre glacial lake where guests can fish or take kayaks or rowing boats to explore its inlets and landing places around it.
Interests like birdwatching, wildlife spotting and photography with maybe a chance to see a moose, a beaver or the noisy Loon birds that drop by the lake at times, even humming birds make appearance’s too!
Elk Lake lodge kayaking on the glacial lake in the Adorable Adirondacks.
Another must do experience within the park is to book a ride from North Creek on what was the Saratoga to North Creek Railway. Here you can rail bike along the track with Revrail a different and very healthy outing along the track peddling for around 7 miles, over and alongside the Hudson River.
A gentle raft ride through part of Ausable Chasm.
The extensive north to south orientated 107 mile long Lake Champlain marks the park’s eastern side and the area around Ausable Chasm often called the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks make two further places to check out on any visit too.
Ausable Chasm.
So it’s over to you Mr Cuomo. New Yorkers seem to be saying say you are doing a great job for them with Covid.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State.
And as for the future of tourism in the Adirondacks please accept this as an open request from a travel writer who just happens to think that the Adirondacks are just adorable.
I have said before I did fall in love with the Adirondacks and there has to be a way to get that love back for travellers from all over the world to enjoy it once again. After this cruel virus infection has safely passed.
I know you have much on your mind currently, but if there is a way and I am sure you are already thinking of it?
However, if you can please try to find some time to get your tourism team planning the next steps for the Adirondacks to return it to its rightful place as an eminent tourism destination within Upstate New York.
Thus, elevating it in vacation terms to a point, just rather like ‘Whiteface’ that stands so high and proud above the adorable Adirondacks!
#StaySafeNY
