Traveling and Touring

Monday, August 9, 2010

From The Villages at Turning Stone, Verona, NY

Sunday

We left the Black Bear Campground about 9 Sunday Morning for our drive to Verona, NY.  We could have taken the 'cross-country route', saving a few miles, but instead decided to stick with the Interstates for the better, and safer, highways.  We got on the New York Thruway not far from our start and continued on it all the way to our destination.  Toll Charges - $46.05.

We arrived about 1:30, found the campground, and checked in.  A very nice park with lots of trees.  Our TV dish does not work at our site, but the park has great TV Cable.  Their WiFi is fairly fast, but spotty connection.  Guess I will just have to get a booster.  We do have good AT&T service here (3G, 5 bars) so our aircard has been used mostly.

There is a huge casino, Turning Stone, with a huge hotel here also.  The casino has about 12 or 15 restaurants, so we decided about 6pm to try one of the restaurants, and maybe contribute to their economy in the casino.

We chose the Chinese restaurant, a very fancy place, very good food, but not overly expensive.

Then into the casino, which is really large with lots of table games and slots.  The only problem was that ALL the slots were video.  Donna does not like video slots.  The machines also do not take cash.  Instead one must get a Players Card, pay to put cash on the card, and use the card at the machine.

The line for the Players Card was quite long, and as you can imagine, Donna was quite perturbed by the time she was ready to play.  She played a very short time while I play Let It Ride, then we both played a little roulette.  Neither of us won, but lost very little.

Monday

We decided to do a little 'touring' today, driving up into the Adirondack mountains.  The first destination was LaForge, a touristy town.  Our first stop was at the Muffin Patch Restaurant, a local eatery.  The place was packed, but the wait was short.  Great food. 

Then we did a little browsing at some of the shops along the main street.  Most every place had all different kinds of bear related item.  Here is Donna with a carved bear at the front of one of the shops.

After visiting a few shops we drove on further north to Blue Mountain Lake, home to the Adirondack Museum.  This is a very well presented museum about the area, and was recommended to us by one of our readers.  It was very much worth the admission charge of $18 each ($1 saving for seniors).

The first building we visited was the Boats and Boating building with sailboats...

 

fast racing boats...

beautiful run-about-boats...

and of course, canoes...

The next major building was the Roads and Rails exhibit, where we saw a peddlers wagon..

a hearse on sleigh runners...

and a beautiful 'tour wagon'.

The private rail car was very beautiful and reminded us of a modern day Class A motorhome, but with more bedrooms and baths.  Access was a little to tight for good pictures, however.

We also visited the Artist Cottage, a Log Hotel, the Buck Lake Hunting Club House, and several other interesting exhibits.

We certainly must say that this is a Must-See if you are are the area.  Plan on several hours or even most of the day.

On our way back to the coach we came across this church that had been converted into a general store.

It was a long day, returning to the coach after 7pm,  But we had a great time and look forward to more touring while we are in the area.

Comments

[Dortha Hall]

I am with Donna. I hate those casinos that give you a debt card to play off of. I like putting my own money in the machine.

Loved the pictures. Are they with your new camera?

Have a great time...see you soon.

[Kpoppa]

No Dortha.. the pictures are with my little Sony Cyber Shot. I only have a 100-400 tele for the new camera so far. My 18-55 lens from my old Canon did not fit the new Canon, So will need to buy a new lens too.