38 years

Today is our anniversary. That's why we chose to have a rest day, and were glad it happened in a very nice place in the Adirondacks. It was supposed to rain today, but we didn't care. We could just dawdle around & look out at the lake and visit with all the nice people we have met here.

Hemlock Hall serves a very generous breakfast. Like dinner, it is family style. We are directed towards a particular table, and we are placed with different people each time. Everyone here is very interesting. Most have spent lots of time in the area and know of great hikes, or history, or performances, all sorts of details. We decided we would take a short canoe ride and then walk up to the Adirondack Museum, less than two miles away.

We watched the clouds gathering as we paddled. We managed to spot some rain approaching in time to dock the boat just as the first drops reached us. No thunder or lightning today, but the weather prediction had suggested there might be some. Being out on a big lake in a metal canoe is even worse than being caught in a thunderstorm on the bike! So we wandered back inside & got organized to go to the museum.

It's really a good one. It has all sorts of little buildings that show typical Adirondack settings, ranging from a little lean-to set up for camping to a fairly elaborate summer house to a hunting camp. There was an exhibit of early 20th century photographs, mostly of animals at night, then a quilt exhibit, a hall filled with railroad cars including one very ornate private car, and several horse-drawn vehicles. It also had a decent cafeteria where we found lunch & ate looking out over the lake. There were several rain showers but we avoided them for the most part.

We spent some time after we got back looking over our routes. We have no more days of Adventure Cycling routes & that's a little unnerving in this hilly and populous area. We also called ahead to be certain we would be able to spend an extra night in Williamstown if, as appears increasingly probable, Hurricane Irene becomes a factor. Current predictions have it hitting Massachusetts on Sunday. We will be ok if that sticks, although we may be stopping to walk around fallen trees on Monday. Otherwise, we may have to push things back a day. If we do that, we might have to reach the coast near Boston and get a rental car to get to Connecticut.

Then our second great dinner here. One of the families we sat with at dinner last night had spotted cute buttons with bicycles as happy faces (it works, really - they are not yellow & black, and the bikes look like glasses with a curve/smile down below then) and had brought us each one. The group we sat with this evening talked about all sorts of stuff. One woman described her initiation rite into an organization that took her very much by surprise. Another ended up having in her car the very western Massachusetts map we had been longing to see this afternoon & she brought it up for us to use this evening. A very home-like feeling.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in New York.