After yesterday's marathon drive, I slept later than I usually do (0700). Fortunately, I managed to make it down to breakfast in the hotel lobby. Spent some time organizing, planning and journaling before departing Binghamton (0830). It was raining in town but the precipitation turned to snow as I got on I-88 and headed east. I'd wanted to stop for a hike in Catskill Park but it soon became clear that I'd be lucky to make it safely to the Albany area. There were almost no plows on the road and I had trouble in a few places keeping my Chevy Malibu on the road safely. Listened to audiobooks on the way. Fortunately, I made it OK to Rotterdam and switched to NY-7. Google Maps suggested this road (and some other back roads, including a long train crossing) to help me cut across the north side of the Capital Region. As a result, I entered Saratoga at around the same time I reached I-87. From there, I drove north until I reached the Adirondack's Welcome Center - I stopped there for information. It wasn't raining in the area so I checked out the town of Glens Falls. I couldn't find a place to view the eponymous falls so decided instead to head over to Lake George. I used US-9 and it didn't take long to get there. At first, I looked around town (on the south and west side of the lake), hoping to find something to do. However, I figured out that parking was expensive so I didn't stop anywhere. After a while, I realized that I could (finally) visit the Adirondack Pub and Brewery! That place wasn't hard to find and I was soon sitting on a bar stool. While relaxing inside the pub, I sampled four beers and met lots of really nice people. I talked to two young guys who'd recently moved to Lake George (one worked for a company that explored pipes with remote vehicles and the other worked at a Glamping tent company). Overall, the whole experience was great! After leaving the brewery (1350), I drove over to the outlet mall on the corner of US-9 and NY-149 and took a walk on the western end of the Warren County Bikeway. I had a feeling of deja vu for a few minutes until I realized that I was actually finishing the trail that I'd started in October 2014... The weather was nice for most of my walk but it started to rain in the area just as I was finishing. Got back in my car at 1600 and then left town. I used NY-149 to reach US-4 and continued east into Vermont. After that, I made pretty good time (not much traffic and only a little rain). Stopped for gas at Irving in Rutland on US-7/US-4 (1655) and then continued east on US-4 (sleet). Before long, I found myself on I-89... I made it home by 1800 and sent the kids a Smurfey picture to let them know I'd completed my long journey. Very glad to have gotten away for such a great trip!
