Dad's Life 3D: Breakfast in Maine and another surprise in Lake Placid

Just so Jaden could say he's been to Maine twice, once on the back of his sister and again in a muscle car, we drove back over the bridge to Kittery from Portsmouth for breakfast. In contrast to Portsmouth, there's not much in Kittery. But we did finally find a small breakfast joint called the Sunrise Grill.

After breakfast we hit the road. This was going to be our biggest travel day yet. Basically we started in the southern most part of Maine. We then cut through New Hampshire and Vermont, and crossed back into up state New York.

The lush trees that line the highway are so thick in Vermont that you feel like you are driving through a maze of trees. It feels like it goes forever until it opens up near Burlington, right before you get to Lake Champlain.

We arrived at Lake Champlain around 5pm. The lake is beautiful at this time of day. So much so, we had to stop and put our feet in, and take a break from the long drive. The fastest way to cross back over into New York from this part of Vermont is to take a ferry. This ferry was much smaller than the ferry that we took from New York to Connecticut!

Back on the road in New York, the terrain really began to change. We followed the Ausable River on a light mountain road, passing roadside houses. Once in a while we would see people sitting on their porches watching the cars go by. This is what the locals call the simple Adirondack Mountain way! It's a slower pace up here, and I like it! The full gangsta' name for the Adirondacks is the ADK!

What the kids didn't know is that we were going to meet our friends, the Flannerys here. While we were all in Boston, they had invited us to come stay with them at their family's lake house. Heather's family has been coming up to Lake Placid for years, and after seeing the lake for the first time, I can understand why. It is beautiful. Calm, peaceful, yet mythical in some ways. It's very serene and inviting.

We were greeted at the car, to the surprise of Mazzy and Jaden, by Isla and Stella! After settling in, we all walked to town for a nice quiet dinner at a cute lakeside restaurant. The restaurant is actually on Mirror lake, which is just to the south of Lake Placid by about 200 yards. After dinner we walked through town (Jaden in a broken flip flop) to get ice-cream and then headed back.

We capped off the evening down by the lake under an endless sea of stars shining above. The sky is so big up here, I couldn't help but wonder who else might be looking up at those stars. Joe lit sparklers for the kids to give them one last hoorah before heading back up for bed. It was a great night!

Day 9 – August 13, 2017
Start: Portsmouth NH
Destination: Lake Placid NY
Mileage (Muscle Car): 250 Miles
Mileage (Ferry): 2.9 Miles