Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.

We were initially thinking of spending an additional day in Lake George, but considering the peak tourist season didn’t start for another week and very little was open, we decided to plan on coming back another time in season. After checking out of the motel, we did a little exploration of the site of the former Gaslight Village Amusement park, comparing some areas of the site to old photos we found on the Internet. I don’t remember much about the place, except the Cavalcade of Cars was a very cool exhibit featuring one of my favorite custom cars, the Munster Koach.  The site seemed fairly small to house an amusement park, I’m used to the very sprawling grounds of Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.

Afterward, we decided to play a round of miniature golf, and Goony Golf happened to be open. Pat did very well beating me this time! 🙂

We then headed southwest out of Lake George on State Road 9, and in Lake Luzerne, picked up a local road that followed along first the Sacandaga River, then the shore of the Great Sacandaga Lake. Very nice ride on twisty roads, and such great views.

We continued southwesterly on a couple of other state roads until we picked up US 20 near Cherry Valley. At this point, I knew we would be near another must stop recommended by my coworker Tina, that would be the TePee, a souvenir shop overlooking Cherry Valley on US 20.

We noticed there was a small travel trailer off to the side of the TePee that served as a restaurant. We talked to the owner of the TePee inside, and she explained that her brother ran the restaurant, TePee Pete’s Chow Wagon. We bought a few souvenirs and decided to check out the fare at the restaurant. We had a nice talk with Pete, who explained that his parents, who had owned the TePee prior to his sisters’ purchasing it, were interested in him running a restaurant at the TePee. They even found an old trailer for sale in Connecticut that was being used as a hot dog cart, but Pete was quite happy as a chef downstate. They bought it anyway, in case he ever changed his mind, but didn’t tell him. Some time later, while recuperating from a back injury, Pete’s employer basically insisted he return to his job or lose it; not being cleared yet for return to work, Pete asked his parents if they still wanted him to run a restaurant at the TePee. They surprised him with the trailer, and TePee Pete’s Chow Wagon was born. Pete is quite the character, and his food is awesome. I had a grilled veggie wrap that was just delicious and Pat went for the “double barreled shotgun,” which was two chili dogs wrapped in a tortilla. Here are a few photos:


Pete’s view from the kitchen is beautiful!

We continued on US 20 west for a bit, then decided to spend the night in Richfield Springs. There were a few mom & pop motels in town, which all had reasonable reviews from Trip Advisor. We opted for the Fountain View Motel. We pretty much stepped out of 2013 and back into the 50’s & 60’s again, but the place was very clean.

Humorously, after having recently watched the movie “Vacancy,” Pat was compelled to look in the vents and other places to see if there were any video cameras. LOL

It wasn’t too late, and we had passed a place called Tunnicliff Creamery that was still open just a short distance back, so after we settled in, we decided to go get some ice cream. I think we may have had ice cream almost every day on this trip so far! Here’s the black raspberry.

We checked out the town a little (pretty small, so it didn’t take long), then went back to the motel to get some sleep.
Until tomorrow,

Pat & Jennifer

Today’s Photographs

Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos.
Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.

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