Saturday it was time to move on, and we headed out, not too far, to Lake Durant, a state park campground in the Adirondacks, near Blue Mountain Lake. This is our first venture at having a campsite with no hookup-including electric. We will be using the generator to recharge the batteries and do things like make coffee. You can’t use it before 9 am- so we had to make coffee the day before and just heat it up in the morning. By 9 am we have usually showered, eaten and are gone for the day, so it’s a little late to start making the coffee. We arrived early enough to head to the Adirondack Museum, which is, without a doubt, one of the best museums we have ever seen. Its huge, and has many separate buildings, with information arranged in a way that its fun to learn, and not at all boring. Lots of things for adults and kids of all ages. Definitely worth the price of admittance! We had arranged to meet up with Joe and Judi, but had no specific time or place, so we just headed over to their lodge, and they showed up 10 minutes later. Perfect timing! We had gotten a slow start that morning, since we were up half the night. Dozer was busy earning his keep all night. Somehow, a mouse got in the trailer during the night. We heard loud noises (the cat running around) and when we came to check it out, the cat was playing “cat and mouse” with a live mouse. He was purring so loud you could hear it across the room..jpg)
This was one happy cat! He was playing catch and release. He would let the mouse go, then catch it again. We were not very thrilled with this, and tried to egg him on to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. We couldn’t get close to the cat, since he growled like I have never heard before, every time we approached. There was no way he was going to let us take his toy away. After a while, we had no idea what to do, so we went to bed ( I told Paul it was his job to get up first in the morning). For the next two hours we heard him running around, chasing the mouse. Ewwww.. When we got up, after searching high and low, there was no mouse to be found. Anyway, after meeting up with Joe and Judi, we took off for one of the trails in the area. After about a 2 mile hike, we found the most spectacular view! We were overlooking Blue Mountain Lake, and the fall colors were in full swing. After hanging around at the peak for a bit, we decided that if we hurried, we may make the 2 pm boat trip that cruises around the lake. We actually didn’t quite make it, but we had a great time sitting on the porch of the lodge, sipping on wine and eating cheese and crackers etc. We stayed at the Lodge for dinner that night, then headed home. The next morning we woke up to rain. Again. Our plan had been to go for another hike with Joe and Judi, but the weather was definitely not cooperating. We ended up going to a fairly new museum, The Wild Side, for the afternoon. It was good, but no where near the caliber of The Adirondack Museum. We spent most of the day there, stopped at a local waterfall on the way back, dropped Joe and Judi off, then headed for home. Paul has been a little antsy about the generator the whole time we have been here. Its working fine, but we only have one battery, which is definitely not enough to spend a couple of nights without power. Just the refrigerator and hot water heater’s electronic ignition are enough to drain the battery in a few hours. When we got back the battery had died again, hopefully not causing permanent damage to it,since its our only one. Although we will probably not spend lots of nights without hookup, we do plan to “dry camp” sometimes, so I am guessing new batteries are in our future. 
Lake Durant is pretty remote, as is this whole area, which makes it a very peaceful place to be. The view out the back window is what I envisioned that I would want to see every morning. Nothing but trees and a view of the lake.Very different from Lake George, which is beautiful, but touristy. The fall colors are spectacular right now. I think someone said we are right at peak. I keep taking a million pictures, but they don’t do it justice. If only the sun would come out for more than 12 seconds, the pictures would be so much better! Spending time with Joe and Judi was an absolute blast, and we are both really looking forward to meeting up with them again. The similarities between us were amazing. They are very easy going and it was very comfortable hanging out with them for a couple of days! Today (Tuesday) we got on the road and drove several hundred miles, stopping just outside Scranton PA- the weather is 10 degrees warmer, and the sun is out! We decided to stay here for a couple of nights, then maybe head to Lancaster PA instead of Ohio
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This was one happy cat! He was playing catch and release. He would let the mouse go, then catch it again. We were not very thrilled with this, and tried to egg him on to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. We couldn’t get close to the cat, since he growled like I have never heard before, every time we approached. There was no way he was going to let us take his toy away. After a while, we had no idea what to do, so we went to bed ( I told Paul it was his job to get up first in the morning). For the next two hours we heard him running around, chasing the mouse. Ewwww.. When we got up, after searching high and low, there was no mouse to be found. Anyway, after meeting up with Joe and Judi, we took off for one of the trails in the area. After about a 2 mile hike, we found the most spectacular view! We were overlooking Blue Mountain Lake, and the fall colors were in full swing. After hanging around at the peak for a bit, we decided that if we hurried, we may make the 2 pm boat trip that cruises around the lake. We actually didn’t quite make it, but we had a great time sitting on the porch of the lodge, sipping on wine and eating cheese and crackers etc. We stayed at the Lodge for dinner that night, then headed home. The next morning we woke up to rain. Again. Our plan had been to go for another hike with Joe and Judi, but the weather was definitely not cooperating. We ended up going to a fairly new museum, The Wild Side, for the afternoon. It was good, but no where near the caliber of The Adirondack Museum. We spent most of the day there, stopped at a local waterfall on the way back, dropped Joe and Judi off, then headed for home. Paul has been a little antsy about the generator the whole time we have been here. Its working fine, but we only have one battery, which is definitely not enough to spend a couple of nights without power. Just the refrigerator and hot water heater’s electronic ignition are enough to drain the battery in a few hours. When we got back the battery had died again, hopefully not causing permanent damage to it,since its our only one. Although we will probably not spend lots of nights without hookup, we do plan to “dry camp” sometimes, so I am guessing new batteries are in our future. 
Lake Durant is pretty remote, as is this whole area, which makes it a very peaceful place to be. The view out the back window is what I envisioned that I would want to see every morning. Nothing but trees and a view of the lake.Very different from Lake George, which is beautiful, but touristy. The fall colors are spectacular right now. I think someone said we are right at peak. I keep taking a million pictures, but they don’t do it justice. If only the sun would come out for more than 12 seconds, the pictures would be so much better! Spending time with Joe and Judi was an absolute blast, and we are both really looking forward to meeting up with them again. The similarities between us were amazing. They are very easy going and it was very comfortable hanging out with them for a couple of days! Today (Tuesday) we got on the road and drove several hundred miles, stopping just outside Scranton PA- the weather is 10 degrees warmer, and the sun is out! We decided to stay here for a couple of nights, then maybe head to Lancaster PA instead of Ohio
