Tag: Adirondack Mountains

The Lydster, Part 91: So Close

One could only get up to the loft by using a 10-foot ladder. And it wasn’t a straight ladder designed to get up to such a place; it was an A-framed ladder, the instructions – or more correctly, the WARNING – for which SPECIFICALLY states that it should NOT be used as a straight ladder.

I have very little recollection of being in hotels or motels with my parents growing up. When we weren’t at home, we either tended to stay at friends’ or relatives’ homes, or in a tent on our regular camping trips. Did I ever mention that I HATED our camping trips?

My wife and I, though, have been on a number of trips in hotels and motels with Lydia. When she was a baby or a toddler, it was easy enough to get her to go to bed, and we could stay up watching TV or reading. Not so with a seven-year-old, or at least our seven-year-old. She wouldn’t go to bed until we went to bed; it was partly the light bothering her, she said, but it was more her not wanting to be left out of anything.

So for 10 days – two in Niagara Falls, four in Toronto, two in Peterborough, and two in Canton – the three of us shared a room where the parents went to bed a little earlier than they might have been inclined to do so otherwise.

When we got to the cabin in the Adirondacks, Lydia, and eventually her cousins, got to sleep in a place of their own, up on this loft. You would think this would have made me happy, and it would have, but for one tiny detail: one could only get up there by using a 10- or 12-foot ladder. And it wasn’t a straight ladder designed to get up to such a place; it was an A-framed ladder, the instructions – or more correctly, the WARNING – for which SPECIFICALLY states that it should NOT be used as a straight ladder. Going up was fine, but I was afraid that she might fall if she had to climb down going to the loo in the middle of the night.

I went to bed in a room with my wife. But I woke up in the middle of the night, and half-slept in a cot just below the ladder. In the end, she was fine. Her cousins, who showed up a couple of nights later, were fine, though I was glad to be available to hold the ladder for them early in their first morning. And, finally, on the last night there, I actually slept the whole night through, quite possibly out of sheer exhaustion.

Back in the USA

The trip to Canton included a much smaller gathering of my father-in-law’s close relatives.

When we were leaving Peterborough, ON, we figured we ought to at least LOOK at the Peterborough Lift Lock. While we didn’t have time to take the cruise, we did investigate the location, including watching a 17-minute film about it. The lift lock looks like THIS.

Then we drove to the border. We had several choices, actually. We opted for the Ogdensburg crossing, based on the rumors that it was a place that was less of a hassle than, say the Thousand Islands Bridge. Of course, if we heard that, I suspect smugglers probably have, too. In any case, the crossing was problem-free.

We stayed at a B&B for a couple of nights in Canton, NY. The only full day there, we went on a tour of the campus of St. Lawrence University, my wife’s alma mater. It was an impressive place, both physically and academically. My daughter has decided she wants to go there.

Our trip to Peterborough had included seeing my mother-in-law’s extended relatives; the trip to Canton included a much smaller gathering of my father-in-law’s close relatives – his brother, with his wife, who I’d seen a couple times; and his sister, with her daughter, neither of whom I had met before. The sister, who was 84, had just bought a new car.

Then, we trekked – through some driving rain at times – to some cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of Warren County for four days, meeting up with my parents-in-law, and, eventually, one of my brothers-in-law, his wife, and their two daughters. Let’s just say I didn’t love this part of the vacation; however, the trips to town, a village called North Creek, were charming. Moreover, it had Internet access at the public library, which was available to anyone coming in. And the grandparents watched the granddaughters, while the other couples got to go out to eat one lunchtime in the village.

Finally, the Wife and I went home. Oops, did we forget the Daughter? No, she stayed with the cousins a couple of days, while her parents had some alone time. THAT was the highlight of the latter portion of the trip.

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