On the Go..with Alice and Don: Sagamore Lake–Adirondack Road Scholar Program

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hurricane Irene hit the East coast today. We were all packed for our trip to Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks. We had put all the porch furniture away and prepared for the big storm yesterday. This morning we took our showers and went to the Blue Ribbon restaurant for breakfast. We both had Western egg sandwiches, which were pretty good – not great.

It was raining pretty hard and the wind blew 18 mph with gusts to 40mph. There was one tree down on Pearse Road. Back home, I made the bed and was looking out the bedroom window - - and right before my eyes – our beautiful Blue Spruce tree came crashing down. It landed softly on our white picket fence. It took down our power line and phone lines.

Hurricane Irene claims our 60 year old Blue Spruce.

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Sagamore Great Camp of the Vanderbuilts

We checked in – got our name tags and program and have a very convenient room on the first floor of the main lodge. We have a nice view of the lake from our room. We have twin beds, a large stone (non-working) fireplace; one dresser, one small chair and a closet. The heat is on so we are not cold. The beds have real, homemade quilts and one wool blanket. I had to make the bed up with the sheets. It looks like we won’t have to share the bathroom as stated in the brochure, but I’m shocked that there’s no shower – only a tub. A step back in time.

Interior

At 9am, Dr. Jeff Flagg gave us a guided tour of the upper camp, which was the buildings of the workers – the barn, blacksmith, carriage house, school house, etc.

Dr. Flagg is assistant director here at Sagamore and in the winter he’s a Professor at Siena College in Loudonville. After an excellent lunch, we had an in-depth tour of the Main Lodge (where we’re staying) and of the dining hall, play house and the amazing bowling alley.

Tueday -

After a good night’s sleep and a pancake breakfast in the dining room, we packed up our “picnic lunches” and drove 2 miles on a dirt road to JP Morgan’s Great Camp Uncas. Dr. Michael Wilson gave us the lecture and tour which focused on architecture, history and preservation of the Adirondacks. We’ve had lovely weather which made the tour very enjoyable. We ate our picnic lunch sitting in the Adirondack chairs at the lake side beach. Photos of the day: