Review of Potsdam, NY: A nice day trip when visiting the Adirondacks region…
Downtown Potsdam, NY |
Since our Pomeranian Toby’s passing in March, my wife and I have been making an effort to enjoy cultural activities, such as visiting art museums, or attending classical music concerts, as well as enjoying nature. Our first month long trip without having Toby was difficult, but we did the best we could to live our lives fully.
We always liked going to museums when we were dating, and we’ve certainly visited our share of museums like everyone else. We’ve visited the Smithsonian Museum, MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), Philadelphia Art Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, and etc.
Our trip to the Adirondacks was an enlightening journey in more ways than one. We loved the hikes to Mt. Jo, Mt. Arab, Silver Lake Bog Preserve, and we loved all those lakes in the Adirondacks. We also loved how beautiful the mountains and the trees were, even during the month of April in the Adirondacks.
We also loved visiting the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls to see art and to catch a classical music concert. It really felt great, and it felt like we were dating again.
When the opportunity came to check out another art museum, this time in Potsdam, NY, we made a day trip out of it! Potsdam Art Museum, also known as the Gibson Gallery, is located within the SUNY (State University of New York) campus at Potsdam.
We got conflicting reports about its hours of operation while researching the museum. On Google, it said it was closed temporarily, while on the museum’s website, it said it would be open Tuesdays through Saturdays.
We decided to go anyway even if the museum is closed. We figured we can at least go visit the city and have some food at a local restaurant.
We left our temporary home in Tupper Lake on a cloudy Thursday for Potsdam. Our drive took us via Lake St, then NY-56 going north. NY-56 is a rural, country road through the mountains. Drive was beautiful, with plenty of incredible views and tall pine trees.
Spring hadn’t arrived at the Adirondacks, as none of the flowers and trees were blooming, but we didn’t mind. We still loved the tall and fragrant pine trees lining the roads everywhere on our drive.
We knew the art museum (if it was opened) opens up at 1 p.m., so we stopped by at Lee’s Hawaiian Grill, located on Market Street in downtown Potsdam. Market Street was a bustling little downtown area full of shops/restaurants/cafes. We liked the cleanliness of the streets.
Lee’s Hawaiian Grill on Market Street, Potsdam, NY |
A clock on Market Street, Potsdam, NY |
I had found this restaurant during my search for an interesting restaurant, and not the usual food found elsewhere. My prayers were answered, as Lee’s Hawaiian Grill is definitely unique. We were hoping to find a good Hawaiian restaurant ever since we moved back to the mainland after living in Hawaii over 2 years. When we first moved back to the east coast (Philadelphia area) in 2006, there was a Hawaiian cuisine restaurant, Roy’s Restaurants.
Roy’s Restaurants was one of our favorite restaurants when we lived in Oahu, Hawaii. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed down after about 3 years and we no longer could get our fill of Hawaiian food…
We felt lucky to have found a Hawaiian restaurant! We arrived after about an hour drive to the restaurant, and promptly parked on the street. We ordered garlic shrimp plate lunch and garlic fish plate lunch. A Hawaiian plate lunch is usually two servings of rice, main dish, and side of macaroni (or mac) salad.
During our time in Hawaii, we had eaten our share of plate lunches! We were ecstatic.
The order would take 15 minutes, so we walked up and down Market Street checking out different stores. We noticed many cafes thanks to two nearby universities, SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University. We saw many students and possibly faculty, walking around the area during lunch hour.
After picking up our food after about 15 minutes, we headed to the Ives Park, diagonally located from the restaurant. We got good instructions on where to find parking for the park, and we easily found it. We picked a nice parking spot facing the Raquette River.
The food was really good, and it reminded us of Hawaii. Rice was just right (sticky kind, not loose kind), and the garlic fish/shrimp were perfectly seasoned, when eaten with rice. We even liked the homemade mac salad, as it didn’t include sugar. After a fine meal with a bit of nostalgia thrown in, we got out to explore the Ives Park.
We’re always suckers for parks with a view, and this was no exception. We liked that the park is located right next to the Raquette River, with beautiful views all around. The park connects to Market Street, where we had just picked up our lunch.
Looking towards Market Street |
At the entrance, a gazebo (Ives Park) |
We walked around the park, reading up on the POW/MIA (Prisoners of War/Missing in Action) monuments near the entrance of the park, and watching the Raquette River raging downstream. We loved that the park incorporates the natural elements with man made elements, that is the city just one block down.
We couldn’t help but love the views of the beautiful bridge, the church, and the well maintained walkway to Market Street. The park isn’t big, but it has everything it needs for a nice, quick visit.
View through the gazebo |
Islands in the river! |
Church in the distance |
We walked towards the playground and stopped at the boat ramp on right, to get a closer look at the river itself. It was really windy but I went out to the boat ramp anyway. Nice!
Boat ramp |
We completed our walk of the park by going past the playground, then stopped at the boundary of the park with private residences up ahead. We liked the view! It was cloudy, windy, and cold, but we didn’t mind. A little suffering does wonders for us to appreciate life when we’re not suffering!
We looked at the time, and we still had a good 30 minutes to kill, before the museum’s opening hour. We decided to have some coffee at a nearby cafe on Market Street called Park Bros’ the Bagelry.
We ordered two Americanos, then grabbed seats by the window. Cafe was busy with most seats and tables already occupied. We grabbed local newspapers to idle away the time for about 30 minutes. We saw students wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts and we were a bit nostalgic about our days when we attended college. It was such a long time ago…
After our 30 minutes was up, we got up to walk back to our car still parked at Ives Park. We got there in less than 5 minutes, then started towards the art museum.
The drive would take about 5 minutes. We arrived at SUNY Potsdam and found the art museum. We parked about a block away near the brand spanking new performance center. We took our umbrella just in case, and was rewarded with our decision, because as soon as we locked our car, rain started falling!
We walked side by side under one umbrella, kind of feeling romantic, and feeling like we were back in our college days. We walked about a block and found the museum, but we didn’t know which way to go from there, so we asked someone working at one of the art workshops for directions to the art museum.
She instructed us to turn right, then another right, so we did. We found the museum, but, it was closed!!! Oh, well…
Feeling bit bummed, but we gathered ourselves to head back to our car for our return trip back to our place in Tupper Lake. Overall, it was still a nice day trip to a destination not far from where we were staying.
In conclusion:
Potsdam is a nice, decent sized city in the Adirondacks that is about an hour drive from Tupper Lake. It’s certainly a worthwhile day trip locale when staying in the Adirondacks region.
The city has lots going for it. It has a bustling downtown, two different universities, Ives Park, and the beautiful Raquette River. We would recommend Potsdam to anyone looking for bit a variety in food choices and a bit faster change of pace.
We thank you all for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
Smalls Falls, Rangeley, Maine |
The state of Maine was one of the two New England states that my wife and I hadn’t visited, even after living on the East Coast of the United States all these years. Maine just seemed so far away from New York City, at around 8 hours drive time.
Of course we had heard so much about Maine from friends and family, who extolled the virtues of the state on many occasions. We longed to eat some fresh lobster and fresh seafood, visit the famous Acadia National Park, see a moose, and immerse ourselves with the “Pine Tree State.”
While searching for a suitable place to stay for the summer months, we were ecstatic when a cute mountain cabin in the town of Stratton (Maine) was available via AirBnB. We booked the cabin for June and July, then went to work exploring the area near where we were staying.
The town of Rangeley, is a great little town in the northwest part of the state of Maine. We first heard of the town from a friendly clerk at a Maine visitor center, who recommended the town. She mentioned the town is known for great hikes, excellent restaurants, and scenic views, which we love (and who doesn’t???).
The driving time of around 30 minutes from Stratton to Rangeley didn’t hurt either. In fact, we ended up visiting Rangeley several times during our 2 months long stay. We loved driving via Route 27 to Route 16, cutting through some of the most pristine forests and mountains along the way.
The crisp, alpine mountain air, the fragrant pine trees, and crystal clear/brightest blue skies we had ever seen on the East Coast, really made the drive enjoyable. These observations are also true on just about every sunny day during those two months. With less pollution resulting in excellent air quality, everything looked so beautiful…
During evenings, we got to see the most intense, twinkling of stars up in the sky. The first time I had turned off all the interior lights then opened the window drapes, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Stars looked so close, with each seeming to send out beams of light so bright, I thought I was looking at a flashlight shone from outer space…
Two months long stay turned out to be an awesome introduction to the state of Maine, and we’re glad we got to experience various places. Rangeley turned out to be, indeed, the best place to do hikes as all the places we enjoyed visiting, are within a 15 minute driving distance from the town center.
And with that introduction, these are our top things to do near Rangeley, Maine!
- Smalls Falls
Crystal clear waters of Smalls Falls |
Staircase leading down to the falls |
Steel fencing next to the falls |
Enjoying a banana by the falls! |
Looking back down the falls |
Loved this area with the fallen tree |
Made it to the top of the falls! |
- Bald Mountain
Beginning of the trail |
At the parking lot/trailhead |
We started our hike fully aware that the weather had turned dramatically for the worse. Our drive to Bald Mountain started out nice and sunny, but that really changed in a hurry at the mountain!
Wind picked up and the sun was gone, trying to break out of the clouds here and there but not really succeeding. The forest looked forbidden and primordial, but we pushed on, just thanking the weather gods that at least it wasn’t raining yet.
The first 2/3 of the hike was relatively easy, in terms of height and elevation gained. The wet, muddy forest floor didn’t help with our ascent though. We slipped few times on our way up, so we took extra time getting a good, solid footing before moving on up.
The higher we went, rocks, pebbles, and boulders replaced the dirt/root/forest floor. At the last 1/3 of the trail, terrain got really rocky with gigantic boulders. We got a heck of a workout making our ascent from that point on.
Near the summit, brief periods of rain came then was gone just as fast, replaced by sunny skies. We saw rain with sunny skies, rain with cloudy skies, and rain with mixture of the two! It was definitely not boring!
We navigated our way up through the large boulder fields, making slow progress, yet enjoying the hike nonetheless. We loved the crisp, alpine air the higher we went. We loved the views of the lakes way down below peeking through the trees.
Just when we felt the trail was no longer ascending, we realized we had made it to the summit! Yes!
We immediately headed towards the fire tower, which was unmistakably prominent, beckoning us to check it out. We saw fellow hikers (a mother, and a daughter-in-law) coming down from the fire tower, so we waited our turn. We chatted with them for awhile, talking about our travels and of Maine. They were so nice and friendly that had we not decided to climb the fire tower after few minutes, we may have talked for 30 minutes!
After saying our goodbyes, we made our trek up to the fire tower. We took careful steps up, as the staircase was really narrow and steep. We felt and heard the howling winds picking up speed and intensity, but we had made it to the top!
What an incredible view! We could see miles out into the distance. We saw nearby lakes, mountains, and clouds so low, we could almost touch them. Wow…
After enjoying that view for several minutes, we headed back down the fire tower, then back down the same way we had come. On our way down, rain came back, drenching the forest, and drenching us!
My wife took out her windbreaker while I took out my umbrella to shield ourselves from the heavier rain. We started hugging each other under an umbrella, waiting out the rain for about 5 minutes. It was rather romantic and fun, able to enjoy some rainfall during our hike. Like I always say, it’s always the little things that we must learn to enjoy…
Heavy rain passed us by after few minutes so we continued our hike back to the parking lot. The hike back always seems shorter and more enjoyable than the hike up, most likely due to the terrain. Coming down the mountain is infinitely easier than going up! There’s always that sense of accomplishment and euphoria after making it to the top, which probably adds to the feeling as well…
Bald Mountain was a great hike with awesome views, and it’s not to be missed! For those of you interested in seeing how much we walked, see below.
- Lakeside Park
Boat launch |
Seaplane landing! |
We thoroughly enjoyed Lakeside Park. It is a great little park to spend several minutes to relax, and to enjoy the lovely scenery.
Honorable mention:
We couldn’t write this post without mentioning a local hotspot, Sarge’s Sports Pub and Grill. The restaurant was recommended to us by a local named Gary, who we met in the town of Rangeley. He mentioned it’s his favorite place to eat in town.
This restaurant is a favorite place for locals and visitors alike, thanks to its tasty foods, reasonable prices, and its fame, as it was originally designed by Bing Russell, the father of actor, Kurt Russell.
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