Driving through the ‘Dacks.

Yesterday was a relatively low key day for us.  We started with a leisurely morning reading from a selection of new books we recently downloaded.  As a side note, we plan to create a book review post soon… If you’re anything like us, good book suggestions are always appreciated, and, since we have read more books in the last few months than the last few years combined, we definitely have a few worthwhile suggestions!

After catching up on some reading and a good breakfast of Pesto Ravioli, we went for a drive.  It started with 35 miles of backcountry forest roads as we toured through to the other end of the very large campground we are currently in.  Our goal was to take in the Adirondack scenery while headed for a local winery.

The drive was beautiful.  We passed through countless lakes and small tourist villages.  Village is the official term for small incorporated municipalities on the East coast, and I enjoy using the term since on the West Coast a village is more typically thought of as a medieval establishment (at least it was to me!).  The lakes were particularly scenic because they were often surrounded by pleasant beaches, small peaks, and picturesque cabins.

Swedish Hill Winery was located just outside of Lake Placid, which, we discovered, has been home to 2 winter Olympics, and contains a large Olympic training facility.  Lake Placid reminded us of an East Coast version of some Colorado mountain towns.  It was a lovely town, but, based on our limited exploration, it lacked the outdoor appeal of our favorite mountain towns, and was a bit too heavy on ritziness and the associated tourist expense.  Nonetheless, it was still fun to explore the main thoroughfare!  An interesting side note: the town of Lake Placid is on the shores of Mirror Lake, not Lake Placid.  Lake Placid is nearby, but not actually in the town !?.

The winery itself was a fun experience.  Wine tasting thus far on our trip has been very different than that of California or the Columbia Valley, and this was no exception.  Each of the ~20 wines on their list had an RS next to it’s description, standing for residual sugar, i.e. a percentage of sugar left in the wine.  This is not something we are used to, since almost all wines we taste have zero residual sugar, with the exception of sparkling wine, and some semi-dry whites.

We tried the wines with the lowest RS (most had between 0.1 and 0.3), with a couple exceptions at 1 and 4%.  The 4% tasted like sweet juice!  But they did have some nice tasting wines, and definitely had a nice variety.  It’s also fun exploring new wine regions, because you experience some less common grape varietals.  In this region, these are often selected based on the vine’s ability to survive harsh winters, something that would kill your typical Cabernet from France or California.  One great thing about wineries outside of typical growing regions is they are often very affordable.  We tasted a delicious Chardonnay and purchased it for just $11.99 .

We finished the evening with a beer tasting at Big Slide Brewery, and, although somewhat expensive ($20 for a sampler of 10 beers), it was incredibly delicious.  Although perhaps not the exciting day of hiking or swimming as preferred by the dogs, it was definitely a fun and enjoyable change of pace!