We had a really nice camping trip at Lake George, New York. After spending one day and night in Oriskany at Ceil's house, Jean and I drove to the campground Sunday, 7/19. stopping for lunch in the small town of Speculator where we ate lunch at a small diner which called itself a restaurant (diners have never been as popular outside New Jersey as they have always been in it).

We had a nice campsite beside the Shroon River, where families of ducks gathered during the day, usually looking for us to feed them (which I always did!). There were also numerous mosquitos around the river, so we spent the week spraying ourselves with bug spray and burning a portable mosquito repellent which was very effective. Most of the people who camped during the week stayed in the upper part of the campground, so we had relative privacy all week.

Sunday night we spent our first of many nights sitting by the campfire toasting marshmallows.

We spent much of Monday, 7/20 in Lake George, which is a nice town at one end of a huge lake. It was very hot walking through the town, so I stopped and bought a cap to wear in the sun. Soon after we returned to the campground, Alan and Denise arrived and set up at the next campsite. We ate supper there, Jean and I cooking hot dogs over the campfire.

Tuesday, 7/21 was the only rainy day of the week, so we spent most of it shopping at the outlet malls in Lake George, which we had intended to do anyway. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant called Old Grill Post, another pseudo-diner which we all enjoyed a lot.

Because it was still rainy all evening, we sat in Gilberts’ camper and chatted long into the night.

Wednesday, 7/22 was another hot day. We drove to Saratoga Springs where we visited a Farmers’ Market, then spent an hour in their casino before eating dinner at a nice café.

Thursday, 7/23 was a lazy day, sitting around the campground reading, doing crossword puzzles, and eating. As usual, Jean swam in the pool and I took a long walk with Alan. For dinner Jean and I cooked a ham slice over the fire.

Friday, 7/24 we drove into nearby Warrensburg where I went to a very interesting used bookstore. All the paperbacks were stacked in boxes, which I had to pull off the piles to look at them. There was lots of science fiction though, so I went through them, eventually buying 4 books.

Meanwhile, Jean, Alan and Denise went to antique shops in town, then we met and drove back to the outlets for more shopping. Afterward we drove to Old China Buffet, which was surprisingly good for being in an area with so few Chinese residents. Their roast duck was worth the price of the meal. Afterwards we returned to the campsite where we sat around the campfire for the last time, finally dousing it about 11:30 pm.

Saturday, 7/25, we left the campground at noon for our five-hour return trip. Meanwhile, Andy picked up Mark & Kate on their return from two weeks in Hawaii for their honeymoon. Now we are all doing the typical post-vacation chores, such as unpacking and sorting through mail, both postal and e-mail, and doing laundry.

But in three weeks we hit the road again!