Family Vacation 1994, 7th Lake Inlet, NY, Taylor Cottage
Day 1 July 2
We left for the Adirondack Mountains at noon with borrowed fishing poles from our neighbors, our store bought meat on ice, and three anxious kids asking every five minutes, “are we there yet?” We arrived in Inlet, NY around 3:30pm. We picked up our keys from Richard Knight Realtors and headed for Taylor Cottage on Seventh Lake.
We turned off onto a little dirt and graveled driveway, barely seen from Rt 28, and discovered our hidden vacation home for the next seven days. Inside it looked like a scene from “Little House on the Prairie,” cozy, quaint, and with all the conveniences of home. Our first endeavor was to check out the lake. We dashed out the back door, glanced over the lovely porch with lawn chairs (like the chairs in Steve Martins’ movie, “The Jerk.” However, now I know they’re called “Adirondack chairs”), and we made our way through the steep wooded path to our own private dock. The kids beat me to it, and all I could hear was, “It’s beautiful! Look at the water!”
After splashing in the water and slipping on the rocks, Roger announced dinner was ready at the house – hotdogs and hamburgers hot off the BBQ grill. After dinner, we savored the flames roasting marshmallows and making smores, what a sweet sticky treat! The kids decide they didn’t want to sleep in their bedroom alone, so Roger and I let Ana, Cannaday, and Aaron pile into the second bed in our room.
Day 2 July 3
We slept as late as we wanted, 11am, 12pm – who cared, we were on vacation. While we were taking turns in the tiny bathroom and wondering why the bathroom floor kept getting wet, Roger began cooking us a hearty family breakfast: eggs, bacon, juice, coffee, and raisin bread toast made by Aaron. Ana was the last one to the table and we all sat down for grace.
Next, it was off to the lake for some swimming and splashing, and to hunt for a few bugs along the way. Roger napped at the cottage while the kids and I went down to the dock, me with my Erma Bombeck book and the kids with their inflatable water animals.
After lunch and a quick nap (1-1.5 hours) we set out for the town of Inlet (1-mile up the road). Our first stop was to buy insect repellent. That night we told ghost stories on the dock and tried to make our way back to the house in the dark, half scared all the way but singing songs to ease our fears like. “Take me out to the Ball Game…” After dinner we had another marshmallow roast and smores for all. Ana fell asleep on the couch and Cannaday and Aaron hunted for bugs, moths mostly, with their hunting nets and bug cages. After hearing a strange noise among the leaves, we all ran into the house asking, “what was that?”
Day 3 July 4 - Independence Day
We dashed down to the dock as soon as we woke to catch some fish. The kids were so excited. We baited our hooks with worms we bought the night before, fat juicy worms full of Mother’s Earth. Ana caught the first fish, about a 6-7 inch yellowish green something. She caught it with a cane pole, just like the ones I used to fish with when my daddy took us fishing. Cannaday got three nibbles but we couldn’t catch them. Then finally I snagged a big one (with Cannaday’s pole); a whopping 6.5 incher! By the way, Ana’s fish swam away when we put it in a basket in the water, so Cannaday’s fish was the only fish in the bucket. Later, Aaron caught one – but he didn’t know it until Roger pulled his pole out of the water to trade poles. Roger also caught a little baby fish, but he threw it back. So we had two fish in our bucket.
After a long morning of fishing, Roger made lunch, our favorite – hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. I called my friend Tom McCabe and he invited us over for a boat ride. We zoomed up and down the Fulton Chain of Lakes: 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and Old Forge Pond. Each child took a turn steering, it was great. Ana had to use the bathroom so we docked at Old Forge, and Roger bought us all ice cream. Afterwards, Tom and his wife Sandy pointed out the interesting points in and around the lakes, such as Gull Rock where the seagulls sit. The rock was totally white, but not because it was painted that way… lol; Rocky Mountain Point; the last of the rich exclusive resorts, Hollywood Resort; and the little house keeping cottages.
Day 4 July 5
It rained all day so we played cards and read a few good books, such as Agatha Christie murder mysteries. That evening, we went into Inlet to the only theatre to see the Flintstones movie. It was a small theater inside a building that looked like a barn, but for $3.00 your couldn’t expect much. While waiting for the movie to begin, we were entertained by a little boy about 3-years old who began dancing in front of the seats. The boy kept walking around in circles mainly, but he had such a serious look on his face as he danced and twirled that I couldn’t help but enjoy watching him dance to his own inner music.
Finally the movie started and Aaron found a seat he liked after trying just about all of them out in the theater. It was a good movie. Cannaday went for ice cream and Aaron and I headed for Kalil’s grocery store for cookies. We ate our cookies with the ice cream we had at the cottage. The kids played war (card game) again. We also played charades. Ana had some interesting charade choices – a stick. Aaron did someone selling and buying eye glasses – all at the same time. Cannaday did an electric eel, Roger tried to do a chicken then changed his mind and did a shoe salesman, and I did a chair. Boy were we creative, not! I read the Whipping Boy, and soon they all fell fast asleep, including Roger.
Day 5 July 6 - Water Safari Enchanted Forest here we come!
We drove to Old Forge to experience the great slides and tides of Water Safari and Enchanted Forest. Roger and Ana had fun riding on the slides and tubes for kids Ana’s size, and Aaron, Cannaday, and I tried our luck on the giant slides with water mats, the rapids with inner tubes, hot tub, and the tidal wave pool. Roger said he had to talk Ana into going down the slides with the small inner tubes, but after she slide down the first time, he couldn’t get her to stop. Lol!
After a couple of hours it started drizzling, and Roger made a mad dash for the car. The kids and I weren’t ready to leave so we waited for the rain to stop. After about 5 minutes the rain stopped, and we all headed for the Enchanted Forest and rides (Roger too). We rode the ski lift, peeked into the little storybook houses – Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Crooked Man in a Crooked House, and a few others. The Circus Show was about to begin so we headed toward the show. The first entertainment was an elephant act. Ana fed it a cone full of peanuts, and it ate the whole cone at once! The elephant trainers were a woman , man, and an 8 year old boy. After the elephant family came the famous Wallenda tight rope walker family. A woman performed a twirling act on a long rope followed by two women and a man doing daring tricks on a tight rope 25 feet above the hard pavement; what a show! Next, it was off to the rides: bumper cars, helicopter, tilt a whirl… Then it started raining again, and Roger headed for cover while the rest of us rode the rides. Soon it was 6pm and the park was closing. We drove back to Inlet and stopped at the Screamin’ Eagle for pizza. It took a long time but it was worth the wait.
After dinner we walked around the Inlet park and beach. When we arrived back at the cottage, Chip Clay called and said they were coming by. Cannaday and I met them in Inlet. We were going to take our fishing poles to the PRO store to be fixed. After meeting the Clays in the parking lot of the store (Rob and Chip fixed my poles and told me all I needed was some new line.) we headed for our cottage. We all went down to our dock and shot off smoke bombs (changed the color of the dock too. I hoped it would wash off).
After the Clays left, the kids played cards while I finished reading the Whipping Boy. This time only Cannaday stayed awake until the end of the book.
Day 6 July 7
After our land lord (Mr. Taylor) called to remind us we left the dock light on, I figured we’d better start cleaning up – I imagined Mr. and Mrs. Taylor peeping at us through binoculars.
We decided to go hiking up Bald Mountain to the fire tower. But first we needed to go to the Inlet Landfill to get rid of our trash and see the bears. After loading all the garbage into our minivan, we found the dump but it was closed on Thursdays, so we headed back home. I packed our lunches, friend chicken legs, bread, chips, fruit, and punch, and we headed for Bald Mountain. It rained most of the way up the mountain, but the view was beautiful!
After the hike, we drove to Big Moose Lake to view the area. Later we went fishing off our dock. Cannaday caught six fish – with the same worm! We started calling him, “One Worm Cannaday.” He was so excited he danced around the dock doing a jig. We were all having fun until poor Aaron fell into the water, luckily it was only 2 feet deep. We fished until Tom and Sandy came over. We all talked and played our version of Crazy 8’s and Euchre card games.
Day 7 July 8
It was our last full day in the Adirondacks. Our friends, the Clays, were going on a seaplane ride, so Aaron and I ran out to the dock to see if we could see them in the air. The weather was so nice we decided to go swimming. Cannaday, Aaron, Ana, and I got our swim stuff and headed for the lake. We took turns going under the water and riding on my back. Later Roger came down and announced we were taking a sea plane ride too! We were so excited. Soon we could see Bird’s Sea Plane approaching our dock. The plane sat 6 people comfortably. We took off from the water and flew to 3,000 feet above sea level. The pilot pointed out all the lakes: Big Moose, Quiere Lake, Eagle Nest, and into Raquette Lake. We saw Paul Bunyan’s foot print, the Vanderbilt Estate and J.P. Morgan’s resort. Cannaday was starting to feel sick and started asking questions about what would happen if we crashed. Shortly thereafter, Aaron started getting sick. He wanted to land now! I passed Aaron and Cannaday a barf bag and a copper penny for their belly buttons (an old wives tale for nausea). I gave them to Ana too, and told them it would be over soon.
After we landed, and took a few pictures, we were so tired. Roger made lunch and we relaxed, read books and played cards until it was time to go to the Clays place. Chip invited us to fish off their dock and join them at Daiker’s Inn’s for the Friday fish fry.
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