Our itinerary is complete!

If you were to suggest to me that it wouldn't be until June 2015 that we would be finished booking all of the accommodations for our big trip - nearly the anniversary of the creation of this blog - I wouldn't have believed you. But, it is so. We finally booked the final accommodation for our journey. So, now we have plane tickets, the rental car and a place to stay for the duration of our trip.

Touchdown in Montréal

This will be the first time that we will begin a North American journey in Montréal. Since our flight gets in relatively late (8:30 PM), we will spend the night in the Best Western directly adjacent to the Airport and begin our journey the next morning. Here, we are not looking for anything fancy, romantic or memorable, just a convenient, reliable place to recharge our batteries. We are excited to explore Montréal, but will save that for the end of our journey.

We selected Montréal because it and Ottawa have the two closest international airports to White Pine Camp. In 2011, we made an open-jaws journey, starting in Toronto and departing via Ottawa - and can warmly recommend both cities. This time, we decided on a circle tour, which economizes a little bit on the flight costs (perhaps around €100 less for round trip compared to open jaws), but significantly on the one-way car rental costs: we paid $300 for a one-way fee in 2011. We selected Montréal this time for the novelty, and it appears to be a fascinating city.

Next stop, the Main Event: White Pine Camp

Google maps tells us that the 161 km journey from our hotel to White Pine Camp should take us just under 2:15 to get there - not including any delays at the border.

We will spend seven nights at White Pine Camp, and I have previously written about how we might spend our week, activities at White Pine Camp as well as some of our favorite mountain climbing and non-mountain climbing destinations in the park, plus some ideas about places to eat.

Continuing South in the Adirondacks

The most direct route from White Pine Camp to my parents' home is about a five hour journey. We decided to break up this journey with a stop in the Blue Mountain Lake region. This area is the home of one of my all time favorite museums, The Adirondack Museum, which I describe in more detail here. We will stay at LaPrairie's Lakefront Cottages, which is pretty basic, classic Adirondack style lodging. We have a small "Lakeside Suite"

Our room at LaPrarie - photo from laprairiecottages.com

To be completely honest, I was hoping to get a room at Hemlock Hall. It is located on a much quieter dead end road and is nestled in the woods. I had a lovely chat with the proprietor who gives the immediate impression that they are first class hosts. Oh, and they have Sunfish Sailboats available to hotel guests. Maybe we will be able to get a room at Hemlock Hall next time.

The Sunfish - photo from wikipedia

Maybe next time: Hemlock Hall - photo from hemlockhall.com

Home Again

Our next stop is the place of my birth and upbringing: Rochester, NY. For the sake of privacy, I have only placed the pin on the map in the general area (see below), not our exact address. We will spend time visiting friends and family.

The Foothills of the Adirondacks

Our return journey leading ultimately back to Montréal is via the south central Adirondacks. We will be staying at the Irondequoit Inn.

The Irondequiot Inn - photo from irondequoitinn.com

The Irondequoit Inn is located on Piseco Lake, which is just up the road from Lake Pleasant, where I spent many a childhood summer with my family and their friends, sometimes with some of our relatives as well. Our summer destination back then was "Baker's Lakeside Cabins," which has long since changed owners, and has been reconfigured to the point of being nearly unrecognizable to what I remember from way back when. Now, the property operates under the name of Waters Edge Cottages. I was considering staying there for sentimental reasons, but they only rent by the week, and we were only interested in staying for four nights. When we considered our alternatives on Lake Pleasant, we stumbled upon The Irondequoit Inn on Piseco Lake, which appeared to us to be the most cosy and inviting offering in the area.

The Northward Journey

We have a full day's worth of potential activities along the route from Piseco Lake back to Montréal. The most direct route would take us just under 3 3/4 hours, but we are considering stops in Fort Ticonderoga, the historic town of Essex on Lake Champlain and Ausable Chasm. While that will extend our driving time by a little more than another 3/4 hour, the sights are nicely spread out along the route at decreasing intervals and takes us on a route more directly along the shores of Lake Champlain.

Our final stop in Montréal

We will wrap up our journey with a three night stay in Montréal. We will stay in the Bed and Breakfast du Village, where we will have a small cottage house to ourselves. This reservation was the last piece of the puzzle, and we are excited to have found a place that comes with such enthusiastic recommendations where we can park our rental car and have easy access to the subway system.

Our Journey's Route

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