Adirondack Family Time™

UPDATED!  Recently my family went on an evening Owl Prowl with the Champlain Valley Areas Trails (CATS) . Now on January 30 at 7 pm, they will be conducting another  moonlight hike to explore the woods and experience winter under the evening sky. There is always something magical about getting outside and skiing under a bright Adirondack full moon. Though it is certainly easy enough to visit any trail with a headlamp and proper gear, it is sometimes the camaraderie of an organized event that pulls everything together. Most organized activiies are family-friendly, but if you are in need of night off from the kids then Cascade Ski Center’s Full Moon Skis are the place to be. (Look for more ski/snowshoe options in my Adirondack Family Time guidebooks.) Champlain Valley Areas Trails (CATS) . January 30: 7 pm   - free moonlight hike starting at the Angler Hill Rd trailhead to walk along the new Wildway Passage Trail in Westport. Concluding the snowshoe hike there will be a gath

Every Super Bowl Sunday Lake Placid's The Palace Theatre offers discounted movie theatre passes. You can squeeze in a matinee or skip the game altogether for the amazing price of 99¢ for all shows. Enjoy!    © Diane Chase is the author of the Adirondack Family Activities™ guidebook series, Adirondack Family Time™guidebooks have easy Adirondack family hikes, Adirondack swimming holes, Lake Placid Olympic activities, Adirondack trivia, Adirondack horseback rides, Adirondack snowshoe family trails and more. Look for the Adirondack family guidebook online or bookstores/museums/sporting good stores. Diane is currently working on the next Adirondack Family Activities™ guide.

On our visits to the Adirondack Museum, my family has always found that there really isn’t enough time to see it all in one day. That is why the Adirondack Museum Cabin Fever Sundays present a different way of learning about the vast information tucked within the museum’s buildings in Blue Mountain Lake.  According to Adirondack Museum Marketing Assistant Paige Doerner the second Cabin Fever event will feature Adirondack Life Senior Editor Niki Kouroksky’s tales of “Adirondack Outlaws.” Kouroksky is bringing the Adirondack’s criminal element to light and is highlighting just a few of the scallywags, bandits and fiends from her recently published book,  Adirondack Outlaws: Bad Boys and Lawless Ladies. “We have a lot of variety this year,” states Doerner. “We have Niki’s lecture and book signing on February 1 st  here at the museum. We also have a Mohawk Dance and Cultural Presentation, the Adirondack Wildlife Rehabilitation Refuge will bring a wolf and two musical events in

DEADLINE EXTENDED: February 16 Last year Saranac Lake’s professional theatre company Pendragon Theatre provided a unique opportunity to any high school-aged young adults living within the whole Adirondack Park, The Pendragon Young Playwrights’ Festival. The Festival focuses on a competition for high school students to submit a one-act play (up to three plays per playwright or team) on any subject. The February 1 st  deadline is quickly approaching so I want to encourage young adults to take advantage of the chance to have their winning play performed at the March festival.  I’m always a bit skeptical of writing competitions. There always seems to be some hidden fee involved, but Pendragon Theatre’s competition is free. The winning playwrights are also given the chance to meet with a creative team to further develop their submission for the stage before the March production.  

This week's craft is brought you you by Lauren at Goody-Goody *Handmade . She takes a simple piece of wire and shapes it free form to make this creative craft. This is something that can be done with children of all ages. You can use recycled materials and really let the creativity flow. Have  fun! Materials - paper wrapped wire (how about reuse: take an old wire hanger  - fabric scraps, cut into strips at least 1" wide. Length doesn't matter much. - glue gun - buttons, bits, beads and baubles - cord for hanging Diane Chase, author of Adirondack Family Time: Tri-Lakes and High Peaks (Your Four-Season Guide to Over 300 Activities) for the towns of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Jay/Upper Jay, Wilmington, Keene/Keene Valley which is available online or bookstores/museums/sporting good stores. Diane is currently working on the second guidebook in the four-book series of Adirondack Family Activities.

We haven’t been back to Adirondack's Marcy Dam since Tropical Storm Irene hit in late August 2011. We had climbed Marcy just a few days before the storm, resting at the bridge on our way back to our car, snapping pictures that now show an area changed by the storm. We couldn’t have known that it would be the last time we’d see Mt. Colden’s reflection in the pond at Marcy Dam.   A few days later Irene hit, the wooden dam breached and the bridge washed out changing the iconic area forever. The snow is still plentiful as we drive in the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Adirondack Loj area and park at the far lot. We enter past the tent platforms, which looks like a ghost town in winter, using the Old Marcy Dam Trail.    Adirondack Family Time™ guidebook series: Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake and the High Peaks with over 33 easy hikes, 19 swimming holes, snowshoe, ski trails trivia, maps and four season activities.  The beginn