Friday, August 8, 2025 Golden Beach Campground to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, Inlet, NY

Deb here. We had a good thunder and ligntning storm last night, complete with some heavy rain. No rain this morning, but the air was still smoky due to the Canadian wildfires.

By 8:30 a.m we were packed up and headed to Schoolhouse Grounds Coffee Shop in Blue Mountain Lake for bagels and coffee/tea. The main objective at the coffee shop was to access WiFi and upload the last 5 days of blog entries. John was able to upload the blog posts, but the WiFi was too weak to also upload pictures. 

By 10 a.m. we were back at the Adirondack Experience to see what we didn’t see yesterday. We toured the exhibit about logging history, which was great, then headed down the .75 mile Minnow Pond trail to take a boat out on the water. John had the chance to row an Adirondack skiff while I sat in the “passenger princess” seat. Very fun to be out on the beautiful pond for a bit.

Back to the van by 12:30 and we decided to drive into Inlet and Old Forge, aka down memory lane. We rented a cabin on Limekiln Lake (right near Inlet) from family friends when Jake and Hannah were toddlers, but it had been a lot of years since we returned. Inlet was bustling, with lots of people about and new businesses, so not much that looked familiar.

We continued on to Old Forge and it was even more packed with tourists than Inlet. 30+ years ago we took the kids to The Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, which was a lot of storybook scenes involving fiberglass (such as Cinderella’s pumpkin coach). Somewhere down the line The Enchanted Forest took a back burner to the new and exciting Water Safari, and that was hopping today. Water Safari is in big letters with Enchanted Forest beneath it. Lots of kids and families.

As we drove through Old Forge we spotted a carousel pony outside of the candy shop that we remembered putting the kids on, complete with the sign that reads “pony rides for our little friends one at a time”. Still working, and still 25 cents a ride. I went inside and talked with the shop owner, who verified that it was the same pony we remembered and had been around for 30+ years. She thanked me for the memories and I thanked her for keeping the tradition alive.

Ice cream (soft serve twist) then back to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, our home for the night. It rained on the drive and the campground was soaked with lots of puddles. Shower for John, swimming for me, and scrambled eggs, toast and veggies for dinner.