Adventure In The Adirondacks

This summer my fiancée and I decided to take a relaxing vacation in Gananoque and the Lake Champlain area. Gananoque is about three hour drive east of Toronto off the 401. It is a picturesque little town on the St. Lawrence River. The town has a population of about 5,500 and has many beautiful old Victorian homes.

We booked into one of the few wheelchair accessible hotels in town the Holiday Inn Express. Unfortunately, despite the reassurances that the room was wheelchair accessible we discovered that I could not get under the bathroom sink. The hotel was
built in 2005 so therefore I thought for sure it would be wonderfully accessible. It never ceases to amaze me how often construction is done without ever consulting with the folks who are actually going to use it. I further don’t understand why there is not one barrier free standard.

There appears to be such a wide and varied interpretation of what “Wheelchair Accessible” means. The room itself however, was nice and spacious with a comfy King sized bed. Every day we walked uptown to the main street but I was unable to get into
most of the stores because of steps.We did find some nice restaurants that were beautiful and accessible but the choices were limited.We considered a cruise on one of the 1000 Island cruise boats but it was a long weekend and the crowds were massive so we passed on that notion.We did note though that the cruises were indeed wheelchair accessible and will come back on another occasion for a tour.

After spending three gorgeous days in Gan we headed for Plattsburg New York on the
shores of Lake Champlain to rendezvous with my folks. My folks are boaters who are on the homeward stretch of an intercoastal waterway tour which began three years ago in Meaford Ontario. Their travels have taken them from Georgian Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, The Bahamas and returning via the eastern seaboard. As their boat was so close I thought we should take a drive to Lake Champlain for a cruise. Lake Champlain is stunningly beautiful. It lies between two mountainous states. On the east rise the Green Mountains of Vermont and to the west the Adirondacks of New York.

We arrived in Plattsburg mid afternoon and with a little assistance from some of the guys at the Marina, I was hoisted on board.With our bags securely stowed we cast off the lines and headed for Burlington, Vermont a beautiful city on Lake Champlain. We arrived in Burlington in time for “Happy Hour” and enjoyed a beautiful view of the sun setting in the Adirondacks and the shimmering water of Lake Champlain before us.

Getting on and off the boat was made possible by strangers who were just willing to lend a hand as well as some able employees at the marina. I have learned over the years that people are more than willing to help; it has just taken me a while to get comfortable in asking. For the next three nights we stayed on board the Sonsie.We were rocked to sleep by the gentle motion of the water.We spent a wonderful afternoon in Burlington where we stopped for lunch at a café on Church Street. Church Street is closed to traffic. It has many restaurants and shops as well it is really accessible. So I wheeled as
much as I could to wear off my lunch. Public transportation is fully wheelchair accessible; including a free shuttle that runs from the waterfront uptown every 15 minutes.

We left Burlington and motored back to Plattsburg. The following day we made a plan to go to Lake Placid which is about an hour drive from Plattsburg. Enroute to Lake Placid we stopped at White Face Mountain where we took a gondola ride to the summit. The gondola was totally accessible where I was loaded and unloaded with ease. What a spectacular view! After a relaxing lunch and a few pints we checked-in to our hotel room which over looked Lake Placid. Lake Placid is a small community with quaint souvenir shops. So we spent the balance of the day shopping and scouting out a nice place for dinner.We found this great little restaurant called the Brown Dog. The food was superb, the service excellent with delightful ambience. After a good night sleep we got back on the road to begin the journey home. Lake Placid is about a six hour drive from Toronto but we thought we would split it up so we spent another night in Gananoque on the way home. We arrived home rested and relaxed with happy memories of a beautiful summer vacation.

By Kevin Rogers
Information Resources Coordinator - CPA Ontario