Mellow Autumn and Winter Preparations

Starting the day after we published the last blog entry it has been one exciting happening after another keeping us all on our toes.  One of our biggest events was the Teddy Roosevelt Dinner that we hosted where the Roosevelt impersonator Joe Weigand performed marvelously to give a very real sense of the man and what he stood for.  

 Hay rides were enjoyed by many of our guests this season as the leaf colors were outstanding and the weather was beautiful and comfortable as well.

On Sept. 14th Joe Wiegand gave a riveting performance as Teddy Roosevelt, telling us of his origins, career and especially his storied ride from the Newcomb forest to the North Creek train station on his way to take the oath of office as President of the United States. 

And was gracious to take this photo with Mindy and me as well as with many other fans.

 The following day, Sept 15th, a beautiful wedding was held on our lawn and a great time was had by all.

 The food was delicious

And the wedding couple enjoyed a very special day.

Throughout the fall we've had numerous bus tours bring guests for lunch and dinner.  They all have enjoyed themselves immensley

Meanwhile, preparations for the coming winter season go on as planned.  We're making some fairly significant improvements to the Ski Shop that we think will be well received.  Ivy Mulligan has been busy ordering the gear and merchandise that people have been asking for, as well as reorganizing the retail space in the shop to better display it all.

Behind the counter and the ski tuning center will be more accessible

Mindy's Dad, Dennis is staying with us for a few weeks and will be helping out with a variety of tasks.  Here he's putting on another coating of polyurathane onto the new lunch counter we've put in.  Mark Millington designed and built it.

 We've been putting a lot of effort into upgrading the signage throughout the property.  We'll get close to half of all the signage on the trail system repainted and refurbished for this season.  The remainder we'll leave for next year.

New signs for the trails down to the Ski Shop as well.

Here is the beginnings of a bridge replacement project on Hooper Loop

 The foundation is in

And the decking goes on

Here, Mark is working on one of the grooming snowmobiles to get it ready for the season.

Moving Into Autumn

As the cooler days of fall are upon us, we are pleased to tell of all the things that are happening here this season.  We are offering many Fall specials and packages to entice everyone to take time to enjoy this beautiful time of year at Garnet Hill.  Check out the web site at www.garnet-hill.com for details.

The movie "Approaching Normal" has begun to move from the editing studio out into the public for the first time.  We held a private preview gathering at the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek on Friday, 9/6 which was very well received by the press and more than 100 attendees.  The movie is a touching, charming and at times, quite dramatic tale of a family reunion that takes place at the lodge and the dramatic interactions of the family members as they grapple with each others problems and circumstances but ultimately are brought closer together.  We are awaiting word of it's acceptance into several Independent Film Festivals for later this fall and winter.

Members of the original cast filming on location on 13th Lake

The Editor, Author and Producer after the Preview at Tannery Pond Center

The movie team answering questions after the movie showing

A beautiful selection of hors d'oeuvres was served prior to the movie preview.

On Labor Day Weekend we had Frank Hooper and his wife, Janet join us for a special dinner where we got to know him. As the cousin of the original owner of the Hooper Mine, Frank grew up on the Garnet Hill Lodge property and shared many insights and memories with us about how things used to be here.  We are very appreciative of his interest and enthusiasm for the lodge today.

On Wednesday, 9/11, we had a great group of vintage car enthusiasts from the Glens Falls area join us for lunch and they were gracious to park their cars on the lawn for a little photo session afterward.

 Neighbors and friends gathered for a dinner party in honor of Woody and Elise Widlund who have contributed so much to the region with their generosity and hard work and now have moved from their home at Garnet Hill to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

And finally on 9/13 we hosted a Tour Bus Group for lunch and had this opportunity for a group photo on the lawn afterward.

Summer Excitement

It's been a very busy few weeks here in July with a full house of guests, a busy restaurant and lots of activities going on outside on the trails, at the beach or just relaxing on the lawn.  Just this last weekend we had a wonderful wine tasting event featuring 5 different wine makers from around New York State.  It coincided with Governor Cuomo's White Water Challenge weekend which was to promote the Adirondacks as the great vacation destination that we are.

We were honored to have State Senator Betty Little as our guest in the afternoon and we had a very nice chat with her

State Senator Betty Little and Mindy sampling the wines of Suhru, based in Eastern Long Island.  Each wine maker had a display of the wines they offered during the afternoon

In the afternoon, Dan Berggren serenaded everyone with local folk songs about the Adirondacks.

Meanwhile, other guests enjoyed their wine outside on the lawn on a warm summer afternoon.

In the evening everyone had a wonderful dinner tasting the wines of 5 different New York wine makers paired with the most delicious entree courses from Chef Heidi Plumley.  A great time was had by all.

The week before Mindy and I had the pleasure of accompanying one of our long time and frequent guests on a quest to explore the caves at Chimney mountain in nearby Indian Lake.  It was quite and experience to slide between some very large rocks to enter a massive cave complex that descends deep in to the mountain.

The hike begins at this beautiful bucolic farm at the base of the mountain.

The top of Chimney Mountain as seen from the cave section across the divide.

The cave entrance is a very slim crawl space between the giant rocks.

A pose for the cameras deep within the cave

The truth is stranger than fiction moment when we came across a room key to one of our guest rooms sitting by itself on this large boulder deep within the cave.

A group staying with us enjoying some smores out at the campfire after dark

In the background is a girl twirling a lighted hula hoop

Abbey with Cooper and Reagan on the lawn

A deer enjoying lunch by Thirteenth Lake

My niece Abegail enjoying the sights at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake which is a short drive from the Lodge.

Once again, Abbey with her Mom, enjoying a ride on a paddle board on Thirteenth Lake

Self Explanatory

Moving Along

We're happy to announce that we've made some significant changes to our website in order to make it more appealing, more informative and easier to find things.  Of course you've probably seen the changes already as you've most likely navigated to this blog from the web site.  If not, here it is: www.garnet-hill.com.  With this upgrade of our site we will also be able to add lot's of additional content in the future to better communicate all that we have to offer.

Mark Millington, our in-house rustic artisan, has completed a beautiful garden arbor that we will also use for weddings.  The bride and groom at our June 1st wedding enjoyed it very much.  We are also in the process of upgrading the balcony railings of the Log House and expect to be complete with that by the beginning of July.

We've created a new sitting area in the screen porch where guests can go outside to read or talk and still be out of the weather and away from any bugs or insects.  We've also placed additional chairs and tables in the screen house as well for those who would like to be even closer to nature.

 Everything is lush and green as spring makes it's presence felt.  Mindy has been busy putting in the flowers, window boxes and hanging baskets to make everything nice.

Our wedding season has been in full swing with couples holding their ceremony here for the last 3 weekends.

 The new arbor was a great addition to our wedding venue.

 A Luna Moth stopped by for a few hours just outside our front door.