A SHOWER AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

The New Shower Location. 

View of the Day Lily Garden. 

View of the Lake from Shower Rock.

In 1965, on our honeymoon, my first time at the camp, I fell in love with it even though it was totally rustic.  I asked where we take a shower and I was told - the lake of course.  And for over 40 years, the lake was the "shower".  

Jon has now made a hot and cold running shower even though it is "out in the open".  It is right off the new deck, on a large rock, and the shower is attached to a tree.  What a cool idea, Jon has so much insight.  You can take a shower, watch the lake and get clean with hot water right next to a beautiful lily garden.

THE FIREPLACE -  BEFORE AND AFTER WILLI'S WORK

GOODBYE LINOLEUM!     HELLO ELEGANT WOOD FLOORS!

Just starting to Remove Linoleum

The Linoleum Floor.

During the Difficult Preparations.

Linoleum is Gone, Sanding has Begun.

Sanding and Sanding

The Beautifully Finished Wood Floor.

 GOOD BYE LINOLEUM!  HELLO ELEGANT WOOD FLOORS!

The floors of the camp are a beautiful wood.  The dining room area was covered with a yellow faded linoleum.  Willi took off the linolum with some help from Marcia.  There was paper cardboard under the linoluem that stuck to the wooden boards on the floor.  He scraped and scraped off the cardboard as Marcia wet the floor every few minutes.

It was impossible to get it all off by hand so we went to Saranac Lake and rented a sander and edger.  Picked up is a funny way of saying it as it was extremely heavy.  The man at the rent a center gave us a wheeled cart as we had to cross the railroad tracks, go down the long path from the tracks to the dock, across the lake in the boat and then up the path to the camp and up the stairs. Willi and Marcia really worked to get it into the camp but made it after a long hard struggle.  Willi sanded from 6pm to 12am with time out for a watermelon smoothie.  We emptied four bags of saw dust and went to bed.  An hour later Willi couldn't sleep and said he was going back to finish the job.  So at 1:30am we got up, and Willi started sanding again.  I sat on the front porch and watched the sun come up over the water.  

Early Morning from the Front Porch.

We had rented it for a 24 hour period so Willi was working that entire time with just time out for a bite to eat.  Finally, we got it down the stairs, down the path over the water, up the path and over the railroad tracks to the car.  The car was dead so we had to call a taxi to come pick it up and take it all the way to Saranac.  It turned into an expensive task but we did get the machine back to the rent a center.  Willi polished and polished the wood until it shined.  What a beautiful addition to the camp.  This was a real labor of love .

THE PATH FROM THE GUEST HOUSE TO THE MAIN CAMP

The path led from the guest house to the main camp building and had large wooden logs holding back the dirt.  Jon made the path easily accessible and wide enough for small machines for chopping wood and clearing land to pass.  

On the path, in the ground, is a ceramic large pot where items were kept cold. There was a wooden cover over the ceramic lid.  It was used for many years.

Long ago, people used to throw the garbage, old dishes and pots and pans behind the main camp in the woods.  We found many old bottles and other items which had been buried.  

There is now a fork in the path that goes to the dock area.

THE GUEST HOUSE

A darling little building with a stone fireplace overlooking the lake.  The top level had one room with large windows overlooking the lake and a fireplace with snowshoes and a deer head which kept the old time charm.

The lower room, a kitchen, had large shutters which opened up for a beautiful view of the water.  There was a table and two bench chairs.  

For many years, it was used as a storage room but Jon has made it into a nice room with a bed, chest of drawers and chairs.  Curtains were added to make it even more cozy.  

Our first full day at the camp this year

We arrived at the camp in the late afternoon and the temperature had dropped from 90 in NJ to 56 here in the woods.  It started to rain as we drove through the long private road to the camp.  It is five miles from the main road straight into the woods.  The road is very curvy and you might see a car or truck or two but not many.  We crossed railroad tracks that had been washed out last year and now were back in order.  A deer ran across our path just far enough ahead to avoid hitting it.  A big black bird flew by the car and the wind whistled through the trees.  The rain was coming down and the leaves were all turned inside out on the trees that grew near the road and some even branched over the road.  We parked at the parking lot across the tracks from the path to the water.  We got a four wheel wheel barrow and loaded up our bags, in the rain, and proceeded down the path.  You can't see the lake from the parking lot so it took a few minutes walking down the rocky path to the lake.  Our friend was just coming across the lake with his pontoon boat so we could all get over in one sweep.  We used to use a boat that was .5 horsepower and had to make many round trips.  The few camps dotted on the waters edge looked just like I remembered them from 25 years ago.

Our drive to the Camp

We left NJ and started to the camp.  As soon as we get off the main roads we will be traveling through the woods.  The winding roads, streams, rivers and forests make it a pleasant drive.  The temperature is getting cooler.  It has been in the 90's and now already it is in the low 70"s.  Beautiful wild flowers dot the landscape between the roads.  As we get further North, the traffic is thinning out.  The trees are changing also, thicker foliage, lots of maple trees.