Places to eat

• Ice Jam Inn
• Adirondack mountain coffee (diner with delicious house-made coffee)
• New Vida
• (These three are in Jay and are close to the house with pretty good food and good prices! )
• On the way to lake placid there are a few restaurants: fratellis, the hungry trout
• Whiteface mountain is 8 miles away
• Lake Placid is a 30 minute leisurely car ride to the center of town
• Keene is 11 minutes away and has cute shops, lots of farm-to-table options, Farmers Markets on Sundays, coffee shops, and a few restaurants as well as being the gateway to many of the 46 peaks
• If on a day trip to lake placid, I would suggest coffee at Capisce, Origin, or-my favorite- Stewarts (yes, the local gas station!) coldbrew coffee, and watch the Lake placid horse show, take a historical Olympic village tour, boat tour on the Lake, rent paddleboards or kayaks on Mirror Lake, or “walk the lake” with your family (this is a great option for guests with puppies).
• For lunch, Players or Top of the Park are pretty nice and you have a great view of mirror lake!
• And for dinner the nicest spot in town is Cafe Rústica or The Interlaken. Heritage Indian Grill is a new restaurant serving delicious Indian food. Any other place in town mostly caters toward American food.

If you are into hiking, Cascade mountain is dog friendly (and one of the 46 high peaks) and about a 20ish minute car ride away. I did this up and down with my German shepherd in about 4 hours. It gets busy because it’s one of the easier high peaks so I’d recommend starting early in the day. If you want to knock two high peaks out in one trip, Porter mountain is connected to Cascade and is a nice side trip with fewer people.

Easier hikes include mt van ho. That one is also dog friendly. Cobble mountain in lake placid is a little hill that the town has completely redone since I went to school there. I haven’t been there since, but it’s a great little 30 minute trip with views of the town. There is also a walking trail called the peninsula trail behind the Dack Shack in lake placid. These trails are also dog friendly and open up into lake placid and is lesser known to tourists.

For more moderate things to do, there is a drive up Whiteface Memorial Highway that you can do. You park almost at the top and then can take stairs the rest of the way for some views all the way over to Vermont and of lake placid.

• The old Adirondack railroad has been turned into the ADK rail trail which is over 30 miles of paved trails for biking all over lake placid.
• Ausable Chasm and High Falls Gorge are both nice, more leisurely hiking tours that take you along the river.
• If you drive into the town of lake placid I’d recommend walking the lake with your dogs. If they like to swim there are dog friendly beaches, and once you’re finished you can stop and eat in town and enjoy a drink outside. Many of the restaurants allow you to eat outside with your dogs. Besides the horse show, there is a lot of Olympic history to explore in town including the Olympic center, ski jumps, and mt van ho for luge and bobsled.

There is also other historical areas including John brown’s farm that are right in lake placid.

Jay itself is very quaint and quiet, and fantastic if you’re an early riser. I tend to do 6am runs with my dog along stickney bridge road and into Jay for some beautiful views. There are tennis courts, the covered bridge, and the theater in town, as well as many spots around like sugar house creamery or moon valley farm that sell cheeses and other products for fun and fresh dinners. You are welcome to grab firewood (Stewart’s in lake placid or in ausable) or use the grill and cook out in the backyard- it’s got some awesome views.