As the lake took on the peaceful quiet of a summer evening, the teens of Long Lake Motel and Cottages gathered around the pool and ping pong tables (positioned under a cupola, right across the motel parking spaces) and played their adolescent flirtatious games, the girls breaking into favorite songs, the boys hitting the balls way too hard.
I thought we'd have a night of noise, but I needn't have worried. Some adult with a modicum of authority chased them out by 10 and a few minutes later, quiet prevailed.
In the morning, we should have been packed and out early, but somehow the cool lake air kept us under cover far past the hour of sunrise.
The weather in the Adirondacks is so far cooperating: clouds today...
(looking out toward the back of the motel)
... but there are promises of sunshine for the weekend. And in any case, the storms wont roll in until (they say) the end of Sunday. But the nights are cool -- very cool.
Eventually, we brace ourselves for that morning chill, pack our little car with all the gear of camping and paddling and head due north toward Tupper Lake.
And now comes a day? a few days? ... of Ocean quiet.