I took a little trip up to the Lake George area (Upstate New York) today to take care of an “important mission”.  While I was there, I grabbed a some photos since it was a gloriously sunny day.   We’ve been having a very mild fall so far — until last night when the temps really dropped in The City and there was snow Upstate.  The trees still have all their leaves in the Lake George area — not even peak colors yet:

The pretty contrast of snow and fall foliage made the 10 hour drive almost worth it (8 hours on the Thruway and 2 hours of NYC rush hour traffic).  The dogs got some good running in the brisk Adirondack air (38 degrees) — not at all what we’re used to yet.

The mysterious “mission”?  It’s a long story.  To shorten, let’s just say that I’ve had a Muffler Man head in my possession for about 10 years.   When I read that the new owners were looking for The Head, I vowed to myself to return it the next time I was up that way (Lake Vanare).  I never did make it up there this year — but today was the day due to my residential downsizing (I moved last week, not far).  The Body has been repainted but the poor guy is still missing an arm and part of a foot.  Hopefully, with the Head, the owners will be further motivated to restore the statue.  The Body is wired and roped to a tree.  Here’s how it looked in 2010:

And today:

A side view which shows his missing arm and new paint job better:

Nobody was around when I arrived at the campgrounds.  So, I put The Head in a safe but obvious place.  Hopefully, the owners will be thrilled to find it.  It’s in excellent shape — exactly as it was when it was found lying by the side of the road.  He’s been a good companion but now he’s back in the forest where he belongs:

It was hard to get a good shot of it– so here’s the same head of one of his relatives over in Lake George from today:

If you’re unfamiliar with these statues, I’ve got lots of photos of them over at my site in the Giants section:
http://www.agilitynut.com/giants/main.html

And RoadsideAmerica has lots of info about them:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/

OK so let’s move on to some other subjects.  Although I’ve been to Lake George and thereabouts many times (my dog agility competition days), there were still some nice surprises.  Like this former train station:

And this Rexall drug store with orange vitrolite.  I can’t remember ever seeing this glass in orange before.  The Rexall letters appear to be a decal-type application:

I was devastated to see the Surfside on the Lake sign like this:

Just last year, it was looking spiffy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/5006954726/
The motel’s website is still up:
http://www.surfsideonthelake.com/

and I didn’t see any “Available” or “For Sale” signs.  So maybe they are “fixing” the sign (repairing or, ugh, altering).

The Surfside is one of very few old motels left.  Thankfully, OOO’Sullivan’s looks like it’s still going strong.  I posted a photo of it here at this blog last year — but since today was much better weather, I’ll include it again:

Here are a couple less-photographed motel signs in Lake George:

I’m betting the Windsor Motel sign had ballies on top of the poles.  Lots of examples in the “Signs With Balls” group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1091399@N21/pool/

Moving down to Saratoga Springs — the Valley Acres Garden Center.   Despite the rusty/crusty sign, the place looked to be thriving.  That top part of the sign looks like it’s been smacked a time or two by a big truck:

A closed streamline-y car dealership:

And lastly, the Saratoga Diner sign — which is apparently lit at night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendresma/4549924154/

I hope you enjoyed tagging along for this daytrip.  Not enough photos?  I posted a few others over at Flickr today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

It was nice to take a break from my laptop.  I’ve been working every free moment on getting last spring’s photos up at my site — haven’t started on the summer photos yet:
http://www.agilitynut.com/whatsnew.html

I’ll try to get you some photos of my new neighborhood in the next day or two if the weather’s nice.