Adventure- “an exciting or remarkable experience”

Adventure- “an exciting or remarkable experience”(Merriam-Webster,2021)

What is an adventure to you? Is it blazing a new trail to the summit of some remote mountain miles from anyone, maybe taking your kids on a weekend getaway to the beach, possibly your Sunday afternoon trip to your local Walmart? Is it shifting gears in your classic hot rod on some back road, or finding that trout stream that no one knows about?

We all have a vision in our head, that place we want to be. While we sit at our desks, meet with clients, or stand at our place on the assembly line. That place that our minds drift off to, the place we really want to be. That place that makes us feel alive, that place that gets our blood pumping and our mind focused on the immediate time and place.

So many of us spend our days doing the 9-5 thing, going to work, picking up kids and getting dinner on the table. We make sure all the homework is done and if we are lucky we catch an hour of the ball game or that next episode on TV before we hit the bed and get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. By the time the weekend hits we are exhausted, we just want to get the lawn mowed and spend a few quiet hours with the family. It’s our routine that keeps us going. It may be stagnant and lackluster but it’s what we need to do. However, we all have that nagging feeling, that quiet ambition to do something more with our lives. That place we want to be, that feeling in our hearts that we want to feel. Is that feeling obtainable or should we just let that fire smolder out for another week?

I say it's time stoke the flames, pour on the gasoline and let it rip. Screw the lawn, and hell most stores are open 24 hrs these days. Get that blood pumping and get to that place that has been etched into your mind for months. That place doesn’t have to be hours away and cost you a fortune to get to. It can be right here in the North Country, right in your own backyard. Really! Right here in Northern New York.

I will admit I have said the same thing as you, “I’m bored, There is nothing to do around here”. Well we may not have all the fancy stores, or the big name restaurants, but we do have a lot of open roads and many lakes and rivers.

We are surrounded by mountains and we have four seasons that can lead us to all sorts of adventures. My goal with the Northern NY Adventures blog is to highlight all there is to do around here. I want to showcase St. Lawrence and Franklin counties and spark a sense of excitement in our communities. Keep everyone updated on upcoming events and introduce people to the overlooked things that make the North Country a wonderful place to live and visit. I hear all the time “there is nothing here”, that nothing is what makes this place so special. I want to encourage you to get outdoors, climb your first mountain, watch a St. Lawrence river sunset, pheasant hunt on a private game preserve, downhill ski, camp in a primitive campsite, run your first 5k, drive down a back-road you have never been on before. I want you to create your own adventures and expose your families to what is sitting right here in the North Country. My hope is that when you return to work on Monday, your skin is a bit more sun kissed, your face is a little wind burned and you are thinking about what's next on my adventure bucket list.

Aaron Hardy

Northern NY Adventures