How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog: Upstate New York

I think Miss M secretly dreams of being a water dog, so we are always very interested in seeing our dog friends who actually are aquatic. We loved reading Corbin's tour of Upstate New York complete with gorgeous lakes and scenery, war reenactment fields, local art, dog-friendly dining, and a dog-night at the ballpark (where Corbin even got to go on the field!). Read more about Corbin, here:                              
I didn’t realize how many dog friendly things there were to do in our area until we adopted Corbin.  Either these dog friendly things appeared out of nowhere, or I was just completely oblivious to them in the BC times (Before Corbin).

One of our favorite things to do with Corbin is to visit Lake George, which is about 45 minutes north from our home.  We have a boat, so it makes it easy to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Since we spend most of our time on the boat, we often miss out on the great hiking trails and camping areas the Adirondack Mountain’s offer.   Even if you don’t have a boat, most of our favorite places can also be driven to or hiked to.  Lake George is approximately 22 miles long.  Of course, boating is fun in the summer, but when winter comes and the boat is packed away, there are some really great places to go skiing just a few miles further north from Lake George.

 All of the camping sites in Lake George are dog friendly, except for the island camp sites.  The islands have a very strict no dog policy – dogs have to stay 500 feet away from any island, even if they’re on a boat.  One of our favorite camp sites is at Shelving Rock.  There’s a beautiful waterfall that you can get to after an easy hike.  Shelving Rock also leads into one of our favorite bays, Log Bay.  Corbin especially loves it here because he can touch in most areas.  He also likes to hang out in his float and enjoy socializing with everyone walking by.

 Lake George also has a dog friendly beach right in the village.  Corbin gets to visit the beach after non-swimming boat rides.  There’s also a large park across the street from the beach which is great for picnics and a good game of fetch.  About a half a mile from the dog beach is a great dog store that Corbin enjoys going into for some free treats.

 Aside from Lake George, one of our favorite places for a nice long hike is the Saratoga Battlefield.  There are over 9 miles of trails and 9 stops throughout the way to learn about the history of the land.  You can also drive to each of the 9 stops if you’d like.  There are often reenactments which makes it very interesting.  As much as you try, the volunteers who do the reenactments never leave their character.  They’re often building a camp fire and cooking food or washing laundry. This photo is Corbin at the Neilson Farm.  This home was used for quarters of the American staff officers in September 1777.

 Our area has lots and lots of doggie daycares.  Corbin enjoys his daycare days when we have a busy week and we know we’re not going to have a lot of time to exercise him.  If you visit our area, one of the best places to go that is not dog friendly is the Saratoga Race Track.  The track runs from the last weekend in July until Labor Day.  The big race before the last racing weekend is the Travers.  Often horses from the Derby, Preakness and Belmonte come up to run in this race, which has been known as the 4^th leg of the Triple Crown.  

 Aside from the track, Saratoga is a very dog friendly town.  It’s a classic town with Victoria style homes and shops.  The town is full of Art and there are over 20 unique horses painted by local and national artists. 

 Most restaurants and stores allow dogs and our favorite dog boutique, Sloppy Kisses, is located right on Broadway in Saratoga.  There are also many restaurants in Lake George that allow you to bring your pooch along in their outdoor seating.

 Lastly, one of the events we most look forward to every year is Bark at the Park with our local double A baseball team.  It’s a night where you can bring your dog to the ball park and enjoy a game.  Since baseball is one of our favorite sports, and Yankee stadium is 3 hours away (also, they don’t have a dog night like the Mets do!), we really look forward to our outing with Corbin.  This year, Corbin was invited onto the field to do some tricks with other dogs.  He lost to a dog that could jump through a hula hoop!  This year was the first year we set up a booth for our dog rescue.  We ended up with one new foster family and a handful of people that came to our adoption clinic the following weekend!

Oh, and Corbin would like to add that I completely missed the best attraction in upstate New York… him!

You can read more about Corbin's adventures, and his many foster siblings, on his blog here.
We have been getting so many great posts, but we would like to wrap up our contest and have all posts submitted by September 16.
And as an added incentive, Sirius Republic is donating 2 collars and we will have a random drawing of all the submitted 'How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog' posts to have 2 collar winners. Winners can chose from a standard collar, or an 'Adopt Me' collar to promote your foster or adoptable dog as modeled by Levi. And we will still be donating money to the rescue of choice for the 2 posts with the most comments.

In case you missed them, you can also read our other Tourist with Your Dog posts showcasing New York City, Austin, Florida, Portland, Richmond, Seattle,  Kansas City, Nashville, Alaska, and Chicago. And you can read about roadtripping with 4 large dogs, boating to the Bahamas with a pit bull, specific tips for roadtripping with a large dog (NYC to rural Tennessee), Chicago Dogs Sidetrip to Harbor County, and Destination "Dog Mountain" in Vermont.