Adventures in the Adirondacks: Golfing with the Pirates

It was not hard to find the Pirate's Cove golf place. It is situated on a main road, and right by the entrance was a huge billboard with its pirate face logo flanked by pirate flags fluttering in the wind. Beside it was a life-sized statue of a fierce-looking pirate brandishing his sword.  The place was not busy due to the bleak weather, so we found parking in no time and got our tickets without lining up. We got our golf clubs, golf balls, and score sheet and off we went to start our game.

I introduced my son to mini-putt when we celebrated my husband’s recent birthday by playing glow-in-the-dark mini-golf in Ottawa. He enjoyed it immensely – the game itself and the fact that it was a neon-themed game. This time, the selling factor was the whole pirate theme. 

The golf course was designed as an 18^th-century village occupied by pirates. Its well-manicured lawns are festooned by statues of frolicking buccaneers, fair maidens, and a sinking ship in a man-made lagoon. There were caves, mini-waterfalls, treasure chests, wooden bridges, pirate dug-outs. Each hole was uniquely decorated and featured a placard indicating a chapter from “The Legend of Pirate's Cove” tale. The last two holes were up on a hill, where you can enjoy a magnificent view of the mountains and the Lake Placid town while trying to get a hole-in-one.

My boys played competitively, while I didn’t take the game so seriously because I was more focused on capturing the fun moments on camera (it’s hard to be a star player and a paparazzo at the same time).

And as if on cue, the moment we finished the game, the drizzle started. We headed back to the hotel to change and freshen up. While I was resting my feet and my son was looking at the pictures on my phone, my husband was reviewing the restaurant menus we gathered from yesterday’s Main Street walk. He usually has the honour of choosing where to eat because of his dietary restrictions.

He decided we were going to try the Black Bear Restaurant. I am not sure if he wanted to go there because of their extensive steak menu or because it has the word “bear,” as my boys want to think of themselves as Papa Bear and Baby Bear, respectively. It was funny because right across from this restaurant was another one called Dancing Bears Restaurant, but my husband was quick to mention that their menu is not so interesting.

We had an hour or so to spare before dinner time, so we went back to Main Street to check the stores that were closed the previous day until we got famished from walking and window-shopping.

The restaurant was busy when we got there, but it didn’t take long to get a table. My husband ordered the 12-ounce Lake Placid Steak, grilled rib-eye with sautéed vegetables and garlic, topped with virgin olive oil (and I wondered what made this steak a uniquely “Lake Placid” one or they just wanted to call it that). I ordered the 14-ounce Black Bear Steak, which was also a rib-eye, but with sautéed mushrooms, bacon, onion, and cheddar cheese on top...oh so sinful! And yes, it was big, but I figured I could use half for the following day’s take-along sandwich since we brought a stash of bread from the nearby bakery).

The steak plates came with baked potato, house salad, and homemade bread.  We ordered the kid’s burger served with fries for our son. The steaks were perfectly cooked, and the baked potatoes were very flavourful.  Our son’s burger was also way better in quality compared to kid’s burgers from regular family restaurants.  It was cooked from scratch and had all the gourmet trimmings – local bacon, real cheddar cheese, and fresh vegetables.

We had no more room for dessert and we were starting to feel tired from all the walking and climbing we did earlier that day, so we headed back to the hotel and slept earlier than usual.