My Trip to MAGA Hell

Lake George Village, NY. In pictures, it looks deceivingly peaceful, but don’t let it fool you. After more than a year of being cooped up at home due to the pandemic, my friend and I thought it was high time to take a short trip. While browsing for something that is not too far away, and easily accessible to us no-car-having city dwellers, we found lake George.

With mostly excellent reviews and pristine landscapes, we thought it couldn’t be too bad……….but BOY, WERE WE WRONG!! As soon as we boarded our second bus upstate, the driver got oddly upset at us for tearing off our tickets in front of her face, despite the old white people in front of us doing the same. Allegedly, since she didn’t see us do it, our tickets were now null and void. She still let us board eventually, but this hick-up foreshadowed what was to come.

When we got to our destination, it was a beautiful sunny day. It was also a non-social-distancing, no-mask-wearing Covid-spread disaster waiting to happen. A little taken aback, we started heading to our motel. Side note, never trust google when it comes to estimated walking times. A quick walk is definitely something else.

As a huge fan of the Twilight Zone, the motel being situated right next to Maple street was a bit concerning. To be fair, we only had a handful of complaints about the motel itself, such as the light switch turning on the coffee machine, and the pepsi vending machine out front. But hey, you get what you pay for.

After a not-so-restful sleep in a haunted motel, we headed out to get breakfast in the morning. As we waited at the stoplight, two horseshoe-mustached men were having a heated discussion about the nerve of athletes who choose to kneel during the anthem. But wait, it only gets better. They then lamented Ben and Jerry’s support for Palestine. The light turned and we realized that not only were those men headed for the same restaurant, but their whole families already awaited them. We noped out, seeing the “don’t tread on me” shirts ahead.

Apropos shirts, have ya heard of dilligaf? We hadn’t before this trip. Lake George Village, however, has about 3 of them. In this charming store, they proudly serve all your needs of “Trump 2024” and “blue lives matter” merch. Not to mention the “blue lives matter” and “don’t tread on me” flags waving above a plethora of stores.

Here is a collection of shirts I saw about and at store displays:

Fun fact, couldn’t find these on their website, but I’m not saying anything, just to be safe.

There is a lot more stuff that happened around there, and of course it’s an uneasy atmosphere for any person of color. The amount of racist conversations that were had by people in second amendment shirts might only be the tip of the iceberg. For a vacation, I do not recommend, for a survival horror game experience a la “Get Out”, maybe? Honestly, this was just a terrible experience overall for me, but at least I know where I’m never going back to.

Shout out to Oasis Restaurant though, amazing Vietnamese food! The bubble tea was great.