Road Trip to Lake Placid

Whew!  It has been a busy few weeks.  When I learned that Mr. Right would be away 10 weeks this summer, I decided to plan my own personal solo road trip.  That trip along with a bicycling trip in France plus a conference meant that I would be home only five days in the month of July.  Now that August has arrived and I am safely back home, I can smile and say the trip was so worth all of the driving it required (over 2,500 miles).

 

First up, I drove 15 hours over two days from Lexington to Lake Placid, NY to join the rest of the family in cheering on Yankee who did his first full Ironman competition.  The drive was absolutely gorgeous.  My son suggested that if I avoided toll roads, then the drive would be more scenic.  He was right.  There were tons of beautiful farms along the way.

 

We rented a house in the woods for the week and enjoyed many of the activities Lake Placid has to offer.

 

It is a great place for a family vacation because there are tons of both outdoor and indoor activities to do.  We all had plenty to do like hike, bike, swim, and paddle board.

 

 

We toured some of the venues for the 1980 Winter Olympics.  One day we went to the top of the bob sled run, which is one mile long. You can see how steep the turns are in this photo.

 

 

Since the rides were already booked, they let us walk to the bottom.

 

We enjoyed touring historic venues of the 1980 winter Olympics.

 

 

Many of you will remember the story behind this photo.  What a great day that was!  I even remember what I wore on the day of the Miracle on Ice.

 

 

We also enjoyed seeing a summer ski jumping demonstration.  Since there was no snow, some of the athletes, while wearing their skis, boots, and helmets, jumped into swimming pools from the ramps. They need the training any way they can get it.

 

 

It’s amazing how high these jumps are.  This one was 22 stories high.  I can’t wrap my brain around how daunting it must be to do the first jump.

 

 

We were allowed to go to the top in an elevator.  We could see what seemed like forever.  Can you spot Jordan in this shot?  She’s there beside her brother whom you might remember from this.

 

 

One day when it was raining, we went to an international ice dancing competition.  We had never been to skating competitions before, and it was really fun.  The behind-the-scenes did remind us a little bit of the movie, “Best in Show.”

 

 

From Lake Placid I drove to Owen Sound, ON and met up with Mr. Right who had spent 8 weeks bicycling there from Vancouver, BC.  We spent the night in Owen Sound and then drove to Muskoka, which is known as “cottage country” to Canadians.

 

Our friends (these are the same friends we have done this with in England where they live six months of the year) own a three-acre island there that has been in their family for over fifty years.  They spend all of their summers there.  It was like walking back in time.

 

 

We enjoyed boat races at their club and quiet time on the island.  This is the view from one of their decks.  One late fall week-end a few years ago we were on their island when there was a power failure, and we had no electricity the entire time.  It was magical.  We built a fire in their massive fireplace and cooked our meals out on their grill.  It was so much fun.

 

 

All good things have to end, though.  I drove Mr. Right and me to Toronto where we spent a day and then I left and he returned to his cycling.  On the way back to Lexington I spent a night with my parents and brought my 88-year-old mother home with me for the week.  We had a great time together.  But now life is back to normal as I wait for Mr. Right to finish up his trip and return home to me.

 

Take care.

 

Map image from Googlemaps.