Lake Placid - Last Entry

This is being written 2 weeks after the trip, so I'll probably leave out some good stuff just because I don't remember it any more (if I come down with Alzheimer will anyone notice?). On our way home from Lake Placid, we spent a couple of delightful hours back in Saratoga Springs - had to pick up the wine. Then we headed to our favorite B&B in Lancaster County, PA, the Harvest Moon in New Holland. Yes, we were in the heart of Dutch PA and Amish country. If you are in a hurry, forget about it, you will get stuck behind a horse and buggy. Here's a picture of Harvest Moon:

Our first visit here was with our dinner club and following breakfast we were treated to a fun cooking class.  The family that own and live here are delightful. Both husband and wife are trained chefs with impressive resumes but when the children started coming they found working in restaurants with the long and strange hours was too much. Now Carl stays home and prepares the world's best breakfasts and and gives cooking classes and she travels all over the state inspecting school cafeterias. Their oldest son graduates from high school next year and although he's working as a line cook in a local restaurant, he has announced he wants nothing to do with being a professional chef.

Here's Carl proudly showing us his herb garden which his cats protect from the local rabbits:

No trip to Lancaster County is complete without a stop at Obie's Store, which is just down the road from New Holland in Goodville. If you can't read the sign over the front door to the left, it states that the store was founded by Mr. Good in 1815. I'm pretty sure nothing has been changed since it was opened.

If you can't find a quilt here, you're not looking. I found 2 this trip. The woman who is the only "staff" in attendance has a remarkable memory for who made each quilt, or she just makes things up to entertain the tourists. I fall for it hook, line, and sinker. The following pictures were taken from the 2nd story balcony trying to look down onto the 1st floor - look hard and you'll se the bannisters going down at the back of the 2nd photo. I'm guessing the Fire Marshall just drives on by. No inspection would allow this space to stay open.

All in all, this trip was just want we needed. Met some interesting and wonderful people, had great food, and we relaxed. Even a few of the photos weren't bad. We hope to be able to return some day but our next trip is to New Orleans. Stay tuned.

Lake Placid Vacation, 4th Posting

Our last day at Lake Placid was a day trip to Fort Ticonderoga. The cold front and storm that blew threw last night (same one that had tornadoes in Massachusetts) kept everything cold and windy, but the history of the fort and the dedication of the knowledgeable guides kept us enthralled.

Our tour guide.                                                                                          Re-Enactor cooking soup.

 Gardens below the fort.

 A really spooky cherub

 Flooding along the river banks (table is standing in water)

Lake Placid Vacation, 3nd Posting

Tuesday we hired Sally Warner to be our "native tour guide." She was born and raised in Lake Placid, is a retired school teacher, former member of the School Board and Town Council where all votes seems to be 5 to 4. She is the local tour guide for private tours or the bus groups that come through. She also teaches bridge at the local community center and is a volunteer docent at the historical society's museum. She proudly pointed out all the photos of her siblings and other family members, going back to the early 20th century, who were winners of various winter sport competitions. She still cross-country skis but thought this past winter's 20 feet of snow was a bit much. When the temperature rose all the way to 75, she demanded that we turn on the AC in the car. She was dying!

She tailored our time together based on our interests: history and good view points for photography. The year-round population of Lake Placid is only 2,100, less than half the population of our condo in Alexandria. During the summer the population grows to 30,000. Everyone seems to be sports and outdoor enthusiasts. She was able to get us into the US Olympic Training Facility where we met a young woman who is ranked the US 2nd in free style skiing. Athletes come from all over to train here year round. We met 3 young men from Wisconsin, Connecticut and Ohio training for ski jumps - something they can do here year round even without snow.

The Olympic Center where the US beat the Russians in hockey in 1980.

Below is the famous rink but it is rented out for conventions now as well as still used for hockey.

The Olympic Training Center

She showed us John Brown's farm - yep, the same guy hung in West Virginia for his anti-slavery actions.

We also visited the Cornell University experimental farm where they make terrific maple syrup.  

In the afternoon we took the boat tour of Lake Placid. There are 3 islands in the lake and very wealthy families have "camps" on the islands, all costing several million dollars yet some are occupied only a couple of weeks a year. The most recent sale was for 4 million and included a 7,000 bottle wine cellar.

This is a typical camp. Among the current owners are the founders of Alpo, Vanguard Investments, and Texas Instruments.  Makes you wonder how he found this place - it's a long haul from Dallas.  There is a small air port near by but it only handles private jets.

A tradition the camp owners are maintaining is owning antique wooded speed boats.  They like to gather in their boats for happy hours at sunset.  Nice.

One of the frustrations has been how hazy it has been. The boat tour guide explained that it wasn't pollution but pine tree pollen. We also painfully discovered black flies. Seems they found me very tasty but George, not so much. He didn't get a single bite; I was covered.

The following is the view of Whiteface Mountain from the lake:

Wednesday, June 1

We drove to the top of Whiteface Mountain, the 5th highest peak in NY. We froze. Never has George had to dress like this on the first of June and, no, I couldn't get him to smile. He hates cold weather.

But the view was amazing. On a clear day you can see Montreal, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. It wasn't all that clear, but still nice.

The view of Lake Placid, showing the 3 islands and all those trees that are emitting pollen. Lovely.

Lake Placid Vacation, 2nd Posting

This is Mirror Lake which was 1 block from our townhouse. Other units in our resort have this view. We had the opposite view - lots of trees. This lake is 3 miles around and surrounded by a hiking trail, lovely homes, inns, cafes, etc. Lake Placid is just north of this lake and has remained more remote.

No motor boats are allowed.

Monday morning we visited the museum run by the local historical society. It had been the train station. Lots of photos of people engaged in all sorts of winter sports, typically on the lake going way back to the early days of photography. Here's a shot of the exterior:

We had lunch at The Cottage, one of the many restaurants on the lake, but this one was recommended by one of the lawyers in my office. Turns out it was a terrific choice.

Later we did a wine tasting at an outlet for wines from the Finger Lakes. As usual, Renee was right to say we should give these wines a taste. Left with some nice Bordeaux blends.

Still hadn't taken out the tripod, big 500 mm. lens and D90. I had been too busy relaxing. I

Have I mentioned the weather was perfect! Sunny and low '80's today.

Lake Placid Vacation

We left VA on Thursday, 5/26. After a brief stop for lunch at the Long Horn Grill in Frederick, MD, we traveled across PA, all the while avoiding I95. We stopped for the night in Binghamton, NY, just across the line from PA, as severe storms were entering the area. We were under a tornado warning, so we opted for staying in. Supper was a frozen dinner heated in the lobby of the Marriott Court Yard.

Above we're in front of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, where we spent our 2nd day. Very moving. We loved everything about it. I even cried when I read the tribute to Minnie Minosa, who played for my home town's minor league team before going on to the majors. He was a terrific shortstop. Here's his photo and caption:

Given he was in Sherman , TX, in the '50's, I wonder where he had to live. It had to pretty hard for him at that time.

In front of the Astro's locker

We made it to Saratoga Springs for the night. This was a return visit as we had stayed there with Tom & Renee O'Brien on our way to Quebec in '08. That trip a guitar festival was on and we appeared to be the only people in town without guitars slung over our shoulders or sitting on any available surface strumming along. We didn't see any guitar players this time but heard really loud music on every corner. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn, which was further out from downtown than last time, so we had driven to the main street. To my surprise we were able to find the same terrific Italian restaurant we had gone to previously. Saturday morning we returned to do a some shopping and eat lunch. George found a terrific wine, a Pinot Noir from Bourgogne by the Domaine David Clark. We took 4 bottles with us and put a case on reserve for our return. Here's a shot of the restaurant:

This is the Italian restaurant, Brindini's, where we dined Friday night.

Lunch Saturday was almost Mexican at Casa del Sol

Actually for a NY Mexican restaurant, this was pretty good. You just never know. It always helps when the bartender can do a good tequila sunrise and they can't mess up Dos XX's.

In Lake Placid we had a time share at the Lake Placid Club. Too bad we don't golf because it had 5 courses.

All of the units at the Club were wonderful 2 story townhomes.

A couple of shots inside our timeshare.

First night we headed to the local brew pub to hear a local band, the Big Boss Sausage. They claimed to have appeared on stage with Arlo Guthrie, Charlie Daniels, and Uncle Floyd - doesn't say in what capacity. Didn't matter, the pub grub was good and the music was fun.