Last week The Husband took me on a trip. We had planned for a couple of months after he told me to decide where I would like to go. He said he would go anywhere I wanted. Well, being the good wife I am, I felt I should choose somewhere he might enjoy as well so after much thought, I chose upstate New York and the Adirondacks, a place neither of us had explored.
We flew into Rochester and found a small airport. I mean really small. It was nice after the zoo in our own local airport. We began driving toward the southern part of the Adirondacks to spend the night at the Herkimer Motel. After getting a recommendation from the nice Northern motel attendants, we ate a nice supper, then came outside the restaurant to find the rain had begun. The rain continued for a couple of days. I'm not talking a little rain, but a lot of rain.
Many have asked about my pictures from the trip. I seem to have this reputation among my friends that I can take good pictures. I will say that I take a LOT of pictures and eventually get some keepers but really, I'm not a very scientific good photographer. I do enjoy the effort, though. Rain doesn't make for very good picture taking efforts. In spite of the rain many days, I still got some I like so I will share. You can learn about the trip as we go along.
As I said, we began the first two days with rain....and we actually ended the trip with rain....and had some rain in the middle, too....
We visited Lake Placid and spent a night there. The 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid. We took a wonderful tour at the Olympic Center. Our tour guide was a gentleman who served on the Lake Placid Olympic committee from the beginning of the bidding process. He had some wonderful inside stories for the two of us, the only two of us on the tour. It turned into a private tour. Nice.
The 1980 Olympics is the one where the USA beat Russia in ice hockey. Who could forget that? It was also the year Eric Heiden won the five gold medals in speed skating. The hockey game somehow overshadowed the individual efforts of the five gold medalist in speed skating. It should not have. Eric Heiden also broke a world record and an Olympic record in addition to his five individual gold medals. Quite a feat, I would say!
Here we are at the entrance to the hockey rink where the famed hockey game took place back in 1980. Yes, I had on a long sleeved shirt, a fleece vest, AND a fleece jacket along with a scarf and gloves in my pocket. It was cold...at one point 39 degrees with a windchill of 31 degrees. Brrr.....
There was the 1932 figure skating rink where Sonja Henie won the women's figure skating medal. Olympians still train there today. The rink itself was quite smaller than the hockey one and had many, many fewer seats.
We saw the speed skating rink where Eric Heiden won his five gold medals. It is immediately next door to the Olympic Center right in front of a building that looks very governmental. Turned out that building is the high school there in Lake Placid. It has been there for years and years. The speed skating rink is still used today.
After our tour ended we visited the museum housed on the lower level of the center. While it was very small, there were many interesting things. Here are a few....
We ate lunch, then drove out to the ski jump area which was actually closed for the day. I was able to get some photos from across the street. While it is localized in a very small area, it is very high as you can see from the pictures.
After that, we drove to the bobsled, luge, and cross country skiing areas. Some young men were training on the bobsled for some tryouts that were coming up. The Husband and I found a viewing area, listened for the starting horn and bobsled sounds and I got my camera ready. The bobsleds were SOOOOO fast! I actually had my camera ready about fourteen times before I got a bobsledder in the photo! I have all fourteen pictures to prove it! This area, too, is amazing. The whole "Olympic" experience makes us look forward to the next Winter Olympics....kind of puts a different spin on watching. Get it? Skating...spin? (Insert smile here.)
We found a lodge that made their own maple syrup and sold in their shop on the "honor system".
Unfortunately, Whiteface Mountain (the Olympic ski mountain) was closed also and with the clouds there, was fairly impossible to photograph so we drove on to Plattsburgh, an hour or so from the Canadian border. (No, we did not go into Canada. We are passport-less. We stayed on our home turf).
The Husband's planned fishing day on the ever so large Lake Champlain was postponed for a day because of wind threats so we drove up to the border, took a look, then crossed into Vermont and drove a ways before taking the Lake Champlain ferry back into New York.
Before we got to the ferry, the rain began yet again...and you can tell from these Vermont flags that the wind blew as well. Brrr....
On the fishing trip, The Husband and his guide caught many smallmouth bass fish, a kind of fish he had never caught before. Imagine that...with all his fishing experience and skills. I was happy he had a fun day and success. I spent a little shopping time, then a little motel resting time and had a fun time as well.
As we headed out to Cooperstown the next day, we saw many beautiful sights of color, water, and mountains....all with a blue sky!
We saw loons, ducks, and beaver areas.
At Cooperstown, we ate a supper of New York Style Pizza. Our meal the next day at a very small diner consisted of hamburgers--one a VERY jumbo burger. Guess who ordered such?
We enjoyed seeing the sights of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The most memorable things I saw there were these....one is made out of baseball cards--front and back, the other two statues made completely out of wood. AMAZING talent for sure.
We visited the Farmers' Museum.
I took a picture of this pig pen to remind us all the horrible shape the prodigal son got in before coming back home to his father....
It was their last open day of the year so they were giving free carousel rides. The carousel was unique and had different animals and paintings of New York places.
Our trip neared it's end as we headed back toward the airport, stopping in Auburn (not of orange "War Eagle" fame) NY to spend the night. That route showed us much beautiful farmland amidst more rainy skies.
The next morning as we carried on toward the airport, we also had time to go north of the airport and get a glimpse of the windy Lake Ontario before returning our rented car and checking in. It was REALLY cold there by that large body of water.
We arrived at the Rochester airport to more rain. The landing at the airport back at home happened on the second try as wind was a factor. Turbulence in the air is not my idea of a good time. I don't like those kind of landings at all but all turned out well.
The trip gave me many more photos. Leaves were two weeks past their peak but still this beautiful....
For now, that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed the "journal".
We flew into Rochester and found a small airport. I mean really small. It was nice after the zoo in our own local airport. We began driving toward the southern part of the Adirondacks to spend the night at the Herkimer Motel. After getting a recommendation from the nice Northern motel attendants, we ate a nice supper, then came outside the restaurant to find the rain had begun. The rain continued for a couple of days. I'm not talking a little rain, but a lot of rain.
Many have asked about my pictures from the trip. I seem to have this reputation among my friends that I can take good pictures. I will say that I take a LOT of pictures and eventually get some keepers but really, I'm not a very scientific good photographer. I do enjoy the effort, though. Rain doesn't make for very good picture taking efforts. In spite of the rain many days, I still got some I like so I will share. You can learn about the trip as we go along.
As I said, we began the first two days with rain....and we actually ended the trip with rain....and had some rain in the middle, too....
We visited Lake Placid and spent a night there. The 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid. We took a wonderful tour at the Olympic Center. Our tour guide was a gentleman who served on the Lake Placid Olympic committee from the beginning of the bidding process. He had some wonderful inside stories for the two of us, the only two of us on the tour. It turned into a private tour. Nice.
The 1980 Olympics is the one where the USA beat Russia in ice hockey. Who could forget that? It was also the year Eric Heiden won the five gold medals in speed skating. The hockey game somehow overshadowed the individual efforts of the five gold medalist in speed skating. It should not have. Eric Heiden also broke a world record and an Olympic record in addition to his five individual gold medals. Quite a feat, I would say!
Here we are at the entrance to the hockey rink where the famed hockey game took place back in 1980. Yes, I had on a long sleeved shirt, a fleece vest, AND a fleece jacket along with a scarf and gloves in my pocket. It was cold...at one point 39 degrees with a windchill of 31 degrees. Brrr.....
There was the 1932 figure skating rink where Sonja Henie won the women's figure skating medal. Olympians still train there today. The rink itself was quite smaller than the hockey one and had many, many fewer seats.
We saw the speed skating rink where Eric Heiden won his five gold medals. It is immediately next door to the Olympic Center right in front of a building that looks very governmental. Turned out that building is the high school there in Lake Placid. It has been there for years and years. The speed skating rink is still used today.
After our tour ended we visited the museum housed on the lower level of the center. While it was very small, there were many interesting things. Here are a few....
We ate lunch, then drove out to the ski jump area which was actually closed for the day. I was able to get some photos from across the street. While it is localized in a very small area, it is very high as you can see from the pictures.
After that, we drove to the bobsled, luge, and cross country skiing areas. Some young men were training on the bobsled for some tryouts that were coming up. The Husband and I found a viewing area, listened for the starting horn and bobsled sounds and I got my camera ready. The bobsleds were SOOOOO fast! I actually had my camera ready about fourteen times before I got a bobsledder in the photo! I have all fourteen pictures to prove it! This area, too, is amazing. The whole "Olympic" experience makes us look forward to the next Winter Olympics....kind of puts a different spin on watching. Get it? Skating...spin? (Insert smile here.)
We found a lodge that made their own maple syrup and sold in their shop on the "honor system".
Unfortunately, Whiteface Mountain (the Olympic ski mountain) was closed also and with the clouds there, was fairly impossible to photograph so we drove on to Plattsburgh, an hour or so from the Canadian border. (No, we did not go into Canada. We are passport-less. We stayed on our home turf).
The Husband's planned fishing day on the ever so large Lake Champlain was postponed for a day because of wind threats so we drove up to the border, took a look, then crossed into Vermont and drove a ways before taking the Lake Champlain ferry back into New York.
Before we got to the ferry, the rain began yet again...and you can tell from these Vermont flags that the wind blew as well. Brrr....
On the fishing trip, The Husband and his guide caught many smallmouth bass fish, a kind of fish he had never caught before. Imagine that...with all his fishing experience and skills. I was happy he had a fun day and success. I spent a little shopping time, then a little motel resting time and had a fun time as well.
As we headed out to Cooperstown the next day, we saw many beautiful sights of color, water, and mountains....all with a blue sky!
We saw loons, ducks, and beaver areas.
At Cooperstown, we ate a supper of New York Style Pizza. Our meal the next day at a very small diner consisted of hamburgers--one a VERY jumbo burger. Guess who ordered such?
We enjoyed seeing the sights of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The most memorable things I saw there were these....one is made out of baseball cards--front and back, the other two statues made completely out of wood. AMAZING talent for sure.
We visited the Farmers' Museum.
I took a picture of this pig pen to remind us all the horrible shape the prodigal son got in before coming back home to his father....
It was their last open day of the year so they were giving free carousel rides. The carousel was unique and had different animals and paintings of New York places.
Our trip neared it's end as we headed back toward the airport, stopping in Auburn (not of orange "War Eagle" fame) NY to spend the night. That route showed us much beautiful farmland amidst more rainy skies.
The next morning as we carried on toward the airport, we also had time to go north of the airport and get a glimpse of the windy Lake Ontario before returning our rented car and checking in. It was REALLY cold there by that large body of water.
We arrived at the Rochester airport to more rain. The landing at the airport back at home happened on the second try as wind was a factor. Turbulence in the air is not my idea of a good time. I don't like those kind of landings at all but all turned out well.
The trip gave me many more photos. Leaves were two weeks past their peak but still this beautiful....
For now, that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed the "journal".
Wow, looks like you two had a great time! Thank you for sharing your story and the beautiful pictures!
ReplyDeleteKristie