Considering Lake Placid, NY

Years ago CavWife and I took a trip with her parents to Lake Placid.  It was the dead of winter.  I have rarely been colder.  We had lunch that day at the Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood.  In order to get there from our car we had to walk between a large gap in the buildings that led to Mirror Lake.  Can you say Wind Tunnel?  It was worse than the one by the dorms near Nickerson Field at Boston University.  Cold.  Real cold.  Extreme cold.

Mmmmm.... popcorn

My in-laws took care of the kids today while CavWife and I made our way to Lake Placid with her sister and brother-in-law.  No snow on the ground this time.  No ice on the ground this time.  No one else at the wheel this time.  I love driving those twisty roads in a decent car.  No Pop-Pop mobile today.  It was J-9’s G6.  It was an enjoyable ride.

We stopped at one point to take pictures of some guys climbing rock faces.  We enjoyed pondering the lakes apparently created by the infamous “jumping glacier”.  We also passed the Olympic ski jump which was impressive even without snow.  Finally we rolled into the village of Lake Placid.  We made our way down Main Street to find a parking space.  The meters were a slightly different concept.    You periodically had a meter that put out receipts you placed on your dash.  That was a new one to me.

We got a good laugh as some of the local police patrolled the strip in little electric cars.  No high speed chases for these guys.  We found a nice spot at the end of the strip that overlooked Mirror Lake.  Just beautiful with the mountains in the background.  So much green (live in the desert for a year and you’ll crave green too!).

CavWife and her sister were focused on finding the restaurant.  It has its own microbrews and we had an old 1/2 gallon jug of theirs we wanted filled with a good beer or ale.  I wanted to just look around and enjoy the place. We stumbled upon the old “wind tunnel” from our previous trip.  Now it was green and beautiful, overlooking the lake as well.  There were some chair down there and it would be a great place to sit and enjoy a book or some conversation with a beer and cigar.

See, Ridiculous!

Drawn in by some Adirondack furniture, we went into one store.  I think we went there years ago (this sense of deja vu was familiar and accurate).  Upstairs the smell of 6,000 candles just about made me want to pass out.  It was also Adirondack chic overload.  Great if you’re decorating a cabin.  Otherwise…. kinda tacky.  But downstairs I hit paydirt.  Hats and jackets to try on.  Don’t you love playing adult dress up?

Next stop- Adirondack Popcorn Company!  Love popcorn.  It is one of my favorite snacks.  It was interesting seeing all the old poppers, even some my family used to own.  We sampled some popcorn and learned of a great oil that has the butter flavor in it.  Delicious!  They even had some tin signs.  I nearly bought one for Fenway Park.  So tempting.  When I talked to her later, she said she started the store 2 1/2 years ago after losing her job.  Tough time to start a new business, especially retail.  But she says it has been going great and she’s having a blast.

We crossed the street to the Imagination Station and picked up something for our daughter.  They had some interesting notebooks.  One tracked your reading and looked very useful.  Another tracked your hikes.  But they were far more than I was interested in paying for such a notebook.  Besides, isn’t that what my blog is for?

While the women bought clothes at the Gap, we did what men do.  Without a handy TV that is.  We sat on a bench and waited.  And waited.  Soon my phone, which is typically useless in the Adirondacks, rang.  CavWife wanted our location since we did not announce our departure from the Gap.  It was now about time for lunch, our eagerly awaiting lunch.  I didn’t have breakfast (my new theory on weight gain has to do with breakfast).

Too big to fit in my big mouth!

We were unfamiliar with their beers so we ordered their sampler.  8 4 oz. glasses of their different offerings.  CavWife has no interest in such things, so that left 3 of us to partake.  The service at the GASS was a bit slow.  Our waitress, allergic to bee stings, may have been hiding for her life.  We got burgers.  Mine was the Franklin Falls Burger: bleu cheese, bacon and fried pickles topped the burger.  It was huge!  It was tasty!  It was filling!  It took months off my life expectancy!

The plates were expensive, but at least you didn’t leave hungry.  We narrowed our beer choice down to the Haystack Blonde Ale.  It had a great after taste and was a medium hopped beer.  The wheat’s just have too much yeast flavor for me.  When I tried the Abbey Ale, a Belgian ale, I momentarily became my friend Danny.  I could taste the hint of banana in it.

Full of beer and burgers, it was time to head back.  Sadly.  Fortunately we weren’t too full of beer.  We did some walking first, and had also drank water as we sampled the beer.  Probably less than a pint of beer for me, so no one was impaired.

While I’m not a big shopper, the trip was enjoyable.  I just wouldn’t do it every year or stay more than a few hours.  But it was good to have a break from parental responsibilities while enjoy time with J-9 and Dan.  Who knows where we’ll end up next year.