It's only five hours away . . .want to go?

So a few weeks ago my Mom and I are sitting in our living room watching Miracle, about the 1980 USA hockey team. It is at the part when Herb Brooks is sitting on a bench outside watching ice skaters. My Mom comments that she has always wanted to go to Lake Placid, it is supposed to be beautiful. Then she asks how far is it? I was already looking it up on google maps as she spoke. It was only five hours away.

"Do you want to go?" I asked.

Before the movie was over we were in the car and on our way to Lake Placid. The trip up took us over the Throggs Neck Bridge, to the George Washington Bridge, through Jersey where we stopped for gas because it is 30 cents cheaper and they pump the gas in Jersey, to the NY Thruway where the speed limit is 65 and finally to the Adirondack region. It was like a race with time as we were trying to get to Lake Placid before it got to dark.

As we approached the mountains we watched the peaks disappearing up into the clouds and they were magnificent. Eventually we left the large highways for some smaller roads winding through the mountains. It was at this point where we started adding up the possible distractions to our little road trip. First there were the long drops at the side of the highway, then there were the curvy roads which brought more attention to the long drops, then there were the 'deer crossing signs' which brought more attention to the curvy roads since deer could appear around the corner and you wouldn't have room to swerve because of the long drops, next we added snow (enough that the ground was getting slightly coated) which would be fun in case you needed to stop short because a deer appeared around the corner of the curvy road while you swerved towards a large drop.

Then the deer did appear!

He materialized on the road, I swear, and he was huge. I saw him, processed him looked in my rear view mirror to make sure no one was right behind me and stopped in about .00002 of a second.  :-) Then the deer disappeared into the woods again. I'm not good at judging exact size and distance but he fell into the category of to big and to close for comfort :-) A few miles later we saw a sign warning about moose. I am sad and glad at the same time that we didn't see any moose.

We continued through the cute town of Keene, NY (home of the high peaks as it says on the welcome signs). Finally we came to the town of Lake Placid.

The town itself was bustling with people coming in and out of little stores and restaurants. As we drove we saw the buildings adorned with the Olympic Rings. We went down one street where the stores on one side lined the banks of Mirror Lake. We continued around to Lake Placid (planning to return to Mirror Lake).

The weather and the snow caused a neat effect on the mountains in the back ground. We then returned back to Mirror Lake.

I leaned around some bushes to try and get the picture of the lights reflecting off the water to show why it is called Mirror Lake.

Then we left Lake Placid and stopped at the Noon Mark Dinner for something to eat. The food was good and the home made pies (I had pecan and my Mom had blueberry) were amazing. Then we started the five hour drive home. Now in order to get home we selected a route which would not take us over the George Washington bridge because you pay the toll in one direction. So while we didn't pay leaving NY we would have to $12.00 to re-enter NY. So we ended up taking a route through the Catskills and around the Bronx to return to the Whitestone Bridge and back to Long Island. I can't wait to live some place where I don't have to pay 6-12 dollars just to leave/enter.

The trip was a fun drive with some really really beautiful views. I am certain we will go back some time as proper tourists (and probably with my sister) to enjoy all the sights and history.

And by the way hats off and three cheers for the coolest Mom ever. Who when I said "It's only five hours want to go?" said "yes!" And made this little adventure possible.