Lake Placid

This past weekend we travelled to Lake Placid, NY, for a little winter getaway.  We met up with Dave's cousin and his wife, and their 7 month old daughter.  They live near Ottawa so Lake Placid was a great meeting place.

We left Toronto on Thursday evening and drove to Kingston.  We picked a hotel with a swimming pool and slide, however the slide was closed.  It was kind of disappointing but E enjoyed the pool anyway.  We got back on the road early on Friday morning to head to the US.

When looking for Lake Placid family attractions, I had come across the Wild Centre in nearby Tupper Lake.  Tupper Lake is actually on the way to Lake Placid from the border crossing so we decided to stop in for a visit.  It is a really nice museum with nature based exhibits, and some outdoor hiking trails.

Happy to be out of the car

Pond exhibit 

Otters!

E's spider and my bird

This "Wild Walk" is just being built and will be open this spring.  We'd like to come back sometime to see this new feature of the museum.

We grabbed our sled and went for a walk.  They had snowshoes you could borrow but they weren't needed for the trails we were on.

Winter selfie!

Sliding down a few hills on the trail

After the museum we drove into Lake Placid where we checked into our accommodations. We stayed at The Haus.  Darren and Lindsay had stayed here before. It was really nice and right in the middle of town.  It's so nice to get an apartment when you're travelling with a few people.  We will definitely stay here again.  I think E thought that it was Darren and Lindsay's house because he asked "Where do they keep the toys?".  

First things first, time to get something to eat.  We walked down the street to The Cottage for some nachos and beer.  

Our view

We walked back to our hotel on the lake.  There was a skating trail cleared around the outside of the entire lake. 

Pulling E along the ice on his boots.  Next time we'll get some skates for him (and me). 

Because we had a mid-afternoon snack, we didn't head out for dinner until it was kind of late for the kids.  We had a beer at the restaurant across the street from our hotel while we tried waiting for a table.  It was taking awhile so we decided to just head home and order pizza.  The pizza was very tasty and it was much more comfortable at home.  After the kids went to bed (and I woke up again after reading to E), we played some cards.  Funny thing about the cards is that there were two sets of diamonds and two sets of spades, but no hearts or clubs.  So we just marked up the extra set for the missing suits and carried on.

The next morning the kids played for a bit and then we headed out for a walk on the lake.  By the way the lake in the town is called Mirror Lake, not Lake Placid, that's somewhere else. 

This guy and his "coffee" watching CBC (in the US!)

Lindsay and I spent a couple of hours at the Mirror Lake Inn Spa where we enjoyed the hot tub, steam room and massage.  Before supper we all walked around town and then ate at Smoke Signals.  Our waiter claimed that everything on the menu is the best food you'll ever have.  I'm not sure about that, but my ribs were very tasty.

On Sunday morning we went to High Falls Gorge for a little hike.  This is another place here that is amazing in the winter but you could tell would be even better in the summer.  They also had a bonfire where we roasted marshmallows - what a treat in the winter!  Before we got back on the road, we said good bye to our family and then headed to the base of Whiteface Mountain.  We didn't go skiing this year, but I would come back to ski this mountain, it looks pretty amazing.  

Relaxing in some Adirondack chairs

E called this opening in the ice a deer

E's not actually sleeping here, just resting.

I feel like we have just scratched the surface of Lake Placid.  I hope we can visit again.  We didn't even visit any of the Olympic sites this time.