Sleds and Pontoons

Main dining room at lodge

One of two huge fireplaces in dining room

After our breakfast at the Lodge we loaded the truck for a trip out to the Olympic Sports Complex just outside of Lake Placid.  The primary reason for our trip was to see the Olympic bobsled track.  If we'd been here on the weekend we could have done a bobsled ride on the actual course.  They outfit the sleds with wheels and drive over a dry course to simulate what a real ride is like...but we just have to settle for words and videos.

Starting point at halfway point on course

We joined one other couple from Wisconsin (he'd been a minor league ski jumper in his youth doing at most a 60 meter jump) for a tour of the facility.  Our guide was knowledgeable about the sport and the history of the bobsled course and its operation.  The entire course runs about a mile with sleds reaching speed of 90 MPH and the drivers pull up to 7 G's on the trip down. 

Bobsled course

Upper section of bobsled course

A worker in the gift shop told me he'd ridden a sled down once and swore he'd NEVER do it again...claiming it was a violent experience and the shaking affected his brain for days afterwards. The course is still used every year for World Cup events and there were folks preparing the course now for its winter icing.  When fully prepped, the refrigerated concrete track is covered with 3" of solid ice and the entire course is covered over with a fabric top to minimize the sunlight, rain and debris from contaminating the course.  The course is an amazing thing to see and we enjoyed the experience.

Trying out for the team

Just need their helmets

We left the bobsled course and headed back to the Lodge to pick up our box lunches.  On the way we passed by the ski jumps again...what an amazing sight.

Where crazy people go.

At noon we arrived at the boat rental place and loaded onto our rental pontoon boat.  For the next two hours we slowly toured around Lake Placid ooh'ing and aah'ing over the incredible summer homes (the locals refer to them as "camps") along the lake.  We learned that Lake Placid totally freezes over most winters, enough ice to support pickup trucks and snow mobiles.

Following the boat ride, the girls dropped off in town for a couple hours of shopping, while KC and I returned to the Lodge to recharge our battery packs.  I did a study of next weeks weather and did not like what I found...temps into the high 80's followed by days of rain.  There is a fair chance that the motorcycle portion of this trip could get significantly changed.  More to follow.

Lake Placid Lodge...Maggies Pub is on far left patio

Dinner tonight was at Maggie's Pub at The Lake Placid Lodge...an historic lodge on Lake Placid.  The lodge offers guest lodging for those who are particularly well heeled with rooms that run from $700-2,500 a night.  Way past my pain threshold.  Maggie's Pub is the Lodge's casual dining spot, but offers diners a fantastic view of the lake and Whiteface Mountain. 

Sherry befriended a couple of older women who sat next to us at dinner drinking martini's.  One of the women, a French Canadian from Montreal, loved Sherry's home made necklace and so Sherry gave it to her.  You'd have thought she'd been given the Hope Diamond.  Friends for life.  In fact, Sherry got a lovely thank you note from her via email when she returned home.

The woman on the left is Margo Fish, an 89 year old widow who's summered at her Camp Tapawingo on Lake Placid, five "camps" down from The Lake Placid Lodge, for decades.  She and her husband, deceased 16 years ago while jogging at the lake, built their camp themselves over many years.  Margo, an ordained minister, was born in South Africa, lived in a NYC brownstone and, along with her husband, taught at Harvard.  She's known as a local philanthropist and is a certifiable one-of-a-kind individual.  From her table she leaned across to KC and, in the sing-song voice of an elderly angel asked, "Do you embrace technology?".  That had Harvard professor written all over it.

KC and I both ordered Lobster Rolls for dinner (Meh...) and he dropped a piece of lobster on the floor.  He offered the lobster to Margo's dog ("McCloud") who was seated at a chair at Margo's table.  McCloud sniffed the lobster and turned away.  Margo said, "Huh, if he won't eat it I will" and she popped the lobster straight into her mouth.  Later that night as we said our goodbyes. Margo pulled KC into her and gave him a big kiss on the lips.  KC said he gagged at the thought of kissing the 90 year old lips that had just processed the lobster that had been on the floor and sniffed by McCloud. You'd better have your lunch mostly digested before you really process that.