Lake Placid, NY

To get to Lake Placid we had to cross Lake Champlain via a ferry, so that was cool. We got to Lake Placid around dinner time on Friday and checked into what is probably the most expensive Best Western in the United States. Lake Placid is definitely an athlete town. Tons of hockey players were checking into our hotel when we were. (Did you know that there are actually decent looking ones out there?? Neither did I! Turns out they were high schoolers…guess they just haven’t played long enough to lose all their teeth?) We were right across the street from the Olympic Center, so that was cool. 

We had dinner at the Brown Dog Cafe, which came highly recommended and had good reviews online. We waited for a table by the window so we could eat overlooking Mirror Lake. It was beautiful, and the food was decent. We walked around the main street for awhile, found some Adirondack chairs and sat admiring the actual Adirondacks! It was a very pretty setting. Who knew the best sleep we’d ever get was at the Best Western?! Those black out curtains were amazing, and we slept in until 9, despite being right next to the busy road! After eating quite possibly the WORST continental breakfast I have ever eaten in my entire life, we walked across the street and took a guided tour of the Olympic Center. The tour was awesome. Sean was our tour guide, and knew so much history about Lake Placid and its history with the Olympics. We watched the last two minutes of the hockey game from the 1980 Olympics where the US beat the Russians in the qualifying round. Very cool. We saw some ice skating competition and the USA Jr. hockey team practicing. They take all the ice shavings from the rinks and dump them outside so they say there’s always snow in Lake Placid. Fun. We checked out of our hotel and drove to the ski jumps up the road. We took a ski lift to the base of the jumps, then an elevator to the top of the 120m jump. So high!! Amazing views from the top, though, and despite what Derrick feared, he didn’t fall to his death. We caught the beginning of an exhibition jump show with some aerialists, which was really cool. We wanted to stay and see more but we had to jet off to Saugerties for Kaylynn & Brook’s wedding reception!