Thursday, July 7, 2016 – The Adirondack Mountains lie within the Adirondack Park, and contain millions of acres of protected land. Representing the largest protected area in the contiguous United States, the Adirondack Mountains boast more than 2,000 miles of hiking trails, over 3,000 lakes and ponds, and 1,200 miles of rivers.
The Adirondack Mountains are more than 5,000,000 years old. The Adirondack Peaks can be anywhere from 1,200 feet tall to well over 5,000 feet tall, and the 46 tallest summits above 4,000 feet are called the High Peaks.
On Wednesday we drove around 150 miles of the park seeing as much as we could! We saw a lot of beautiful scenery along the way. One of my favorite sights to see is a creek with rocks in it and water rushing along. We saw a lot of that on today’s drive.
We first went to see Lake Placid where the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were held. We were able to walk through the Olympic Training Center on our own. A nice young man who is an Olympic Hockey player helped us find the ice skating rink. The ice rink is used for both hockey and ice skating. When we were there a youth hockey camp was in progress so we got to see a bit of that. Roy stood in the penalty box (where he sometimes actually belongs) and we enjoyed the coolness of the air coming off the ice. Here are some photos of the training center inside and out.
The 1980 ice rink
The town of Lake Placid
While around Lake Placid we found a McDonald’s advertising Lobster rolls so that’s where we stopped for lunch. Quite delicious for a fast food restaurant. Sure wish they offered this down south!
We drove by Whiteface Mountain, the fifth-highest mountain in the U.S. state of New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Stopped at the North Pole, which unlike the one in Colorado was not free for old folks so we didn’t stay and play, just looked.
On we went to Ausable Chasm which is known as the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks. A lovely bridge goes across the public part of the chasm so that’s where we viewed the amazing place. There is so much more that we didn’t pay to see. Mostly because it’s quite strenuous and it was already late in the day. I’d recommend this for anyone wanting to spend the day there who has lots of energy and strength. There is zip lining, tubing, rafting, wonderful walks through the chasm, etc.
The view from the right side of the bridge
The view from the left side of the bridge
On our way home we passed by something we’ve seen a couple of times already but finally stopped to find out about it. What you’ll see in the photos below are a series of little cows individual rooms I’ve never seen anything like it! We stopped and I talked to the man who owns the cows and he said the really young ones stay there until they are old enough to join the older cows. I loved this!
Another thing unusual that we’ve seen is numerous little water wells. At least every fourth house has a water well in the front yard. From little bitty ones to regular sizes ones. I found out that some of them are hiding the well pipe. It sure does look neat to see all of them as we’ve traveled.
That pretty well covers our journey around the Adirondacks. We found out that a week could be spent checking it out and still not see all of it.
Today, Thursday, we (actually Roy) drove to Cooperstown, NY for three nights. On Friday we will go to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a three story museum in Cooperstown. As much as the Chauvin family loves and follows baseball this is one stop we are really looking forward to. I anticipate a two part blog on that visit!!!
Ya’ll come back now ya’ hear!!
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Wacky Wonderful Wednesdays published on Wednesdays
Some Things I Learned About Dementia published randomly
BECAUSE HE LIVES 