Olympic-ish Sized Adventure
18 June 2022
Today started off nice and slow. We didn’t even get out of bed until 10am. That’s what vacation is for, right?! It might have been because neither of us slept great again. The night before was too hot, last night we left the A/C on and it was too loud. Goldilocks scenario?? Eventually we crawled out of our slumber, heated up a few more orange rolls for breakfast, and got the day moving. The weather wasn’t going to be the best, so we looked for something a little more indoor focused to do. Since Lake Placid was the site of two Olympic Games, there are some Olympic training centers near by. We saw that Mt. Van Hoevenberg, just a few miles away had some interactive things to do, including a climbing wall. We brought our gear, so we decided to check it out!
It was a little chillier than I expected it to be this morning - a brisk 45 degrees! A big change from the rest of the trip, but a hoodie and my new King Arthur beanie was all I needed. We hopped in the car and took the 20-30 min drive to our destination. It really wasn’t all that busy, but maybe it’s because it was rainy or because it is summer and this is a winter sport training site. Either way, we asked about the climbing and bobsled experience and were directed to the ticket counter.
We signed our assumption of risk waivers and decided to get an hour of climbing and the bobsled experience. We bought our tickets just in time for the bobsled to make it before their hour lunch break. We were told to go upstairs, through the cafe and then follow the path to the black Suburbans waiting…..not ominous at all…but sure enough there were two black Suburbans waiting to take us to the start of the bobsled run.
We got up top and two dudes that’s may or may not like their jobs hopped up to smash some helmets on our heads. We got a few photos before we jumped in the bobsled and our driver explained a few of the rules. Keep your hands in at all times…something, something…. Since there’s no ice, our bobsled had wheels on it. But you do get moving pretty quick and we were horizontal on a few of the turns. It was basically Cool Runnings, without the chant, the ice, a real bobsled team, or any spectators, but otherwise it was exactly the same. Although it was very short, it was still a neat experience. I guess there are only two places to ride down a bobsled track in the US, so I guess you could say it was a big deal. Once we got down the hill, we snapped a photo on the podium and got inside. It was still a bit rainy.
We headed over to the climbing wall to see what it was all about. It was a lot smaller than we expected - about 6 routes of top rope/auto belay and a small bouldering area. But we got more than an hour of climbing in - even though we only paid for an hour. The staff was super cool about it and even let us do a lead climb without having to take a test. We definitely got our fill of climbing in for the day and enjoyed watching all the children take their turns at it too. I think the staff was also happy that we could belay ourselves instead of them having to do it for once. It has been a few weeks since we last hit the climbing gym at home, so at least we remembered how to do it all! We stopped at the cafe for a small snack before we left for “home”.
Once we exhausted ourselves with physical activity, it was clearly time for a nap. We got back to our place about 3:30ish and snoozed for a solid 3 hours. We eventually got rolling again and decided we should go out to dinner. The two options we looked at were within walking distance of our place, so out the door we went. The first place we walked into, was much more of a bar than we expected, and it was PACKED. Plus half the place looked at us when we walked in. I’m surprised the music didn’t come to a screeching halt and a tumbleweed blew by as we came in. We slowly backed out of the placed and moved onto option number two.
Option number two, Boathouse Pub, was a much better option. It was quiet, right on a lake, and relaxing. Our waiter, Owen, was very nice and we chatted him up a bit about living in Saranac Lake/Lake Placid. He’s only been here a year, but seems to like it and knows one Olympian - a Luger. We ordered some drinks - a tasty cider for me and a beer for Ross. He wanted some local beer, but they were out so he (foolishly) ordered a Molson Canadian, not realizing it was your standard cheap beer. Even Owen giggled a bit when he picked it, but all cans were $2.50, so how can you go wrong!? We settled on a spinach artichoke dip and a pasta dish for dinner, which worked out great for the two of us. Ross redeemed his beverage choice with a Guinness and we watched professional cornhole games on the TV near our table. Towards the end of dinner, Owen asked us for a good TripAdvisor review (which he says he doesn’t usually ask for) and the other waitress told us they get bonuses for positive reviews. He did a great job, so of course we did. I hopped on TripAdvisor and Ross went on Yelp. Thanks for the great service Owen! And that’s our Olympic-ish sized day!
Stats for the day:
Comments
Post a Comment