Monday, September 26, 2016

Road Trip: Day 3

Start: Watertown, NY
Finish: Montpelier, VT
Miles; 268
States: NY, VT

We managed to make it out of Watertown by 8:30 or so with the main destination being Olympic Village in Lake Placid, NY. The route to Lake Placid was 120 miles and included 100% back roads which were like driving a roller coaster through the forest.


For $35 each we bought what were called Olympic Sites Passports and they gave us access to pretty much everything in the area. The first stop at Lake Placid was the Olympic Ski Jump Complex and that was insane to say the least.

The 90 meter jump from the 120 meter jump
There were 2 ski jumps with the taller of the 2 being 120 meters and guess what, you could take the elevator up to the observation deck! Skiing down the ramp wouldn't be too bad but that big ass jump at the end had me thinking about cracking my skull in half. Nobody was training while we were there but it was still cool to go up top.


The 2nd stop of the day was the 1980 Olympic Museum and the rink where the Americans knocked off Mother Russia.

Still skating circles around people.
As you can see, I had my skates on deck ready to go but we were told the rink was closed for the day! Of all days a whole group of Jesus freaks had taken over the rink for some holy ghost convention. There was even a giant bowl of magical holy water there to bless (or repel evil) people when they entered.

Ugh.
As you probably have already guessed, Jesus wasn't going to stop me from stepping foot in the arena. I may have been the only person in there wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt but I made a couple of laps around taking in the history. I even walked on the ice (or plastic covering) and spent a minute sitting in a seat pretending the game was going on in front of me. A cool experience for a lifelong hockey fan even though some super cult church had taken the place over.

A goal from the game and Jim Craig's pads
Stop #3 was the Cloudsplitter gondola ride up the ski resort on Whiteface Mountain. Nothing too exciting happened here other than my mom freaking out every time the gondola rumbled over a tower.

The biggest vertical drop east of the Rocky Mts.

The ski resort doesn't quite make it to the top of the mountain but we would eventually get there after New Hotness STRUGGLED up the 5 mile, 2,300 foot climb. For the final 270 feet you could either take the elevator inside the mountain or hike up the path made from the rock taken out of the mountain for the elevator. I'll let you guess who did what.


The coast down the mountain did work for the gas mileage but I imagine my brake pads probably disintegrated in the process. The last 120 miles to Montpelier were pretty similar to the first 120 except for taking a ferry across Lake Champlain into Vermont. They also gave me a 50 cent piece as change when I paid for the ferry. Who does that?

I should really turn this black and white and put it on Facebook.
 Tomorrow: The windiest place in North America.

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