Lake Placid Getaway

So I got to the Adirondacks...

After Geneva-on-the-Lake, the girls went home with their grandparents for a few days.  Jeff and I had one day at home for catching up on grown up responsibilities like laundry and work (and dinner at Coleman's, an awesome Irish bar/restaurant Jeff's been wanting to take me to) and then we took off to Lake Placid.

Lovely. Gorgeous.

Jeff pulled out all of the stops and booked us an amazing room at the High Peaks Resort. 

View from our room.  Easy to get used to:)

We got a great table at a restaurant on a romantic little patio right on Mirror Lake. At sunset. Don't hate us too much.

We lived in the lap of luxury in the evenings and ventured into the mountain wilderness by day. Jeff wanted to try a non-high peak hike before we did a high peak hike, so picked Ampersand Mountain.

We got up nice and early so we could get the hike in before the thundershowers predicted to come at a 70% chance at noon.  Love being the first and only people on the trail.

There's a reason we were.  None of the touted views from the summit were available as it was firmly in the clouds that morning.

We were a bit disappointed, but it was kind of fun and spooky.  Can you see me in this picture?  I'm there. You could easily lose sight of your partner, and the edges.

The rain rolled in as promised, but we were off the mountain as planned.  Before it really started pouring, we tried to take advantage of the free boat rentals our resort offered on Mirror Lake

The rest of the afternoon we drove around to the Olympic complexes and exploring a little.  We spent the rest of the day shopping around in Lake Placid.

The next day, we checked out and hoped we would be able to see something from the high peak we planned to climb. It was sunny on the ground, but the high mountain tops were stuck in the clouds.  The forecast assured us that all clouds would clear out by noon.

There are 46 high peaks (over 4,000 feet) in the Adirondacks.  I have a bee in my bonnet to get to every last one and join the ADK 46ers club.  Jeff is not so sure, as 21 of the summits are unmarked and are barely accessible, with trails not well kept up.  But he agreed to do what is supposed to be the easiest of them all.  And the one right next to it.

We could tell we were in the clouds as we hiked up.  It was really pretty, like something out of a Narnia movie.  But we were both really hoping for clear views.

At the first clearing we reached, the clouds were still pea soup.  Jeff suggested that we stop and eat a snack and wait to see if the clouds cleared.  As we sat there, it began to lift and we could start seeing parts of the valley. With new resolve, we went on to the top.

As we got there, the clouds literally started rolling back like a stage curtain, revealing the 360 degree panoramic views of Cascade's summit.

Jeff making the last push to the top. 

Clouds starting to roll out

Jeff at the summit of Cascade

I am not a good photographer.  I do not own a good camera.  And even if both those things weren't true, I could never convey the absolute beauty of those views. Plus there's something about standing up there yourself, feeling the wind whipping and the dizzying intoxication of being so high above most of the world, that cannot be captured by photos.  

We then hiked the ridge line over to Porter's summit a little over a mile away.  Might as well strike off 2 high peaks in one trip.

 View of Cascade from Porter's summit

Jeff and I at Porter's summit, and apparently some people reaching it just after we did. Obviously, there were people there when we got there.  This was not the secluded hike of the day before.

This is my favorite picture of the day, taken by Jeff.  This is a picture of Mt Marcy (far left), highest peak, and Mt. Algonquin (far right), the 2 highest Adirondack peaks, both over 5,000.  I will be at those summits someday, with or without Jeff.  I am going to blow this picture up and hang it in my family room as inspiration.

That's Giant Mountain in the background, (the summit of Porter is on the far left of this picture in the foreground, almost out of the frame) the one I want to climb next that I think the kids would love.  The hike sounds great.  Jeff thinks it sound dangerous.  We laugh in the face of danger, Jeff.

We just did that.  And so did other people's kids.  And this 84 year old man. We can up the ante.

The climb down is always longer than the climb up.  Kids get irritable and act tired when they are bored. So Jeff has a point. We decided that our kids could handle this hike, however.  Though it would be really difficult for me to agree to doing peaks over while I have 44 left to go....

This is Cascade from the road.  Jeff wanted to point out that this was, indeed, a mountain that we climbed.  Just in case I thought it wasn't.

It was a wonderful and memorable trip, lots of fun and time together. Thank you to our wonderful parents for taking such good care of our kids.


Hopefully, any boost this trip was to our marriage was not undone by the AWFUL trip we had to get the kids.  Stuck on I90 westbound in northern Ohio, or should I say an infernally hot parking lot, for almost 3 hours.

Behind us.  People back there got out a kite and started flying it.

Ahead of us. Kids were sitting on tops of cars trying to get trucks going the other way to honk.  People were remarkably pleasant and calm under the circumstances.  And we're all home safely.  A little exhausted, and not eager to take a trip to Ohio or anywhere else that direction any time soon.  Thankfully, my sister Kelly and her family are coming to us this next weekend!


But until then, back to reality....