L is for Lake Placid

Last week, my family and I went on a holiday to Lake Placid, NY. Looking out the car window the morning we arrived, a most delightful sight came to my eyes. The whole place was blanketed in a delicate (but very thick) layer of snow, and I thought to myself, what a wonderful world.


For those who don't know, Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympic games in both 1932 and 1980. The people in Lake Placid say that Lake Placid is 'The winter sport capital of the world' and I believe them. Not only does it have alpine sports facilities (such as skiing, snowboarding, etc.) but but it also has things like a 400m speed skating track and a bobsled run. If you ever go there, bobsledding is something that you absolutely must do. Here's why:


While you are in the waiting room, they show you videos of all the times people have fallen off their sleds and broken their arms and such. It's pretty scary. Eventually, they call your number and you go outside to be taken to the start of the run. You get there and they put a helmet on you. While waiting for the bobsled to arrive you see other people take off and disappear. Finally you go outside and seat yourself in the bobsled, holding on for dear life to the straps on the side. You suddenly see out of the corner of your eye someone pushing on the sled, then jumping in. You don't see much because you're clinging on to your mom's blue jacket. Boy do you feel it though. It feels as if your on a roller coaster but better. Without all those horrible drops. Instead it feels like you're going a hundred miles an hour and there's no certainty that you won't fly off the track (as was shown in one of the videos).


If you are someone who is attracted to pretty whiteness and views, Mt. Whiteface is the perfect place for you. With the peek over 3430 ft high, the mountain literally shines with beauty (the snow reflects the sun's rays making it look magical). When I was up there I would constantly stop to look and appreciate the grace of this Olympic mountain. All this beauty -- and the trails are fantastic too. There are many runs for beginners and experts and the intermediate alpine sporters.


The other thing I really enjoyed was skating on the long track. Speed skating feels very strange after you've been skiing the whole day, but still incredibly fun. Speed skating is where you skate really fast on skates that have really long blades. You also have to sit extremely low. I find it very relaxing, if you're not going 100 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the rink is running out of money to keep it refrigerated all the time. This means you can't go skating when its not below freezing, which is really sad.


I strongly recommend going to Lake Placid for it's beauty, elegance and general feeling of 'we can do this, this, this and that today' . You won't get bored very easily in this little town.


Life lesson:

Sometimes fun is worth an eight hour drive.