An interesting ANZAC Day Lake Placid to Gravenhurst

Our Easter New York State sojourn was coming to a close and being aware of the distance we had to travel we needed a fairly early start. We were also appreciative of the fact that it is unlikely that we'll be back in the future so we took the time to enjoy the view.....                                                          SIMPLY STUNNING!!!!!!

As well as enjoying the view we were enjoying the buffet breakfast which wasn't really busy and this time there wasn't even a waitress so we had a 50 seat balcony restuarant to ourselves. The joys of the off season!

There were some other Lake Placid places that were in our sights and we headed to the venues for the Ski Jumps and Arials and for the Bobsled/Luge/Skeleton. Luckily for me and any who know me there was no snow or ice to be seen because I was feeling adventurous, lol. When I saw both these venues the thought came into my mind that the people who compete in these sports must be crazy or maybe "a few bricks short of a full pallet".

 

 As I said all I really needed was the snow and the ice and the balance and the courage.....














As time was flying by we gave Mrs Garmin her head and hit "head home" which started out just fine. We went back through Lake Placid and Saranac Lake and rejoined Highway 30 and as the country became more dominated by farms and villages. We thought Mrs G was right back to her best.

There was a slight hiccough when we came to the border. It was OK to cross but the Canadian border guard said that the direction we were heading was not going to be the shortest nor quickest way to Gravenhurst. So we took his suggestion did a U turn and headed back across the border. And altered Mrs Garmin's settings to allow tolls!!!








This time it was a much easier (and quicker) entry into the USA and we headed west through Akwesne Mowhawk country http://www.akwesasne.ca/index.html and crossed the border again at Cornwall. The leadup to the border this time was dominated by cheap gas and cheap tobacco stores. We bought the gas but didn't take advantage of the cigarettes.

Once over the border we realised just how long the trip was going to take. But the farms, forests and scenery were certainly nice and we marked down quite a few places for weekend trips.

 



And the sunset topped off what had been a great 4 days of Easter and ANZAC day......



To a Placid Lake

Up early and ready for an Easter buffet breakfast at Little Falls. A very nice breakfast but what really made it better was the most enthusiastic waitress I can remember.  She was chatty, happy, funny and as a local Little Falls girl very knowledgeable. But it wasn't all that busy!!!

After our early start and eating reasonbly quickly we took the time to have a quick look around Little Falls.  http://www.littlefallsny.com/ The centre of Little Falls is really nice and in good condition and it looks as though people have got quite a lot of pride in their town. But if you have a place on the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River that looks like this who wouldn't???

For a relatively small town it has what I am sure will be even better when most of these buildings as renovated and full of people.

While it would have been nice to stay around and enjoy Little Falls we were expecting another long day and with that in mind we headed out towards Dolgeville. As we were trying to avoid the major highways we waited until we were there before we put the address of the The Summit Hotel, Lake Placid into Mrs Garmin. She was on her best behaviour and for much of the way she took us along the picturesque Adirondack Trail http://www.nyroute30.com/ The plan worked, and we had a great drive through rural roads on our way to the Host City for the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid.

The Adirondack Mountains  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Mountains are not all that tall, with the highest peak being Mount Marcy (1629m, 5344 ft), but they are certainly scenic with many interesting little towns and hundreds of lakes and streams along the drive. 

Amongst the most scenic day's driving I can remember but there were some surprises....

But then again some things remain the same.......

No she didn't race back to the car and get her swimming gear and neither did I!!!!!

About 20 minutes  later we arrived at Lake Placid. Whoever named the place WAS RIGHT!! This is a very placid place. Not only is it the host city of two Olympics but it is in a magnificent setting, and even though the end of the ski season in most resorts leaves tham looking tired this place still seems vibrant!

Earlier I said that the Adirondacks weren't exactly lofty peaks but they do get a lot of snow http://www.whiteface.com/mountain/index.php and the venue for the Alpine Events Whiteface sure sounds good to me http://www.whiteface.com/winter10_11.php 

As Lake Placid has been the host of 2 Winter Olympics and many of the "in town" are still in use including the Hockey Rink which was the site of the "Miracle on Ice" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice The arena is by modern (NHL) standards fairly small but is very nice and very much in use.

As nice as the Hockey rink looks I  don't think Eric Heiden would be quite as unbeatable on this surface but then again he was very, very good. The museum that is a part of the centre is great and with us travelling at this time of the year there were very few people here. We went onto and tried to look at the U.S. Winter Olympic Training facility but they may have heard that we were going to try and steal their secrets so they wouldn't allow us any access to the athletes or coaches.

We then came on something that was unexpected, a roadsign to John Brown's farm and grave. I only the old song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jso1YRQnpCI  but not a lot about John Brownso what does one do. Google of course and what comes up first http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist) good old Wikipedia!!! Fascinating story and one of the last things I expected was to be standing in front of the Grave and looking at the statue! This sure is an interesting country!!!

 

It had been a long day and we were starting to realise that it had been some time since we had eaten so we looked at our options. Many were offering good deals and one that we thought long and hard about was Jimmy's 21. Heard that they had gggggreat ffffffood but

We ate at the  Players Sports Bar and Grill which was straight across from our hotel  http://www.frommers.com/destinations/northernadirondacks/D53424.html

The food was more than OK, Smoked salmon sandwich for $6.95, value and even better value when you add a beer for $2.00.

AND THE VIEW WAS UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

Cornell to Cooperstown

Slept very well. Maybe it was last night's great meal. Maybe it was a full, long day. Maybe it was just that I am really content being a tourist. Whatever it was I wasn't awake until after 7am and not up until 8 am! Wow!!!

Ithaca is an University town and we started the day, after we had eaten a nice breakfast, by going for a drive around Cornell University http://www.cornell.edu/visiting/ithaca/ What a great looking place to study. Even the drive up there was interesting, though it looked like an Eurobodalla Shire road in places

But I guess it's acceptable when the town was settled by Europeans in 1789 and this road is leading to the University which was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell as a co-educational institution. Cornell, which has around 20,000 students, looks just like you would expect an Ivy League University to.

And as nice as that the built environment looks, you drive about 400 metres and you find

  

This is a really nice place........ but we had a long way to go today.

As we were leaving Ithaca we happened on a great place that anyone who enjoys apples should visit  http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/cals/hort/about/about_orchards.cfm We walked away with 5 different types of that we had never tasted as well as a bottle of Maple Mustard. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

We and Mrs Garmin decided we need to have an interesting drive and apart from about 20 minutes on a 4 lane highway the day was spent on rural roads where we saw some of the best farmland and some most interesting displays...........................

 It was Easter after all!!! 

It wasn't a long drive in distance travelled but the nature of the roads made it slow going and there were reasons for driving slowly. It's not often you have to out look for....

 As some may be aware both Julie and I have a great love of sports our next stop was at a small town in New York State called Cooperstown http://www.thisiscooperstown.com/. Cooperstown with a population of around 2000 and one traffic light isn't the reason why we and many others choose to visit this town. You see, Cooperstown is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and as sports lovers we wanted to see this shrine to one of America's favourite sports.

We didn't have the time to fully appreciate the National Baseball Hall of Fame http://baseballhall.org/ It is fabulous in the way it chronicles the history of Baseball. The displays show all of the sport's great stars and great moments as well as giving easy to absorb information. But, Baseball like Cricket, is a sport that thrives on facts and figures and while we didn't have enough time to fully explore them it was fun to try.

From Cooperstown it was a 30 minute drive to our destination for the night, Litttle Falls.. 

We're on the road again

It's Easter. So what does that mean?

No not Essendon v Collingwood at the G. And not even chocolates. Or not even an enormously significant date in the Christian calendar. It is all of those, but it also means a 4 day break for most schoolteachers and luckily for the schoolteacher and that guy who just won't go away it means more time to travel.

But first there was the small matter of the Muskoka Beechgrove Public School production of Cinderella Kids. Now with Mrs Frost's expertise, was she playing the piano or coaching the choir or doing crowd control. NO WAY!!! So what was she doing? She was listed as a Sound Technition but to me that was a Roadie. 

If I had that position I would have had got a few (fake) tatts, wouldn't have washed for a week, put a packet of smokes in each sleeve a lit one in my mouth, worn all black and done the job properly!!!But in all honesty the people who put the show together and all the actors were fabulous. And you've gotta love the coach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With Cinderella living "happily ever after" and stepfamily sorted out we lept aboard the CuRVy and headed south towards the United States border. Our friends Francesca and Ken had offered us the chance to sttay at their place that is only 40 minutes from the border which was very generous, however it did mean that we were driving until 11pm. Wasn't helped by us writing out the wrong number in their address but with quick call after we recharged we were safely in bed by 11.30pm.

Up at 5.45 and got to the border by 6am and then the fun began and everything slowed down. To say the system is slow is an understatement but after waiting an hour and grumbling (under our breath) we were safely on our way after only being there an hour!!!

After we had our fun at the border we headed into Lewiston New York and filled the CuRVy with go juice (petrol, gas) and filled us with food and coffee and headed off on roads less travelled (i.e. no main highways) and had the opportunity to see some wonderful houses in what appeared to be affluent areas.

On the way we managed to cross the Erie Canal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hvomfb1SJ8

 

It was interesting. The closer you got to the centre of the town the better the housing was and it didn't take too long to find something like this. But I am sure that is more due to the change from a farming based community. This is something you see in Australia where small towns and viable farmland is becoming less secure. That's enough of the philosophy. 

We travelled further towards our destination for the night, Ithaca which is the home of among other things Cornell University. On our way we went through many beautiful towns including Geneva which has a stunning set of buildings that in the most part are single family residences. 

And then we started to pass signs that forced us to go to http://www.senecalakewine.com/jc/ Oh well it had to happen and it had been a while since we had tasted any wine so it was necessary to find ourselves in places like this

Of course the wine was very good and of course we did have to buy a couple of bottles which was fairly normal. You may be able to see in the second photograph we were looking over Seneca Lake which is the deepest of the five Finger Lakes. And you may also see I was able to wear my hat of choice. Go Saints Go!!!

From there it was into Ithaca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca,_New_York our destination for the night.

Dinner was at http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/

Wow what a restuarant! No bookings allowed full of happy people every night and up to 30 people prepared to wait!!!