Our little Bulldog had a new adventure when we left Robbie and John’s house. We were headed over to New York into the Adirondack Mountains. We were going to Schroon Lake and the best route took us over the ferry from Charlotte, Vermont to Essex, New York. So—-here we go!! Robbie’s address is ferry road so the ferry is literally about .2 mile from her driveway.
Here we are on the dock waiting for the ferry to arrive. They came every 30 minutes.
They put us front and center. We did not attach our car until we got to Essex to make it easier to load on the ferry. This is one beautiful lake with the Adirondack mountains in the background.
It did make for an unusual view from inside our little home. Talk about lake front property!
Our story about Schroon Lake will be my next post because I am not through taking pictures here BUT—-we took a ride up to Lake Placid, NY on Saturday and I had to share these pictures ASAP. We were so lucky on our day there. We had a function to attend here in Schroon lake at 5:30 and we did not even leave to drive the 50 miles to Lake Placid til about 11:00 am. Our time was short but, off we went.
Lake Placid is an Olympic training center all year long and has been for 100 years. On Saturdays and Wednesdays, the jumping venue is open to the public and demonstrations are given by the Olympians for the public to view. We did not even realize this until we went to the visitor’s center. Off we went to the training center at the Ski Jump slope.
The first demonstration was at the pool where they practice the aerial jumping. Just scroll slowly and watch this amazing jump!! To my untrained eye—it looks almost perfect. The trainer did say it was a well done jump.
I counted 3 flips and 1 complete twist in this dive. Pretty amazing. We were told that the skiers practice each jump in succession at least 1000 times before they advance to the next more difficult jump. I could not imagine climbing those stairs 1000 times in ski boots and carrying my skis!!
There were probably 30 skiers that did aerial jumps (including some youngsters in training) and then we moved to the ski jump slope. we could not resist going to the top to see how it really felt and looked.
To go up the 120 meter tower, it requires a ski lift ride to the top of the mountain where the ski tower is located.
On the ride up, it enabled us to get a better look at the artificial surface that these skiers land on. The slope is made of a plastic broom-like surface. When this surface is wet, we were told that it mimics snow perfectly for training purposes.
This is what it looks like up close.
At the top of the ski lift, we took a 27 story elevator ride to the top of the 120 meter tower, then 2 flights of steps to the starting platform. This picture was taken from the starting platform.
This is a picture of the Luge track several miles away taken from the top of the 120 meter tower.
The demonstration on Sat was off of the 90 meter tower adjacent to the 120 meter tower. We went down the elevator and watched from a viewing platform right at the end of the ramp. This was an AMAZING place to watch. Now get this—these skiers are going 60 MPH when they whizzed by us!!! It was a challenge to get these pictures but really fun.
The skiers have to climb 220+ steps (no elevator in the 90 meter tower) to reach the starting area.
On this next picture—notice the person standing on the starting platform of the 120 meter tower. You can barely see them. That is where we took our picture a few minutes before.
Scroll slowly and watch this skier!! Wow
60 MPH!!
Click on one of these pictures to enlarge it and try to imagine the view that this skier is experiencing. It makes my stomach flip.
Another jumper
I took these pictures from the bottom of the slope with my 500 mm lens for a different perspective.
Here are some 35 yr old relics from the 1980 Olympics
It was a really fun afternoon to say the least. Makes us want to go back and see more of the other events where training is going on. This town is apparently full of Olympic athletes that train year round. Also, there is a school here for these athletes.
My next post will explain all about Schroon Lake. Major changes to our plans took place there!! It may be a few days yet.
thompsonsonthego 
Glad there was NO eject button to push on the ferry trip. You certainly were front and center, as you said. You had another “great timing” experience in Lake Placid to be able to see the demonstrations that the Olympians put on. Super pictures, again!!! We’ve been to Lake Placid several times but have never seen any demonstrations. Those aerial jumpers certainly have courage and fortitude. How did you like that height, Richard??
LikeLike
It was an awesome experience to be right at the bottom of the ramp as these athletes whizzed by at 60 mph being propelled into the sky–literally!! I cannot imagine really doing that
LikeLike