NY & VT Trip Day #2
Monday, May 6, 2024
Today we drove from Plattsburgh to Lake Placid; site of the 1932 & 1980 Winter Olympics and as you will see from the upcoming photos, the famous Miracle on Ice!
Along the way we stopped to look at Ausable Chasm from the bridge on Route 9.
Next time we will take the tour of Ausable Chasm, but not enough time on this visit.
At the end of the day we stopped by again on our way back to the hotel and took the same photo with different lighting.
The view from the other side of the bridge looking down the Ausable River into the chasm.
Stopped at a little park in the town of Wilmington, NY and took these photos of the bridge and falls.
Entrance to the Whiteface Olympic Mountain downhill skiing complex.
The river through High Falls Gorge as seen from the entrance to Whiteface Mountain.
Next, we visited the John Brown family farm. John Brown was an abolitionist who is most famous for the raid at Harpers Ferry on October 16-18, 1859. His actions and those of his accomplices is thought to have been a prelude to the Civil War.
After the raid John Brown was captured, tried, and found guilty of treason and was hanged on December 2, 1859. His body was subsequently returned to his farm and he was buried by “the big rock” at his request. This is the final resting place for his sons as well as some other men involved in the raid.
The “big rock” by which Brown wanted to be buried and in the background is the family farmhouse.
Some additional views of the John Brown family farmstead.
In this image of the Brown farmhouse you can see the tower of the Olympic ski jump in the background. We will visit the ski jumping complex later in the day.
Next, we visited the site of one of the greatest moments ever in the history of USA Olympic competition; if not one of the greatest moments in all of sports. The 1980 Olympic Ice Hockey rink, where on February 22, 1980 the USA Olympic Hockey Team defeated the USSR by the score of 4-3. The US would go on to win the Gold Medal!
This is the actual scoreboard that hung above the rink showing the score as time ran out in the third period of that historic game. The scoreboard now hangs in the atrium of Herb Brooks Arena.
Painted on the wall across from the scoreboard is this most memorable of quotes as Al Michaels counted down the final seconds of the game against the soviets.
If you have never heard this call before, do yourself a favor and take a listen to the final moments of the game by clicking on this link!!
This is the rink from the 1932 Olympics and I played on this rink in youth hockey.
This photo is the view from the Olympic Rink overlooking the speed skating oval and the mountains beyond.
Church in downtown Lake Placid.
Looking across Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, NY.
We walked around Mirror Lake and this is the Mirror Lake Inn.
The view of downtown Lake Placid from across Mirror Lake.
The Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex. These are the 70 and 90 Meter ski jumping ramps and landing areas.
In addition to the two large jumps, there is also this hill where they perform the freestyle ski jumping.
Directly adjacent to the freestyle hill is this practice facility where they can do summer practice in freestyle by jumping into this 10 foot deep pool. We climbed the stairs on the right side of this photo and the next images are from the top of these ramps.
Looking down the ramp into the pool. It is a bit intimidating standing up here. The ramps are covered in a hard plastic material which allow them to ski down them without snow. You can appreciate this interesting surface in the foreground.
The freestyle hill and lodge from the practice ramps.
Leaving Lake Placid we stopped at Cascade Lake to take these photos. The views are spectacular.
Difficult to appreciate in this image, but Cascade Falls can be seen in the center of the photo.
