Today is Thursday, July 25th. I started to write a blog post while in Lake Placid but only wrote a few sentences before I remembered that I would need to download my DashCam and GoPro photos before I could get very far. So I downloaded the data cards to my MacBook but then got so busy I didn’t have time to write anything for the rest of the trip. I drove to Lake Placid on Wednesday, July 17th, and came home on Tuesday the 23rd. Last year I was only there from Thursday to Monday and between volunteering, cheering for Buffalo Triathlon Club friends, and doing my own training I had no “relaxation” time. I guess I’ll have to keep adding days to my trips each year until I have one day where I just lounge by the lake all day doing NOTHING but drinking coffee and reading my Kindle.
I started off the trip with a Coffee for me (and it was Camp day!) and some gas for Scrat (my Peace Vans micro campervan). I made the 340-mile journey in just under 6 hours from home to the campsite.
There was not much traffic on the Thruway and the sky got clearer as I traveled East.
Near Watertown is Fort Drum which is the home to the 10th Mountain Division of the Army. On the way back I saw a few dozen soldiers in camo rappelling down the tower.
A sure sign of being in central NY is the Stewarts Shops (like a 7-11 but with MUCH cleaner bathrooms).
This was the second year I stayed at the NY State Meadowbrook Campground. It was between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. Only a 10-minute drive into Lake Placid and convenient to the back way into town to avoid traffic and race day closures. It has no electrical hookups which is fine for me as Scrat has backup batteries to power the refrigerator, lights, etc. At $22 per night quite the bargain! There is a BBQ place next door, a brewpub across the street, and an ice cream stand next to that. Like all NY State Campgrounds, there are nice bathrooms and showers and it is very quiet at night as generators are not allowed after bedtime.
All the campsites have a picnic table and a fire pit.
After registering I drove right into town as I wanted to get in a swim. I had sprained my ankle during a bike crash (missed a turn and ended up on a steep grass downhill) a few days ago so I was not going to be doing any running but I could bike and wanted to do some long swims.
There were only a few other swimmers on Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake is a small lake that the village of Lake Placid borders (Lake Placid is a bigger lake just north of the village, it allows motor boats unlike Mirror Lake which is just for swimmers, kayakers, and SUPs).
I am planning to do a 10-kilometer swim later this summer on my own (as opposed to the races I did in Lake George in 2022 and Welland, Canada in 2023). After swimming I returned to my campsite and walked the 100 yards for dinner and live music. I had a great lobster roll.
I love this poster of the Lake Placid area.
The pictures are amazing. Don’t know how you do it. Sounds like a fantastic trip