Lake Placid

The Olympic games have always been a really big deal in our house. My parents have both always been athletic and enjoyed sporting events and they passed that on to their children. I am actually more likely to cry at a 22 year old kid unexpectedly winning a gold medal then any movie, no lie. I remember as far back as the Seoul Olympics in 88, but can tell you about many others that came before that thanks to many a Bud Greenspan marathons with my dad. Listening and watching as he takes you back to the important and exciting things that transpired in two weeks increments every four summers and winters. So when my Uncle Ted suggested we go check out Lake Placid home of both the 1932 and 1980 winter olympics, I immediately agreed. I have a special place in my heart for the 1980 olympics because I was born while they were happening, and my Gramp talks about watching the gold medal hockey game in the waiting room of the hospital while I was being born. Anyway, my uncle is part of the Adirondack luge club so he spends quite a bit of time in Lake Placid, so I got to see some things that the average tourist wouldn't get to. We started in the Olympic museum where we saw the first gold medal ever awarded during the winter olympics, and a variety of other olympic memorabilia including skates, bobsleds, hockey gear and torches from over the years. This was located right next to the outdoor skating ring where Erich Heiden won five gold medals in 1980, the most medals won at a winter olympics, I believe. Then we headed over to the arenas where I got to stand on the rink where sonja henie (sp?) won a gold medal in '32 and to see the rink where the "miracle on ice", one of my all time favorite olympic moments, happened in '80 (i've also officially seen the movie Miracle at least 100 times). We also got to check out the olympic training center, where the best hopes for upcoming olympic teams train. We peeked into one of the gyms where a few people were working out and all I could think was that even though I have no idea what sport they participated in I knew I was seeing people who were more dedicated to this dream then I have ever been to anything, it's enough to give you goose bumps. After that we headed to the bobsled/luge track where my Uncle spends his time sliding. We were lucky enough to be able to go up towards the top and walk the track. It was really cool to walk it with someone who has slid on it multiple times, my Uncle was able to explain to me as we walked the track some of the more technical pieces of the sport that the average person could never tell you. I also never realized how tall parts of the track were, at places I felt it was twice my height, yet you could still see marks from where different sleds had hit the top. It is also totally crazy to be standing where the best of the best have competed. It was an amazing day! Below are some pics of our Lake Placid adventure.
The actual first gold medal ever awarded at a winter olympics, on loan from the smithsonian

The goal and some of goalie Jim Craig's equipment from the 1980 gold medal winning hockey team

The home of the "Miracle on Ice" where the young American team pulled the mother of all upsets and took out the dominant Russian team to get to the gold medal game they eventually won against Finland.

This picture was taken in the ice rink and you can see the speed skating oval in the foreground, while if you look closely in the distance you can see the ski jumps to the right and the bobsled and luge track to the left.
Below is the start gate we started our walk down the track on.