Monday July 21st - last day of work. Such a crush to get everything done I wanted and needed to before leaving. It is unusual to have such a long vacation so soon after starting a new job (just coming on 4 months with Fosbel) - but this was set up a full year in advance. I trust the people I work with to do the right things while I am gone.
Tuesday July 21st - OFF WE GO! 6 hour drive to the Finger Lakes Region where we will spend the night in a bungalo. Turned out to be a very pleasant surprise there! Beautiful, clean, new stand-alone bungalo in Skanaeteles. Very cool little resort town. Had a great dinner at Pete's! Kids had a blast. Finger Lakes are beautiful. Wished we had more time - good place to go back to.
Wednesday July 22nd - 4 hour drive through the Adirondaks to Lake Placid. We arrive too early! House not ready - so we go out for pizza on a lakeside deck and then mill around town for a couple of hours until it is. Then we get to check in. WOW! Exceeds expectations! Simply fantastic - this is a once in a lifetime vacation for us to be sure!! :)
We spend the afternoon settling in and playing on our beach. Kids seem like they are going to LOVE it here. OK - the adults too!! I swim from our house to the Ironman swim course and do about 0.75 miles to get a feel for the lake. Dinner is take-out from our favorite place last time - Mykonos - Delicious Greek food!
Thursday July 23rd - Day starts with a 1.2 mile warm-up swim at the Ironman race course. I meet Brian Simpson (a Facebook friend) for the first time in person. Very nice guy. We swim the course and have a good visit. I bike the marathon course to check it out and remind myself of the nasty hills that we have to deal with at miles 10 and 23. It is a beautiful day! I also encounter some Olympic biathletes doing their road ski work along Riverside. Cool to know so many top caliber athletes live and train in this very town. What a lifestyle!
Family-wise - while I was doing Ironman stuff for the day - including registration - Amy and the kids walked into town.
Dinner was at the Lake Placid Brewery. WOW! Excellent BBQ - and Amy got SMASHED on their beers there... especially the UBU! We walked around town afterwards and enjoyed a very nice evening!
Friday - July 24th - lazy morning at the lake house. The off to do the 5 mile descent into Keene with a small group of others. Nice to practice that long and fast descent with others, and with drivers waiting at the bottom of the mountain pass to take us back up for another go! After 3 good runs down the hill - I drove the rest of the bike course to get reacquainted with it. Beautiful - and with a mean streak! What does downhill, must go up, and the last 6 miles of the bike loop are all uphill through the Whiteface notch to Lake Placid. Quite a lot of eleveation to gain over those miles. Long and grinding - this is the challenge of the race.
Amy and the kids went into town again this morning while I was preparing for the race. They did some shopping - and discovered the "Creperie" - a place that was visited not once, not twice, but THREE times that DAY! Good stuff!
Andy and I had a nice afternoon together while Amy and Tommy were napping. Took a nice walk and went into town together. A Luna Moth was found along the way to town... what a cool looking creature! Stayed there all day - apparently they only fly at night!
For dinner, we went to "The Cottage" for some killer Lakefront dinner. Then starte to walk around town when a downpour hit - we got totally soaked and laughed all the way! Our 3rd stop at the Creperie for the day - mmmmmm... Nutella - Banana crepe for desert! YUM!!
