Lake Placid

Our next stop was the Adirondack Mountains in the state of New York, USA. We decided against the city of Toronto and the touristy Niagara Falls in favor of nature. So we crossed the border again, this time without any problems, and headed towards Lake Placid. There, we set up our tent for four days and enjoyed nature once again. Lake Placid hosted two Olympic Games, in 1932 and 1980. You can purchase an Olympic Pass here and visit all the sports facilities and the museum. They are of course a bit older and only partially in use, so they have seen better days. And in the summer, it looks different than in the winter with two meters of snow. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun, and a highlight was that we were allowed to run down the bobsled/luge/skeleton track. And it was the new one that will be used for World Cups and the World Championships in two years. And don't worry: the ice is not prepared until October 1st 😉.

The town itself is also very beautiful, but nowadays it wouldn't have a chance of hosting the Olympic Games again. But they are quite content with and make a living from what they had and have (the miracle on ice, when the United States amateur ice hockey team defeated the USSR and became Olympic champions, is still written on every other t-shirt here after all these years).

We also visited some animals, although not in the wild. We went to a private wildlife rescue station. They take care of wild animals that have been found injured and would not survive in the wild. There are wolves, coyotes, lots of birds of prey, and two 19-month-old bear cubs there. Silvia, a bald eagle, has been living there for seven years now.

Starting tomorrow, we will be back in civilization and take care of returning our camper to Germany. But we still have a few plans before we return to Germany as well.