Feeling some cabin fever from the relentless cold and snowy winter, we took a refreshing break, with a show and a trip to Saranac Lake, to see the Winter Carnival. Nestled in the Adirondacks, Saranac is a beautiful spot.
Every year, they have a Winter Carnival, highlighted by the building of a huge ice castle. This year's theme was "Pirates of the Adirondacks", so besides the castle , the had a pirate ship made of ice. They cut huge blocks of ice from the lake, slide them to the site, and build the ice structures. They are lighted at night, and really beautiful!
After proudly reviewing Olivia's report card, with which we couldn't be more pleased, we started the weekend with a live show at Proctor's theater, a real old fashioned Victorian-era place in Schenectady, that has been meticulously restored to its turn-of-the century grandeur. We were accompanied by our friends Rick and Judy, their daughter Sara and her three children, Gil, Clara and Jens. Gil and Olivia are about the same age, and although Gil lives in Delaware, he and Olivia have become really good friends. We all had dinner at Red Robin, and then drove to Proctor's.
The show was "The Magic Tree House", adapted from the kids books by the same name. It was a really cute musical, and we had the extra treat of watching from a box seat high above the stage. We really enjoyed it!
The next morning, the Keller family (minus Emily the poodle, who was "vacationing" at Mimi and Poppy's) trundled up to the 'Daks. It took two hours, but the scenery was gorgeous, and inspiring!
We stayed in a nice motel with a heated pool, which we used several times. It was like bathwater, nice to be swimming and looking out picture windows at the snow and the mountains!
We ate lunch in a restaurant right across from the ice castle, with a beautiful view. We checked out the castle and the pirate ship. (At one point Olivia "lost" us in the maze). Then, it was on to the band-shell, to watch a silly frying-pan tossing contest, then a treasure hunt, with clues that had us exploring the town. All the locals were dressed as pirates, and racing around to be first to find the treasure. It was really fun to try to find the various clues, and move on to the next one, etc. Naturally, since we we not local, we "cheated" several times, and asked local people what the clues meant. They happily and conspiritorily shared their secrets. We didn't quite find the treasure, but we did get a lot of the clues, and had a blast exploring the cute little village in the process. It was a lot of walking, and Olivia was a real little trooper!
After a nice warm swim back at the hotel, we headed out to Lake Placid, (site of the Olympics), which is "down the road". We wandered around the town, which is also a beautiful and quaint Adirondack jewel. The weather cooperating by staying in the low 40s.
We got back to Saranac in time for the lighting of the ice castles, and a spectacular fireworks display. Olivia has decided she now loves fireworks. Up until now, she was not a fan!
Then it was dinner in a really nice Italian restaurant in Lake Placid. It brought back fond memories of our first trip to Lake Placid, ten years or so ago.
On Sunday morning, we had a nice breakfast and then another warm swim in the pool. We had the option of going tubing, and/or taking the toboggan slide, but the weather wasn't cooperating. (Windy and wet snow), so we headed back home. Naturally, Olivia was sad to leave. She really does love staying in a hotel, and being with us on trips. She did really well!
We're planning now on doing some other fun things, like skiing, both cross country (Tom and Andrea) and downhill (introducing Olivia to it). As long as we have the snow, we might as well find ways to enjoy it!
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