New Millennium Motherhood: Winter wonderland

Apparently the silver lining of living in a place as serious about winter as Boston is that when you go someplace with single digit temps for vacation, you don't really notice the cold.

We went to Lake Placid last week for a short vacation of winter sports, eating, and sitting by the fire. Coincidentally, the day after I booked the hotel, I came across this article. We are so cool.

It was about a five hour drive from Boston through the most charming Vermont countryside. We wound through snow-covered valleys with white clapboard villages, and other than not finding any covered bridges, it could not have been more charming. Luckily, I checked the schedule of the ferry listed in our directions to find that the ferries aren't operating this time of year because Lake Champlain is frozen. It made the drive longer, but was quite something to see a lake so large completely frozen. There were lots of giant SUVs parked on the ice with little ice-fishing huts. I'm sure there are very lovely people who really enjoy ice-fishing, but I cannot imagine the appeal. Isn't fishing boring enough without being cold and having nothing to look at because you're in a little tiny tent hut thing?

When we arrived in LP, we headed over to catch the end of the Empire State winter games so Grace could see the figure skaters. It looks like a typical ice arena, right? It's actually the site of the 1980 miracle on ice. To my former hockey player husband, this was a big deal.

Pretty cool, no?

Overlooking the Olympic Oval. Can you find Henry?

Hanging out fireside at the hotel. It had a huge lobby fully of cozy tables and a huge fireplace. Some hotel lobbies are kind of forlorn, but this one was usually full of people reading, chatting, and drinking hot chocolate while watching the skaters on Mirror Lake.

We gave skiing another try at nearby Whiteface where the skiing events were held during the Olympics. It seemed like a pretty cool mountain, for the East anyway, but I wouldn't know since I spent the whole time on the Kids Kampus. They had a pretty great set-up with a separate lodge adjacent to the bunny slope. There was a magic carpet and a beginner chairlift and several wide, easy runs. The lodge was right at the bottom of the runs so we could see the skiers coming down, and it was very easy for Steve and me to switch off between kids. However, when it's zero degrees outside it's hard to get photos and hold Henry (can't really put him down outside when it's so cold). So, this shot of Grace and me on the lift is it.

Henry, patiently watching out the window.

There were some good moments and some very low moments. After a rather epic meltdown with Steve, Grace had lunch and then she and I headed back out. We found some cones that were set up for turning practice and I told her to make "pizza" (snowplow) turns around the cones. She just did it, no problem, no help. At the bottom, she took off her skis and carried them to the top again. She did this three times, waved at Steve and then headed over to the chairlift. As if an hour before she hadn't been sobbing in the middle of the run. SIGH. After that, she skied from the top of the lift to the bottom, on her own, making turns, twice. There was a brief interlude of attitude, but toward the bottom she said "you've been the leader the whole time. I want to be the leader!" Okay, then! And she led the way. I tried to get a video as I skied behind her, but of course my phone wasn't working. Oh well, live in the moment and all that.

While Henry was eating, Steve dashed out to take the gondola to the grown-up part of the mountain. He managed to catch part of the runs that were used for the men's downhill events. I tried to get in a few runs by myself, but it was too close to when the lifts closed to go out of the kids area, so I tried to hit the jumps... I was heading for the last jump, very end of the day, and a little kid snowplowed right in front of me so of course I had a slow down, lost all momentum and got no air. Steve pointed out it was the learner's area. I pointed out he got to do a black run. A mother's sacrifice. Grace better mention this when she skis in the Olympics.

Apres ski, we hit the pool and hot tub.

One of the best things about our hotel was that Grace and Steve could walk out the door to go ice skating. They clear a "trail" on the ice in addition to a hockey area. At below zero temps, Grace didn't last long, but Steve did manage to take the whole path. It seemed like a pretty fun way to exercise.

We spent the rest of our time checking out the local restaurants, reading, and relaxing (so to speak, our kids don't follow the conventional definition of the word).

Since it was -25 the morning we were leaving, we decided to add an hour to our drive (instead of more skating) and detour to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont.