Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Back to the Adirondacks

Nate, Hannah and I journeyed back to the Adirondacks again today, this time picking up two of Nate's friends, Justin and Jay, from Princeton and voyaging to Mount Ampersand. It was a good climb to the top, moderately difficult, but very energizing nonetheless. The top is completely devoid of trees, so the view at the top is tremendous. Justin decided that the Adirondack mountains provided a good backdrop for some photo stunts.

Victory! We arrived at the top of Mount Ampersand.

Justin engineered some pretty wild pictures.

This puddle was the canvas for Justin's modern art attempt.

We decided to go into the town of Lake Placid after we reached the bottom of the mountain. I did some quick shopping at the fast prompting of the men and then we went for a swim in the cool waters of Lake Placid.

As we headed out of town we chanced to see a sign on the Olympic Center that said, "5:15 Special Announcement/Welcome Governor Pataki". Looking at our watches and seeing that it was 5:13, we parked the car and ran with our wet clothes and half-tied shoes up the street following the governor and his entourage. We stood on the steps to the Olympic Center while Pataki discussed his memorable vacations to the Adirondacks and announced the dedication of millions of dollars of funding to the Lake Placid and White Face mountain region.

The governor appears in the Adirondacks.