Week 2: Support Small Town Movie Theaters
So let me not bury the lead here.
The comprehensive tick test came back negative for all 30 possible diseases that could have been transmitted. Now I feel really really really bad about squashing the thing before I mailed it. He was alive in the baggie and I was afraid he’d find his way out of the envelope somehow, possibly infect a mail carrier somewhere along the way, and never make it to the lab for my peace of mind test, so I gently pressed on the bag with my phone near his leg area to try to kill him softly. He kept wriggling, so after a few more tries I had to lift the phone and just hammer it down gently, then a little less gently, until eventually he was smushed more than I would have cared for and my red blood that he had been stealing from me squashed out everywhere (gross).
Great news obviously about the test results. Me and my poison ivy are moving on, now that we know that thing on my leg is not Lyme related. Again, I remind you, do not pee in the woods.
Day 8: I checked out of my hotel in Lake George and continued my trek north through the Adirondacks on some scenic country roads to my next destination, Lake Placid, home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic winter games. I picked up some locally made peanut butter along the way at a cute general store. I grabbed a container to give it a try because honestly, I haven’t found any healthy Skippy alternatives from Whole Foods that I can stomach. This “Adirondack Jack” mix of peanut and almond butter turns out to be very good on top of bananas. They sell it online if you are interested in checking it out: Saratoga Peanut Butter
Day 9, 10, 11: A friend from Montreal drove down to hang out for a couple of days. We went sightseeing around Lake Placid and Lake Saranac and hit the Olympic sites so we could see all the apparatus’s those crazy people jump and flip and slide from at 100 miles an hour on skis, skates, and sleds. The museum was a cool experience, more so than I expected. It gave me a respect for all that goes into putting on the games every four years, including designing new clothing, medals, and torches to incorporate the flavor of the host city. The story of Miracle on Ice (when the US Men's Hockey Team unexpectedly won gold in the 80’s) is everywhere around Lake Placid and seeing it all in the museum, including the rink they played in, was awesome. If you have not seen the movie Miracle, you must. It is one of the best sports stories of all time and one of the best sports movies of all time. Second maybe only to Hoosiers. Remember the Titans is up there too. Watch all those.
Regarding movies. Let’s keep talking.
When I was little I used to love to go to the movies. One of my childhood friends and I would frequently go on weekends with her mom and sister. Sometimes we’d spend all day there and pop in and out of multiple theaters in the megaplex, or stay and watch the same movie a second time. Every visit we would get popcorn and Goobers (chocolate covered peanuts) and that habit has stayed with me since. To this day, every single time I go to the movies I get (or try to get) Goobers and popcorn. It’s part of the experience. Some big box chain theaters don’t sell Goobers anymore, which really annoys me, and their popcorn now has something they call butter on it, that definitely isn’t butter. This is one of the many reasons I love to go to small town independent theaters these days – the chance of Goobers and good butter is higher and I love the overall ambiance, the movie is just a bonus.
Lake Placid has one of those awesome old-fashioned theaters on Main Street that has the full spectrum of traditional movie theater candy (yes!) and great popcorn. I paid $5 to see Ryan Gosling on screen for over 2 hours (highlight of the week, he’s so dreamy). Project Hail Mary was a good movie, getting to look at Ryan Gosling for 90% of the screen time while eating Goobers and popcorn made it an amazing movie.
Day 12, 13, 14:
Found an awesome studio to get in some pilates, I loved the teachers and the students, if I lived in Lake Placid I would go here all the time, they are amazing and interesting women (The Studio Upstate - Pilates, Aerial, Dance, Yoga - Lake Placid, NY). Unfortunately, I missed the pole dancing class that was offered earlier in the week. Ugh! Next time. Not JK. I’m out here to try new things and be inspired - I would have tried that! I had to settle for a vertical barre class, which was basically pilates standing up, while holding onto a stripper pole. I loved it.
Started each day at my favorite coffee shop (Capisce Coffee – the owner coincidentally was in one of my exercise classes, the one where we got to use the pole!), then basically drove in and around the lakes, rivers, waterfalls of the entire 6 million acres of Adirondack State Park to take pictures, shop, walk around, do whatever I felt like. It was so peaceful. On one of my drives I hardly saw a car or person and wondered what would happen if my car broke down. I honestly wasn't worried about anything safety wise, I was prepared, I knew I would be fine. My biggest fear was that if I got stuck waiting for someone to come by and help, maybe an hour or so, where would I pee if I had to go? I stopped drinking water before my excursions.
During this week in Lake Placid I experienced all the seasons. The first few days it was rainy spring weather, the next couple of days total summer sunshine, on the final day it snowed and went through the cycle of all four seasons, twice in the same day. I have heard people say “if you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute.” I grew up in New England, but this is the first time I truly understood what that meant. Every hour was different here. It made for some amazing photos that you will see someday on my website and it will look like I spent all year here….
Thoughts from the week:
Don’t kill bugs. Put them outside and let them carry on. They are likely harmless and are part of the ecosystem. (Look how far I’ve come!)
Support small town independent movie theaters. Keep them alive for all of us.
Try something new. It’s inspiring somehow.
Favorite pictures from the week:
“Necessities” – This is me checking out of the Courtyard Marriott in Lake George where I stayed my first 3 nights in the Adirondacks. I thought you’d like to see how I travel, no judgement! This is everything I need in my room for 3 days to be comfortable, plus anything I feel is not replaceable that I don’t want to leave it in my car overnight. I have an equal amount of stuff still IN my car that stays there overnight. What would you bring if you went away for seven months? We all know people that could do this with a backpack and people that would bring twice as much as I have (you are on this email and you know who you are).
“Lake Placid Lake” – I love this picture of the actual Lake Placid on a rainy day (spring is here!). The main street in the village of Lake Placid is on Mirror Lake; you can walk the full 2+miles around Mirror Lake, if you do, you will see Lake Placid half-way around, they are right next to each other. Funny thing that the town is called Lake Placid when it sits on Mirror Lake.
“Hulls Falls” – Loved driving around checking out the waterfalls, there are so many. This is “summer” the day before I left, the waters in the rivers were raging everywhere with the melted snow. The next day it was winter again and the trees were covered with a beautiful sheet of white.
“Questions” – Driving by this got me thinking and it wouldn’t leave my mind for miles. I had so many questions. What’s going on here? How does this happen? How long did it take for this to look like this? Does the person who owns this know this is happening or have they moved away or died? What are their plans here? What’s the next move? Would this disintegrate after a certain number of years if you continue to ignore it? What lives in there? How much could someone pay you to walk in there? How about to sleep in there for a night? What’s your number?
“Neighbor” – loved having my visitor, we each had a floor of the lodge basically, the building in the middle of this photo. It was so fun to have a neighbor and walk upstairs to hang out. Loved this former motel turned luxury lodge, they had a camp fire and smores every night and I took advantage of it.
“Thank You” – no need to explain this one further.
“Love Period” - On my last day in the Adirondacks I was driving far north in the Paul Smith area and noticed there were multiple houses displaying a single red heart. One was tacked to a tree at the end of a property line, another in a picture window of the main house, and this one on a wooden sign at the end of a driveway. I am not sure what the symbolism is in the community, they are clearly there for a reason, people are saying they are part of something, that they stand for something, that they believe in something shared. I don’t need to know more, I get it enough. It’s just Love. Period. Another fitting way to end a week. Sending you all Love from the road. Period.
