Gold Medal Day

Can't believe today was our last full day of vacation! We definitely made the most of it! And we finally were seeing some fall color (better late than never) so that was a bonus, too.

We started out heading to Lake Placid first, since that was only 45 minutes away from our hotel. It is such a teeny tiny town, I can't believe it won a bid to host the Olympics -- twice! We knew there was still a few things going in the Olympic village so we figured we check it out.

On the way there, we got pretty lucky. Remember when I said I was trying to get a picture of the dozens of Moose Crossing signs we've seen in the past week? Well we found out today the signs are there for a good reason. You never know when you will stumble upon one.

And we did! We just happened to be taking pictures downstream for here and when we were walking back to the car, a passing motorist yelled out, "Is the moose still there?" We're like, "What moose?!" So we checked around and finally got in the car and continued on our way. Just a few hundred yards up the road traffic was stopped. Heck, if traffic is stopped, I am jumping out with my camera!

This guy stood on the opposite side of the river, eating his lunch, oblivious to clicking cameras and "ooh"s and "ahhh"s. I felt like I struck gold. Ha.

We found more "gold" when we got to Lake Placid and toured the Olympic Center, which houses the ice rinks used in the 1932 winter games and the 1980 Olympics -- our favorite -- when we all remember the USA Hockey Team's "Miracle on Ice."

Here hubby stands on center ice where that historic game was played! Seriously! We both had goose bumps!

Here I am standing in the goal, where a few lucky pucks found their way in our victory over Russia and our later Gold Medal win. How coooool! We are of the age we remember that game clearly and it means so much to consider ourselves a part of it now. It was such a symbolic game to pull our nation together like one big family. I love that.

Speaking of family... what are the chances I'd run into someone I knew on this trip, let alone a relative? Well, also touring the Olympic Center today were two cousins on my dad's side -- Lee and Romelle -- who happened to be on a cross-country bus tour from the Twin Cities with N.Y. City their ultimate destination. Small, small world!

After our Lake Placid adventure, we swung by the North Pole. Heck, we might as well go everywhere on this vacation, right? There is a little town called North Pole, N.Y., that is smaller than my hometown. Most places were closed for the season, but shouldn't their toy-making season just be starting? Hmm.

From there we headed to Port Kent to catch our ferry across Lake Champlain back to Vermont. Now we're back in Burlington, packing up everything and getting to bed early. Somehow everything is gonna fit in those suitcases! I didn't get too much -- a few gifts and yes, this hoodie addict finally broke down today, on our last day to get a hooded sweatshirt.

Good thing it's chilly back in Wisconsin because I need to wear all the extra layers that won't fit in our luggage!