Leapin' Labor Day!

As the summer winds down, my husband and I headed to Lake Placid, New York for the long weekend. Located in the High Peaks section of the Adirondack Mountains, Lake Placid was home to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games.

Mirror Lake

While most of the Northeast received a second round of late summer rain, Lake Placid greeted the long holiday weekend with overcast, but clearing skies. So, off we went to see some of the sights.

Beautiful Mirror Lake is adjacent to the village shopping strip. Just for kicks, we went into the bookstore on the main drag. "Let's see if they have my book," I said. Dave laughed. But looky what we found!!


Next, we headed to the ski jumps. A couple young men were practicing ski jumping off the 90 meter jump. Yes! Ski jumping in the summer! The mountain is fitted with specially designed wavy acrylic strips - they look a little like stiff green bristles on a broom. The strips are layered on the mountain - like a thatched roof - and sprayed with water to simulate snow. This video is really grainy, but you get an idea of the material on the mountain side.

Thinking this looked like a piece of cake, Dave and I headed up the elevator to the top of the 120 meter jump. Yikes! No doubt about it, it takes a special kind of person to strap skis on the bottom of his or her feet, point them down the hill, and let go. We took the elevator back down. Maybe we'll try the skis another day. . . NOT!

120 meter ski jump, the view from the top.

Village Comforts, unique fabrics and pottery

Of course, Lake Placid has a quilt shop, too. The weekend wouldn't be complete without buying a little (or a lot, in this case) fabric as a souvenir!

Lovely late summer flowers.

Once home, and back to the quilty tasks at hand, I set out for Moravia, New York, located at the southern tip of Owasco Lake in the Finger Lakes to do a presentation for the Piece Makers Guild. Great fun.


Did you know that Moravia has a historical claim to fame? Millard Filmore, 13th president of the United States was born there. I was informed that he was the first to install a bathtub in the White House. . . Who knew?

Scrappy travels to you!
Joan