Last week, Rich and I headed to the Adirondacks with another couple to get out of the stifling hot city. Little did we know, we booked the trip during the time that Lake Placid, the town where we were staying, was hosting the Iron Man competition right next to our cottage (more on that in a sec). But that was just for the first day, so after that, we got to enjoy nature, peace and quiet. I thought I’d share snippets of our trip with you via a photo series.

To start, this view of Mirror Lake was a five minute walk from our place, so many mornings, evenings and afternoons were spent walking along, sitting by or swimming in it.  Such an immediate calming affect. However, it wasn’t this calm the first day we were there because this is where the Iron Man competition started. The 2 thousand some-odd competitors began the race with a 2 1/2 mile swim, then biked 112 miles, and finished with a full marathon (26.2 miles). And let me tell you, these roads are very steep. I don’t know how they did it, but it made me emotional watching people push themselves like that to reach a goal. The competition lasted from 5am to midnight, with a man (who I have to applaud for keeping up enthusiasm for that long) announcing over a loudspeaker, “YOU. ARE. AN. IRONMANNNNN!” each time someone crossed the finish line.

These tennis courts overlooked the lake, and Rich and I took full advantage of them to work on our game.

Rich and I hiked Mount Cascade on our second day of the trip, and it was pretty hard. It was steep, very rocky, and required to you to rock scramble (a light version of rock climbing) at certain points. But the views were worth it.

We also got facials (Rich’s first!) and revived our bodies by spending an afternoon in the sauna, whirlpool and pool at Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa (I wish we would have done this after the hike rather than before. LOL. What’s nice about this spa is that even if you just book one service, you get access to the entire spa for the entire day. I got a four layer facial, which freaked so many people out (in a good way) when I shared it on Instagram stories. It’s a standard facial with cleansing and extractions, but then it takes a twist! They put on four layers of thick masks that include amino acids, seaweed, and superfoods. It all hardens on your face, so when you pull it off, it’s like pulling off a plaster mask. I couldn’t help but think of that montage scene in Mrs. Doubtfire when Daniel’s brother is making him a face mask to transform him into Euphegenia Doubtfire herself. I wanted to screech, “Helllloooooooo!” when the aesthetician pulled off the mask. Rich enjoyed his facial, as well. And I’ve never seen his skin look so clear and glowy.

The 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, so there’s lots of memorabilia around the town. Here’s Rich sitting in a bobsled. 😂

I wore a lot of loose linen on the trip, and for the most part, both my girlfriend and I went makeup-free. I put a list of what I packed at the end of this post if you’re interested.

On our last day of the trip, we zip lined at a place called Experience Outdoors. It was really fun! I’d never been zip lining before. At the end, you repel backwards off a cliff, which was terrifying, but also empowering.

Most evenings while we were away, we cooked dinner on the grill at our cottage, but we also grabbed pizza at a place down the block. Not pictured (because I was trying to slow down on the social medias during this trip) is the most delicious fried chicken dish from Big Slide Brewery. It was served on a bed of cheesy grits with green apples and a little maple syrup. It was like eating fried chicken and cheesecake at the same time, which sounds weird, but it was insanely good.

For good measure, I’ll finish with a couple more shots of Mirror Lake. Such a beautiful place to visit!

WEEK IN LAKE PLACID: WHAT I PACKED