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Post 10 of 17


Day 23: Quebec City to Lake Placid, New York, USA - 335 Miles


I originally had Montreal as an overnight stop, then we'd buzz over to Ottawa and drop straight down into New York. But then I thought, yeah, it would be cool, but do I want to subject myself to a city of nearly 2 million people with a surrounding metro area of over 4 million? And it would need at least 2 nights. The natural habitat for me and my cars is in the mountains and I'd never been to the Adirondacks. So Montreal became a drive-thru and I rebooked that night for Lake Placid.

I'd been to Montreal as a 12 year old, so I don't remember much. We could drop by Olympic Stadium, hit downtown and scoot south to the frontier. Easy. We're 3 hours away this morning.

We put Quebec City in our rear view mirror and lazily wind our way down Hwy 138 along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. It's really wide through here.


It is farm land all the way to the outskirts of Montreal. Then, just like that....city. Gobs of cars and traffic. Construction everywhere. We crawl and crawl. Downtown has been taken off the menu. We finally get to Olympic Park, but it has taken 4.5 hours instead of 3 and it is 1:30 already.

A quick look around and we're off again.








I wanted to drive onto the islands where Expo '67 was held, maybe see the F1 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and possibly Habitat 67. Alas, it was taking forever and we just decided to find the fastest way south. Buh, bye Montreal.

We reach the New York border, just 50 miles away, and cross on Hwy 11 at Rouses Point. It only took 2 hours to get there.


We take Hwy 2 east and cross back into Vermont onto the upper islands of Lake Champlain. Then down to Burlington, VT. A quick peek at the University of Vermont, then loop through downtown, mired in traffic due to rush hour and multiple city blocks and streets closed down to a massive construction project. Nuts.

No matter. We have to get on down to the Charlotte Ferry Dock to catch the 5:00 ferry back across Lake Champlain to Essex, NY, instead of driving all the way around the south end of the lake. First in line.

Lake Champlain


Ferry




We dock back in New York at Essex and head up into the Adirondacks to Lake Placid, a pleasant 45 mile journey in the mountains.

Dinner is out of a mini-mart and I find a car wash. It has been 20 days, 4,739 miles and 24 states & provinces since it was last washed in Lincoln, Nebraska on Day 4. Gotta be some kind of a record. I think the M850 actually let out a sigh of relief, maybe. I know my OCD did.


Get back to the room around 8:30 and it's time to do a wash. We met a gal in the laundry just finishing up. I asked her where she is from. Washington state, about 100 miles from us. She and her husband just.............drove across the county. They have family here. Small world.

Long day........again.

Lake Placid, New York

Total Miles: 6,466
Daily Avg: 281 Miles


Day 24: Lake Placid to Rochester, New York - 361 Miles


Today will be the longest driving day since Day 3. We are officially in "Return" mode.

Today should also be fun: Lake Placid Olympic stuff, the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes and more.

The day is spectacularly nice. Our hotel sits on the edge of Mirror Lake. We are out early, just after 8 AM. It's too bad, because this might have been our favorite room on the whole trip and we barely enjoyed it.


Then over to the actual Lake Placid, right next door. A guy walked up and commented about my car. We started chatting. Eventually he offered to show us all around the lake in his boat. Had to beg off due to time constraints, but still.....




Had a picture here last night with a really dirty car. This is better.


Lake Placid held the Olympics in 1932 and again in 1980. This is not a large place by any stretch of the imagination. Not sure where they put everyone.

Right behind us, the Olympic Jumping Complex rises.


Pretty impressive




You can climb right up onto the Small Hill and Large Hill




Back in town we drive over to the Olympic Center. Lake Placid High School is next door.


The track in front of the high school is the Olympic Speed Skating Oval. This 400 meter track was used for both the 1932 and 1980 Olympics. Today it is used for ice skating in the winter and roller skating in the summer.


Eric Heiden won his 5 golds here in 1980




Olympic Center




Inside is a great museum commemorating both Olympics held here.

1932: Opened by FDR




The 1932 Rink in 1932


Today


Several other Olympics get wall space, too


Hard to believe it was 46 years ago - Jimmy Carter was president and the Soviet Union was still around.




Probably the most notable moment was the US Hockey Team's Miracle on Ice.


The 1980 Ice Hockey Arena, named for the coach


Cozy little 7,700 seat arena - 8,500 crammed in for the game


The USA sent a team of scrappy college kids out against the vaunted Soviet team made up of essentially professional players. The Soviets had won four straight Gold medals and 5 of the last 6. They were the heavy favorite when the two teams met in the medal round. The US won 4-3 in a heart stopping game on February 22, 1980. Pandemonium and delirium ensued.


The US then went on to beat Finland two days later for the Gold medal. This was a feat unmatched until the US did it again in the recently completed 2026 Olympics in Milan.

I don't even like hockey, but it gave me chills to be there.

What a great complex - highly recommended.


We make our way down to Main Street and wandered through some shops.






The Grand Adirondack Hotel


And Mirror Lake I could definitely see spending more time here.


It is already after 11 o'clock and we still have 361 miles. Yup, another long day coming.

Main Street turns into Hwy 86 and we're finally off.

Saranac Lake is a nice town just up ahead


The drive is highly enjoyable as we wind our way through forested mountains, small towns and lakes - literally hundreds of lakes.

We cross Long Lake, a narrow finger measuring 14 miles end to end.


And the quaint Adirondack Lodge on it's shores. Not sure why we didn't go peek inside.


Hoss's Corner is just up ahead and we snag a great burger across the street


The road continues past more lakes and lodges. We pass the uninspiredly named Eighth Lake, Seventh Lake, Sixth Lake, and Fifth Lake - stopping at the village of Inlet on Fourth Lake.

Fourth Lake and Cabins




We finally pop out of the Adirondacks at Rome, NY and jump on I-90 toward Syracuse. I had planned to drop in on the Orange of Syracuse University, but time has been slipping away. Next time.

Rochester is straight west, but I need to drop down south about 60 miles to Ithaca, NY - home of Cornell University. My grandfather earned his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering here in 1917. Impressive and hilly campus. Another Ivy League school checked off.

Morrill Hall


Andrew White House - Home of Cornell's first president




The campus has many interesting highlights, such as Triphammer Falls


The Cornell Art Department


We are now at 6 o'clock and the weather that has been threatening us decides to unload. We make haste out of Ithaca and follow the western shore of Cayuga Lake - one of the Finger Lakes, whose southern end abuts Ithaca. The rain and fog and wind have reduced all visibility. Nearby Watkins Glen on the next Finger Lake over (Park and racetrack), will have to wait for another time.

An hour later we arrive in Seneca Falls at the north end of Cayuga Lake. Seneca Falls is a nice little berg of around 7,000 and is said to have inspired the Frank Capra movie It's a Wonderful Life and it's town, Bedford Falls.


There's even a bridge that Jimmy Stewart could have jumped from. More on Jimmy tomorrow.


An hour left to Rochester. And to think, it's only 7:15. We grab a fast food dinner and call it a day. But, what a fun day it was.

- - - Phase Two complete: See the Canadian Maritime Provinces, Quebec City and Update New York - - -

Rochester, New York

Total Miles: 6,827
Daily Avg: 284 Miles


Day 25: Rochester to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - 335 Miles


We wake up to gray and rainy. Rochester was a powerful economic force in it's past, due to it's proximity to Lake Ontario and the Erie Canal. It is the birthplace of several great American Companies, such as Bausch & Lomb, Xerox, Eastman Kodak and Hickey Freeman. I wanted to see the Eastman Kodak Museum, but they don't open until 10 AM and we are out the door at 8. Looks like it's just gonna be a rainy downtown drive-thru.

Rochester has some great architecture


The Genesee River runs through town - with some interesting infrastructure.


Modern Condos


Not exactly sure what's happening here. The building on the right is the back of the Rochester Library, built over some old waterways and part of the Erie Canal.


Still raining That sucker was finally clean yesterday.


There's only one scheduled stop today, but it's toward the end. So we get on the road heading south. Eventually we merge onto Hwy 219 - a section of road we have actually been on when we drove from Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, down near the W. Virginia and Maryland border up to Buffalo, NY back in 2007. We soon cross into Pennsylvania and an hour later we see a scary old factory at Johnsonburg, PA. We turn off to investigate.


The town, like so many in the western parts of Pennsylvania, has seen better days. Yet, the factory, Domtar, is one of the most technologically advanced paper mills in the world. Looks like it might be the town's only employer.

The achitecture on Market Street is interesting










12 minutes later we are in Ridgway - a spunky little town (and county seat of Elk Co., PA) of 4,000. We find an upscale diner in a former bank across from the county courthouse. (Yeah, there's no e in Ridgway)




Back on the road by 1 o'clock and 40 minutes later Hwy 219 takes us through DuBois, PA - another town full of more old buildings with a full work history.


Punxsutawney comes up in another 20 mins. We don't stop, because we were just here only 19 years ago.


Phil


We finally reach our main stop for the day in another half hour at Indiana, PA. The boyhood home of Jimmy Stewart and the Jimmy Stewart Museum. One of our favorite actors in movies from the mid-20th century.


The Museum


The man himself


Jimmy Stewart was born in Indiana in 1908. He grew up working in the family's hardware store. He started acting while at Princeton and eventually broke into the movies in 1935. He had close to 30 film roles by 1941, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Philadelphia Story, winning his only Academy Award. He then enlisted in the US Army Air Forces in early 1941. He flew as a B-24 bomber pilot during WWII and achieved the rank of Colonel. He returned to Hollywood, but remained in the Air Force Reserve.




His first movie back after the war was It's a Wonderful Life in 1946 with Donna Reed. He said the raw emotions he showed in the film were due to his experiences in the war.


Alfred Hitchcock directed him in Rope in 1948. He married Gloria Hatrick in 1949 and they had two daughters, to go with the two older sons she brought to the marriage.


Stewart teamed with Hitchcock again in 1954, starring in the classic Rear Window, with Grace Kelly. The Far Country, The Man From Laramie and Strategic Air Command soon followed. Hitchcock directed again in 1956's The Man Who Knew Too Much with Doris Day. Vertigo in 1958, with Kim Novak, would be their last movie.


In the Air Force Reserve, Stewart continued flying, eventually piloting B-47 and B-52 bombers. In 1959 he achieved the rank of Brigadier General.


The Downtown Indiana Historic District from the museum. A nice little town of around 15,000, nestled in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania.


It's about an hour and a half to the hotel, located about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh and we arrive just after 6. I pull into the porte-cochere, like I have at the other 100 places we've stayed at over the last 6 years. This one is very narrow. Instead of 3-wide, or at least 2-wide, it might be 1 1/2 wide. I skooch over near the walkway to the front door, but there is a curb on the far side of the walkway, where no other place has ever had one, and I didn't see it. SON OF A BITCH!!


My new wheel is trashed - I know it cannot be repaired, only sanded and powder coated. Plus, there's a good hunk of rubber missing and another piece flapping in the wind. SON OF A BITCH!! What the hell just happened to the integrity of my sidewall??

To be fair, I see that I am not the only one who has smacked this corner. It doesn't make me feel any better and I am a tad cranky, shall we say, the rest of the night.


McCandless, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)

Total Miles: 7,162
Daily Avg: 286 Miles