It's Mary, John and Little Miriam: 06/01/2007

May 16-24, we went to Upstate New York, aka "The North Country" for Kate's graduation. It was a good time spent with family. Miriam did really well on the trip. She didn't complain much with the long car drive (6 hours!).

She had a good time with her cousin Paul and the rest of the family.

On one of the days, we went to Lake Placid. It was a typical mountain town. Unfortunately, there was construction on the main drag of town, so really all there was to see was the Olympic facilities. Lake Placid hosted the winter olympics in 1932 and 1980 (Hockey "Dream Team" win- US v. Russia).

(There happened to be a hot-rod car show on display in the hockey arena)

We also went to the ski jump site. Here is a picture of Susan, Sara and I standing on the olympic medal podium. It worked out that Kate was not with us, there isn't a fourth place medal! Sorry the place markers weren't in the picture. The funny thing is that we're standing according to birth order, Susan is 2nd born, Sara, first and me third. Good idea, but we missed the mark on the picture taking. Oh well!

Back to the ski jump....if you asked me before I went to see the ski jump if I would ever strap on skis and try the ski jump out, I would have enthusiastically said "YES". Now that I've seen it, I will think twice. Then I'd ask you to buy me a few shots of Baileys and after that I *might* say "Maybe".

I found this from a website, "The Mecca of Ski Jumping*" I'm putting my pictures in the mix of the quote so you get the idea.

"The length from the starting point to the take-off ramp is a 101-m slope with a maximum inclination of 35 degrees which is called the approach.

The jumper slides down this slope at a speed of 90 kilometers per hour and reaches the take-off point.

(notice the look of a 'drop'- it's just a steep slope, but you can't tell that from my perspective.) "At the moment of take-off, many jumpers say they experience a moment of unconsciousness that lasts for about two to three seconds, which is likely a result of the factor of fear."

Keep in mind, when it is snow covered, it might be hard to judge height and distance as you are attempting fate. I don't think any amount of alcohol would empower me to do this. Sorry, feminists out there- this (olympic) sport is still for men only. But Pu-lease....if you got me to the top of the tower, I push off, I think my screams would echo from every corner of the earth! And God help me land on both feet! *sigh*

Now that I've come back to consciousness....

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of Katie on her special day to share. My camera was acting up that morning and my pictures are dark!

The day after graduation, we took a day trip across the border to Canada. It was Victoria Day, so many places were closed and the city was basically empty. We found a street with international flavor (read, the happenin' place on a national holiday!) and had falafel for lunch (yum!). When we were done eating, we were kind of looking at eachother trying to decide what to do. There was a poster ad for a tulip festival. So I asked the server where this was. He said it was about a 20 minute walk down the street. He said we couldn't miss it on the left side. We asked if we should drive or walk, and he confidently said "it's walkable".

Yeah....about 45 minutes later, and waaay off the beaten path- many turns and removed from the street he said, we arrived at the tulip festival. All was not lost, in spite of tired feet and legs and a grumpy crew, we were able to see the native Ottawa in a street fair in the park.