COVID Cabin Fever
I awoke to find The Bear leaning over me, fully dressed for the day and positively resonating with high frequency energy. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was 6:00 am.
"Let me guess, you're really excited about leaving on our trip today?" I asked her.
Unabashed, she conceded the point with a nod and a very non-teenager sort of grin. "Yeah."
"Me too, Little Bear. Me too."
We all had a pent up wish to go somewhere and see people again.
Plan...I Don't Know...F?
2013 was a pivotal year for me in many respects. It was the year I earned my instrument rating, the year I relocated to the Williamson-Sodus Airport and joined the Williamson Flying Club, and the year my company was acquired and sloppily dismantled by new corporate overlords. It was also the year that we began the tradition of "SurnameFest" (edited), an annual gathering of Kristy's immediate family for a week of games and recreation away from everyone's immediate homes.
Like everything else in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated our SurnameFest tradition. We had reserved a rental house in Vermont, but the state would have required all of us to quarantine for two weeks based on our places of origin. New York created a naughty list of states that could not be visited without a two week quarantine upon re-entry to New York. The list changed weekly and included places where Kristy's other family members live. Combine that with family members falling into the high risk category for COVID-19 and we decided to cancel SurnameFest for 2020 after a good seven year run. We explored options to meet a subset of the family, but were stymied by an exponentially increasing number of obstacles.
Instead, we developed a low-key plan to meet in Lake Placid with friends that we knew through The Bear's school. This would be followed by a brief side trip for our family to Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor, ME.
Of course, this would require the service of an airplane. Warrior 481 had recently survived heart transplant surgery. Per Penn Yan Aero, the new engine needed to be operated without large power changes until it reached thirty hours of total time. Once that was complete and I verified that cylinder head temperatures (CHTs) and oil consumption were stabilized, I recruited my friend Dave and regained my instrument currency the day before we left on vacation. Masked for 2.5 hours of flying, I carefully evaluated my proficiency level and deemed it to be high. Dave agreed. Good thing, because Windy.Com suggested low ceilings for our arrival in Bar Harbor the following week.
Ground transportation in Lake Placid was another challenge. The only rental car company in the Lake Placid / Saranac Lake area was a family-owned outfit that was closed on weekends. They offered to drop a car at the airport on Friday for our Sunday arrival, charging $84/day for the time it sat unused at the airport. I decided to seek other options. Instead, we arranged to land at Plattsburgh International. Emily from Eagle Aviation hooked us up with an Enterprise rental and we would not be charged for the car until we took possession of it. Driving between Plattsburgh and Lake Placid meant a twisting, curving hour-long backtrack west, but still represented a significant savings in travel time to Lake Placid versus driving from Rochester. Basing at Plattsburgh also positioned us well to continue east to Bar Harbor.
And so the plan was set and we were all very excited about a relaxing vacation in the northeast that included what we hoped was a prudent taste of normalcy.
Naturally, our relaxing trip would eventually include a day in the ER and an emergency landing. Thanks again, 2020.
Run-DMC's Favorite Intersection
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 09 Aug 2020 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - PBG (Plattsburgh, NY) | 1.8 | 2132.3 |
After assisting a new member with access to one of the club aircraft, we boarded Warrior 481 on a beautiful Sunday morning and launched on our first flight as a family for 2020. It felt good to be flying on an IFR clearance again; I think I wore it well.
Shadows from high clouds sliced through the hazy, translucent air. Flying at 7,000 feet on a clearance, the distant clouds would be easier to manage than the ones I dodged while VFR along the same route a week earlier.
Once at altitude, leaned, and trimmed, it was time for the traditional airborne family portrait. Unfortunately, the teenager recused herself from the shot.
On the second attempt, The Bear deliberately hid behind her book. Little stinker. Defeated, I returned to flying the airplane. The laws of Physics are much more predictable than Little Bears.
Partway through the inactive military operation airspace west of Lake Placid, Boston Center revised our route to include TRIKY intersection. Once I plotted the new course and updated the navigator, studying the chart suggested that the change allowed for a descent into Plattsburgh that better managed the terrain around the Adirondack High Peaks.
The Curious Case of the Missing Rental Car
On approach to Plattsburgh, Eagle Aviation radioed to ask if we required services. "We should have a car there waiting," I responded. The lineman on the radio seemed confused by my response.
We landed on the massive 11,759 x 200 foot runway of the former Strategic Air Command Base and added power to fast-taxi to the first taxiway turnoff not quite halfway down. A slight upward grade on the taxiway brought us level with a vast expanse of largely empty concrete apron. In past decades, rows of military aircraft would have filled the now desolate surface. In the distance, a tiny figure waved at us for parking.
Long story short, there was no rental car waiting and Eagle Aviation's weekend staff had no idea why. Though I received an email on Friday from Emily at Eagle indicating that Enterprise had already dropped off the car, no one could find it or the corresponding paperwork. Because the local Enterprise office was closed on Sunday, Eagle Aviation cancelled the order with the national office (to avoid our being charged for a car) and arranged a rental with Avis in the commercial airline terminal at the far north end of the airport. The Avis rental was actually less expensive than Enterprise's estimate, so this error worked in our favor.
Seeing their open hangar, I wandered across the ramp to visit with Jim and Smokey whom I met on my first visit to Plattsburgh. Their Cherokee was still stranded in Cleveland, but was in good hands by all accounts. We chatted about various flying destinations in the northeast until the FBO courtesy car arrived with Kristy and The Bear on board to carry us to Avis in the commercial terminal.
Despite the mix-up, the staff at Eagle Aviation were first class and took great care of us. Before long, we were zipping westward in a red Hyundai Elantra.
Lake Placid Bound
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| Me and The Bear at Lisa G's, photo by Kristy |
Even with the rental car delay and the need to drive an hour west to Lake Placid, we still arrived in town before our friends. The route between Plattsburgh and Lake Placid is beautiful, starting on relatively flat terrain along the western shore of Lake Champlain and becoming gradually enfolded by the rising Adirondacks as one proceeds west. We twisted through a beautiful rural countryside on surprisingly excellent roads for an hour until rounding a corner of NY-86 that abruptly dumped us into town with little warning. We went with the old standby of Lisa G's for lunch. While excellent as always, I am still not sure how I feel about the reggae version of “Blackbird” that played on the restaurant’s back patio.
Visit To the Big Slides
We met Dena, Mark, and their daughter Izzy at the Hampton Inn and Suites - Lake Placid, located on the south end of Mirror Lake. I was a bit stunned when I saw the building. I have stayed in many Hampton Inns over the years, but none of them ever looked like this.
The Lobby was well-appointed in warm dark wood with large windows looking out over Mirror Lake. Mark and Dena picked a winner with this hotel.
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| The Bear and Izzy wearing their Music Creator's Academy shirts from earlier this summer |
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| The Olympic Ski Jumping Complex photographed from the air a week earlier |
From the hotel, we ventured to the Olympic Ski Jumping complex where those members of our party not afraid of heights had tickets for the zipline. (This elite group of daring tourists excluded me and Kristy.) Naturally, I was very familiar with the 90 and 120 meter tall ski jump towers, having flown around them in the traffic pattern at the Lake Placid Airport for years. But it was my first time seeing them up close.
The towers are perched on a steep hill and, from the base of the hill, they loomed impressively over the landscape.
Even masked, The Bear's apprehension was readily visible.
"Customer may experience a sudden stop at the end of the ride."
Does that sound a lot like falling to anyone else?
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| When it came to afternoon pictures, The Bear was all smiled-out |
We rode the recently installed gondolas to the top of the hill. They were of the same design as the ones implemented at Disney World that we enjoyed in January during our visit to Galaxy's Edge.
The bolder members of our party made their way to the staging area for the zipline.
Kristy and I hung out around the base of the 90 meter ski jump and took in the sights.
Her arm resting jauntily on the railing said, "I am super comfortable with this." Her smile said something else altogether.
Below the observation deck, we could see the landing pad for the 90 meter ski jump tower. Personally, I would be terrified to slide down something this steep on a toboggan, let alone land on it with skis after sliding down a 90 m tall Olympic Tower of Insanity.
After a successful run down the line that featured far less panicked shrieking than I expected, the four intrepid zipliners returned to the top of the hill by gondola. We regrouped and took the elevator to the top of the 120 m ski jump. Now that I have seen the ski jump towers from the Olympic athlete's perspective, I am more certain than ever that these people are genuinely crazy.
While at the top of the 120 m tower, the girls found their next calling. Hey, if the Jamaicans can pull it off, why not?
One last look at the 120 m tower before returning to town by a combination of gondola and rental car.
The Curiously Casual Nature of Retail in Lake Placid
Dinner that night was at Big Slide Brewery and Public House, my new favorite in town. No, I did not order the same thing that I had a week earlier. This time, I had the "Ribeyes of the World" sandwich. Everyone enjoyed their food except for Izzy, who did not care for her pizza. But that was fine with Big Slide, they simply did not charge Mark and Dena for the uneaten pie. This was our first of many encounters that week with the curiously casual nature of retail in Lake Placid.
A fresh calm pervaded Lake Placid after the rain while mist gathered on the distant mountain slopes and two families made their way to Emma's Lake Placid Creamery for ice cream.
Emma's also offered a varied selection of hilariously named gourmet peanut butters.
With the first day of our vacation drawing to a close, a minor rental car kerfuffle satisfactorily resolved, the discovery of risk-free pizza for kids at Big Slide, and bellies full of delicious ice cream, the onset of relaxation was well on its way. We had found a cure for our cabin fever, spent a responsibly enjoyable afternoon and evening with fun people, and gotten back to the business of flying places in the Warrior again.
Life was good.
Around 11:00 pm, I awoke in absolute agony.
Great shots, and oh heck no on the zip line. Good to see the family travel resume with 481, I know you're happy.
ReplyDeleteYou can't leave us hanging like a favorite series season finale! The who shot JR episode comes to mind. ;)
In all fairness, the ziplines were throttled somehow to limit how fast the riders moved, so it actually looked pretty reasonable speed-wise. The Bear really enjoyed the experience.
DeleteI feel like every series I've watched over the last few years has ended every single episode with a cliffhanger. Maybe my attitude has been tainted as a result!