Forests

Cobble Hill in Lake Placid, NY

Right now I am spending the summer in Lake Placid, New York. It is splendid here in a multitude of ways. For one thing, I get to watch my daughter skating in one of the best facilities in the country, an Olympic Training Center, in fact. The town is full of athletes of all kinds, from well-known skaters to uber Tri-athletes. Next week the famous Ironman Competition is being held. For those who don't know, it is a sort of Triatholon on steroids. The competitors swim for 2 miles, then bike for about 160 miles and follow that light activity up with a full running marathon of 26 miles. Yipes!

The other thing I love about this place is the sheer beauty of the natural surroundings. We are in the middle of one of the biggest wild forest plots in the country. Each village sits amidst mountains, rivers, lakes and trails. We've already hiked to the top of Whiteface (which was no easy feat as can be seen by the sunburn and scratches all over my body).

Later on today we are going to do a much smaller hike up Cobble Hill, which looks like a sort of mini-mountain on the other side of Mirror Lake from where we are staying. I scoped out the trailhead this morning so that we would know where we are going later on.

The mouth of the trail looks like the Buçaco Forest in northern Portugal, which I visited many years ago--kind of dark and creepy. I am dying to go back to visit it. We stayed in the famous Hotel du Bussaco, which was once a monastery. One of the things that made the surrounding forest so creepy and kind of macabre was the old shrines and huts all over it, where monks used to go to sequester themselves for a few days to pray and meditate.

The hotel itself was, by contrast, luxurious and splendidly decorated. One of the things I remember most about it was the beautiful display of breads that were put out for breakfast each morning and it was there that I first tried Broa, which has turned out to be my favorite Portuguese bread. It is made partially from corn and traditionally baked in a brick or stone oven and has a rustic, chewy texture that I love.

This is my kind of a trip, just like the one I am on now. I love to hike and canoe and try new adventures. But I also love to come home to comfort---and homemade bread.