Lake Placid vacation part four: Home by way of the North Pole

Last year when we were planning our trip to Bar Harbor, we toyed with places to visit on the way there. Knowing we’d cut across the top of New York State, some of the suggestions we got included the Ausable Chasm or the Lake Champlain Ferry (which we took). Both Marla and Nancy suggested — no, raved about — Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, New York. Nancy and Marla both – could there be a higher endorsement? And they were so very, very right.

Who knew? There really is a North Pole, New York. See?

It’s the perfect park for the under-10 set. There’s a bouncy house and a train, there are shows and a Santa Parade. They have rides that are just right for little travelers:

(That’s my niece and nephew in the first bobsled, and my boys in the second bobsled.)

But I have to say, we had the most fun with Santa’s reindeer. You know I have a thing about reindeer names, right? Well, we were all tickled to see that the Santa’s Workshop people got it right.

Not content to simply admire the bridle on the wall like I did, Papa Lou got into the act. Erm, into the bridle, actually.

And here’s another one of my brother bonding with Donder himself.

*shrugs* It’s a family thing.

But even for people not named after one of Santa’s reindeer, this park is worth the stop. I’m sure the clear blue skies — no, really! — helped to bias me in it’s favour, but it was simply delightful. And there was practically nobody else there; a couple of times, the boys just walked up and got on the rides without having to wait. (Empty as it was, though, we actually ran into friends of ours also down from Ottawa in the park. What are the odds?!?)

So if you ever find yourself in the neighbourhood of Lake Placid, looking to entertain the wee ones, I can’t say enough nice things about Santa’s Workshop. It made the drive home a perfectly lovely counterpoint to the hellish drive down!

(If you liked them, you can see the full set of my Lake Placid photos on Flickr.)

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