Creating your own Olympic Experience

The Olympics may be wrapping up this weekend but that doesn’t have to include your own Olympic experience. If you want a taste of the winter Olympics without waiting four years check out Utah Olympic Park or Lake Placid Olympic Center.

The Utah Olympic Park is a winter sports park built for the 2002 Winter Olympics, located 28 miles east of Salt Lake City near Park City. The park hosted the bobsled, skeleton, luge, ski jumping, and Nordic combined events and still serves as a training center for Olympic athletes. There’s also a museum, aerial training splash pool, ziplines, and a mountain coaster. I was onsite for the bobsled event at the 2002 games and when I found myself in SLC a few years ago for a friend’s wedding, I had to go again, this time to tour the facility and share it with my daughter. The coolest moment? Standing at the top of the highest ski jump! What I didn’t get a chance to do? Take a bobsled ride with a professional driver! You can even do it in the summer, when they attach wheels to the sled. You can even ride an inner tube down the ski jump in the summer! Find out more here.

The Lake Placid Olympic Center, in New York, was home to the 1980 winter Olympics. They too offer a range of things to do and see, including a museum, tours, bobsled and skeleton experiences, ice skating and more. Not to mention a list of summer activities. Find out more here.

If your spring break or summer travels find you near one of these destinations, consider dropping in!

Pictured: The view from the top of the ski jump at Utah Olympic Park, today and during the 1980 Olympics

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