Vacation Day 6 - Upstate New York
Aug. 4th, 2007 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rickpsAfter a much too brief visit to Montreal (I need to get back there soon), I found my way out of center city and south to the Canadian border with New York. Who knew that crossing the border would take over an hour sitting in painfully slow moving traffic and less than 2 minutes once I got to the US border agent. Why the delay? No idea. All the license plates I saw were either nearby US states or Canadian. I've been told that my experience is hardly unique and much shorter than the 2-3 hour delays some days.
Driving down the Northway towards the Lake George region (just north of Albany, NY for those that know the area), I was struck with the green lushness of the landscape. Living for so long in California, I'd forgotten that the brown dessicated look of much of the state are not the norm. My destination, a B&B owned by a gay bear couple Claude and Richard (more not on LJ), the Saratoga Rose, is a grand old mansion that's been lovingly converted to its new role leaving much of the charm and grace. Sadly, I picked the one night a week the restaurant was closed and therefore couldn't sample Richard's legendary cooking. Highly recommended should you ever be in the area.
And what of the Upstate New York I recall from my college years? Those that think of New York as a cityscape devoid of natural beauty should visit the Lake Luzerne/Lake George region. Heavily wooded gently rolling hills (and some not so gentle), numerous small lakes, and the crowning diamond, Lake George itself, one of the most pure in the nation. Small, quaint villages that hide well the economic blight that has been the Upstate NY way of life for decades. A gentler way of life is led here and a good one.
Binghamton on the New York Southern Tier (near the Pennsylvania border) is next.
Driving down the Northway towards the Lake George region (just north of Albany, NY for those that know the area), I was struck with the green lushness of the landscape. Living for so long in California, I'd forgotten that the brown dessicated look of much of the state are not the norm. My destination, a B&B owned by a gay bear couple Claude and Richard (more not on LJ), the Saratoga Rose, is a grand old mansion that's been lovingly converted to its new role leaving much of the charm and grace. Sadly, I picked the one night a week the restaurant was closed and therefore couldn't sample Richard's legendary cooking. Highly recommended should you ever be in the area.
And what of the Upstate New York I recall from my college years? Those that think of New York as a cityscape devoid of natural beauty should visit the Lake Luzerne/Lake George region. Heavily wooded gently rolling hills (and some not so gentle), numerous small lakes, and the crowning diamond, Lake George itself, one of the most pure in the nation. Small, quaint villages that hide well the economic blight that has been the Upstate NY way of life for decades. A gentler way of life is led here and a good one.
Binghamton on the New York Southern Tier (near the Pennsylvania border) is next.
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Date: 2007-08-04 07:12 pm (UTC)(Note to myself: I should have paid more attention to your itinerary and alerted LJers who I know personally that you were in the area!}
I like to introduce wonderful people to each other. I'd call Jim, but I think you are on to your next destination.
Big HUGS!
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Date: 2007-08-05 06:07 am (UTC)Rick, btw, is posting these things in retrospect; he's been in NYC for a couple of days already! So we definitely missed the chance to introduce him to Jim.
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Date: 2007-08-05 04:03 pm (UTC)