New Jersey and New York
July 2 – August 2
We spent about a week with Charlie and Rayne in Readington, visited with Karen, Frank and the boys, stopped at Laura and Vinnie’s for a party, enjoyed Charlie’s 4th of July party and I did some cemetery walking for genealogy. Of course, eating Chimney Rock pizza was high on the list along with Jimmy Buff's Italian Hot Dogs.
Leaving New Jersey, we decided to tour the Hudson River Valley on our roundabout way to Elmira.
We stopped at Bear Mountain State Park for a pretty view of the Hudson River Valley. A little further north is West Point where we took a nice tour of the grounds and the Cathedral.
Further north, we spent a day at Hyde Park, FDR’s home, and also visited the small home Eleanor Roosevelt moved into after FDR died. We learned a lot about this strong woman and her autobiography is now on my reading list.We continued north, following route 9 alongside the Hudson River up past Albany to Saratoga
Springs.On our way into town, we stopped at Saratoga Springs National Historical Park, site of an important Revolutionary War battle, although our photo isn't quite historically accurate.
Saratoga Springs is known for its natural springs, but the famous spas of days gone by are gone. We found the springs in the local park.
The park had a small antique car museum and Jack got to see Bodine Brothers (guess where they’re from?) racing memorabilia and proof of a connection between Elmira and early automobiles.
We also saw some gorgeous early sports cars.
We also saw some gorgeous early sports cars.
We visited the Saratoga Springs horse racing museum which was okay, but we thought it would be connected to the racecourse and that we would have an opportunity to tour the racetrack. Unfortunately, the racetrack was closed as they were getting ready for opening day in two weeks, and the museum had no connection whatsoever with the racetrack.
Downtown Saratoga Springs had gorgeous hanging flower baskets everywhere with sidewalk cafes where we enjoyed a lunch and lots of people watching. We thoroughly enjoyed Saratoga Springs and will return.
We then headed west to Elmira, stopping for a day in Cooperstown to tour the Baseball Hall of Fame. The museum was packed with people as apparently it was the week for many of the Little League teams to visit. We struggled through and learned, but didn't remember, a whole lot about baseball. We walked the downtown and 'set for a spell' on the veranda of the Otesago Resort Hotel overlooking the lake.
In Elmira, we did the usual foodie runs including, but not limited to, the Windmill for perogies, Lib’s for chicken piccata and pizza at Moretti’s. Jack got to play golf in Olean with the Fogarty’s and see all his bank friends at the bank outing.
On July 23, we met up with Rayne, Charlie, Bry and Keith along with Linnie and Ben at the Mosquito Lake Cabin in Canada, just north of the Thousand Island area. We kicked back and enjoyed doing little but watching the lake and listening to the loons. We enjoyed leisurely kayak and boat rides on the lake and the boys got to do some cliff jumping. On July 29, we brought Linnie and Ben back to NJ so they could catch their flight home to Colorado.
