Upstate NY: Finger Lakes & Capital District

  1. SNATCHES OF UPSTATE NY.

We spent this past week getting together with old friends, family and former colleagues as well as visiting old haunts and new venues. Lots of great hospitality along the way.   From Bethlehem, PA, we traveled to Skaneateles and Auburn and then on to Albany and Saratoga Springs.  It was a whirlwind of activity and dining.  Here are some of the highlights, but not all in the order we did them!

We had lunch at this popular cafe not far from the Albany Capitol Building.  Very tasty!

From there we visited the Albany Institute of History and Art, a museum the Chief Penguin had never visited in all his childhood visits to the city.  We toured the extensive exhibit of Hudson River School paintings.

Twilight by Frederic Church
Mount Aetna by Sarah Cole

 

 

 

Two views in downtown Albany with a very prominent sculpture of General Sheridan of Civil War fame.  Not sure what his connection with Albany was.

 

Harriet Tubman’s modest home in Auburn.  Several families lived here with her, primarily after the Civil War.  No indoor plumbing.

In Skaneateles, there is a lovely gazebo at the foot of the lake where you can stroll.

  

For dinner, we dined at Skaneateles’ most elegant spot, Mirbeau Inn. The setting is simply exquisite, the food not quite the equal.

 

 

 

 

One day we drove through Stillwater, where the C.P. spent the early years of his childhood, checked out one of the many canal locks in that area, and then ended up in Saratoga Springs for lunch at the lovely renovated Adelphi Hotel.   Saratoga has become quite the happening place—a lot different from the somewhat sleepy town it was in the 80’s! 

 

All photos ©JWFarrington.  Header photo is Skaneateles Lake.