END OF SUMMER IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

Carol writes:  As summer flared and faded toward autumn, we got glimpses of how beautiful fall must be in heavily forested upstate New York.  On a “speed run” of one-week stops, we next landed in tiny rural Verona, New York, at a lovely casino campground known as The Villages at Turning Stone.

Daytime excursions in this part of New York were tame at best.  One day we checked out sleepy rural Lock 21, a part of the Erie Canal lock system.  It must have been a banner day because we just happened to catch two pleasure boats in the midst of negotiating the 26-foot height differential at the lock.  

During a pleasant hike along the manmade canal, we spotted what we believed to be a juvenile bald eagle, judging by the somewhat rowdy appearance of the white head feathers.

Another excursion day took us to Hamilton, New York, for a great cuppa joe in a small college town full of upstate charm.  

Much of this village’s appeal is undoubtedly due to the fact that Hamilton is the hometown of well-regarded private liberal arts college Colgate University.

The campus exuded an ambience of the well-endowed.

We had a delightful conversation with an astrophysics professor who was just starting his 12th year of teaching at Colgate.   Professor Jeff Bary graciously offered to escort us to one of the science buildings, then spent precious minutes of his time chatting with us about a variety of subjects.  In the space of half an hour, topics of discussion ranged from the political environment of the day, early 20th century Appalachian history, and whether he believed the human race would ever maintain human civilization on another planet.  Chats with a college professor can get very interesting quickly…

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

For the next week, we parked in a great family-run campground on the banks of the Mohawk River, just outside of Schenectady.

No visit to Schenectady would be complete without a visit to Proctor’s, one of the most well-known theater venues in the east.  Proctor’s was once a famous vaudeville house that is now utilized by off-Broadway productions in order to hone their performances on the large stage ahead of going out on the road.

Our campground in Schenectady was a great jumping-off point to visit one of our nation’s most impressive capital cities—Albany, New York.

With a population approximating 20 million, New York is our 4th most populous state.  The Empire State Plaza area around the Capitol building certainly reflected the fact that state government is massive in New York!

New York is one of only 12 state capitol buildings that do not have an external dome.  A dome was not necessary considering the architectural grandeur of this building that has served as New York’s center of government for over 100 years.

From the top of the Corning Tower, the 360-degree view of Albany along the Hudson River was quite awesome on this marvelous sunny day.

The New York Statehouse, 42 stories below, resembled a Disney castle creation. 

We didn’t feel a need to drive by the Executive Mansion, home to 32 New York governors, because the view from above seemed way better than the street view below.

We were grateful to visit Albany during the summer slowdown.  We had free rein to walk all around the plaza without having to share walkways and restaurants with thousands of state employees who work in the high-rises.

The tour inside the Capitol building revealed beautifully tiled floors, 

a sweeping million-dollar staircase, 

and regal legislative chambers.

The portrait gallery in the Hall of Governors demonstrated that many great leaders have walked the hallways of this great Capitol building.  Previous New York governors have included four who went on to serve as President, in addition to six who have served as Vice President.

After lunch we had only a couple of hours to speed through the New York State Museum in the plaza complex.  Not surprisingly, there was an emotional 9/11 display complete with a World Trade Center flag, 

a fire-ravaged 9/11 firetruck, 

and part of the landing gear from one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. 

A more lighthearted section of the museum displayed the original Sesame Street stage set,

and some paintings from the Woodstock Art Colony, a more than one-hundred-year-old utopian art guild.

The Schenectady area had several Revolutionary War sites, one of the most important being Saratoga Battlefield.

At Saratoga, the British under Burgoyne faced off against the Americans in the fall of 1777.  The failure of the British to crush the American rebellion at Saratoga ended in a British surrender that forever altered the history of the world.

Multiple battle sites dotted a 10-mile loop drive around the historic park.  A peaceful and beautiful site, like this one above the Hudson River, looked far different from the day that a hellish Revolutionary War battle unfolded here. 

Fields of goldenrod dotted the once bloodied grounds.

BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK

One of the delights of our life on the road is the opportunity to visit with family along the way.  For Al, the few years he spent living near family in Binghamton, New York, were memorable ones.  It was such a pleasure to meet up again with Al’s cousins Dennis and Anne Marie.

End-of-summer festivals and events fortuitously lined up to give the four of us a memorable 3-day weekend together.  We started out with a nostalgic walk down memory lane in the neighborhood where Al lived near his beloved Russian/Ukrainian grandparents on Seymour Street.

A few block away, the house on Hazel Street, where Al lived with his family the year he attended 11th grade, looked exactly the same.

Junior year’s Binghamton High School was fresh and glowing in the late summer twilight.

As a point of trivia, Binghamton is always proud to point out that Rod Serling was a member of the Binghamton High School class of 1943.

Like much of our country over the past several decades, Binghamton has also experienced a relentless exit of industry.  In its place a new population of creative entrepreneurs and artists has evolved.  Along with a vibrant art scene, Binghamton is also a university town that has  minor league baseball and hockey teams.  The history of Binghamton was nicely preserved at several stately mansions that have been beautifully restored.

Our 3-day Binghamton experience began Friday night at the 4th annual nighttime LUMA Fest, where great downtown architecture was enhanced by one of the largest projection art festivals in the country.

Saturday we attended Colorscape, an annual craft and music festival in nearby Norwich, New York.  After cruising the craft booths, we listened to the very entertaining husband and wife duo of Fred Eaglesmith and Tiffani Ginn, who had their own special style of rock characterized by Eaglesmith’s raspy voice and Tiffani’s spot-on harmony. 

Sunday’s event was Blues on the Bridge in downtown Binghamton at the park where the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers meet.

This gathering was a showcase of local southern blues rock talent.  On this day, none of us thought that louder was necessarily better.  I believe we would have ruined our hearing if we hadn’t moved several hundred feet down on the bridge,

  

where the music was more in the background and we could enjoy conversation with Dennis, Anne Marie, and some of their local Binghamton friends.

That sure was a fun week in Binghamton, where we enjoyed hooking up with cousins who were a cherished part of Al’s childhood. 

Thanks so much to Dennis and Anne Marie for cooking dinner for us and introducing us to Binghamton’s culinary meat specialty—spiedies— and for sharing the enjoyable small-town New York lifestyle. 

Carol Galus

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