Woodstock

Subtitled: OPUS 40. A Rock Opera

We start the day with some wide ranging discussion of breakfast with our host and the other guests.

They are from a combination of New Zealand, Santa Fe and New York. No politics as that's far too contentious/ painful for the Americans. Topics include various food options, our amazement at the idea of visiting Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath all in one day whilst on holiday in London. Their amazement at our idea of calling in to Washington DC, as we were in Canada so would swing by DC on the way. Also included a long explanation of the difficulty of rehabilitation of an American Robin that fell out of its nest and damaged its wing. It included teaching it to dig for its own worms and convincing it it was able to fly. 

Incidentally the repast was a breakfast burrito for at least one, plus some other delicious goodies such as...

...fruit and still hot, straight from the oven blueberry muffins. We also have tea made with boiling hot water, which makes a change. There is also much discussion on this topic (both last night and this morning).

Perhaps this deer wanted some breakfast too - it was outside in the garden.

The weather is pretty poor, mountains are shrouded in mist, but we can hardly complain as in the  four weeks we have been on holiday we've had very good weather overall. We decide to call at the Mt. Tremper visitor centre to check if there are any good places to see in the rain. Even though it had stopped at a low level by the time we got there, we decided to give the walk to the top of Overlook Mountain a miss as it was still well covered in mist and one of the selling points for this walk is the amazing views - particularly from the top of the fire tower in a clearing on the top. Perhaps we secretly give a sigh of relief at this not being a good option for today - it is a two and a half mile steady climb up the mountain (to 3140ft) plus the climb up the fire tower if you are feeling adventurous, and then the same route back down - don't think that would have done much for our knees!  Apparently, what we are missing besides the views are some historic ruins half a mile from the top, a Buddist Monastery to visit, and a lot of Timber Rattlesnakes (well maybe the latter is also a positive in terms of giving it a miss).

A few other ideas passed on by the ranger are interesting, though many of you will be pleased to know it doesn't include too much avian viewing, as that's unlikely to prove successful. 

Instead we head towards the lower lands heading for a rather unusual sounding museum, which often appeals to us. In the past these have included such places as the Bakelite museum, the Pencil Museum, Driving Creek Railway, a Rope Museum, and an Agricultural Machinery Museum. This one, OPUS40, is dedicated to the work of quarrymen, but developed by a sculptor.  He was to take 40 years to develop the site, rather ironically, thirty-seven and a half years in he was killed following an accident with his tractor.  The 'sculpture' was so nearly complete that his wife eventually opened the site on a not-for-profit basis. An entry of $7 each (OAP rate) seems good value and we have a quick look around the visitor centre and museum.

A montage of tools and below another collection of 'things'. The other tools were too badly lit to take any more photos to bore you with.

Then it was outside to see the work of a single artist over nearly 40 years, celebrating the work of quarrymen exclusively in the blue stone quarried in the area. 

 There was also an area for you to have a try at building you're own rock 'sculptures'.

Eric the balancing dog.

I can't quite strike the same pose.

Flame is the name of the diving lady sculpture behind the fountain pool.

We stayed at low level for a while, heading for some lighthouses on the Hudson River.  We head for Kingston first, the Maritime Museum and Rondout Lighthouse.  Kingston is a busy town but manage to find some free parking right by the museum.

A view one way along the Hudson in the Maritime Museum precincts,

And then the other.

The lighthouse is a little further afield and we only gain distant views, and yes it is the large building behind the tree.  Not you're usual type of lighthouse we thought.

Second lighthouse on the list is at Saugerties, which is quite a pretty little town with interesting looking shops. Being good we don't stop to browse here ( partly because the place is heaving on account of the garlic festival - doesn't every town have one of those?) but park up and walk the half mile trail to the lighthouse.

The water is lapping quite close to the path. It did say to check the tides but we had assumed this meant a walk across a causeway to the lighthouse, which would be unavailable if the tide was in. 

Wrong!   The path should have given us a clue. Just as we approach the lighthouse (glimpses are visible through the over-head height reeds) the path is flooded to calf height! Frustratingly we do not have wellies and are not able to progress to enable a full view without getting very wet.  So here's a cheat on what the lighthouse looks like (www.saugertieslighthouse.com). Rather nice huh?

So perhaps this type of lighthouse is common around here.

A scenic drive was the next thing on the cards.

It takes past one of the the water sources for New York City, Ashokan Resevoir (although we notice the real estate people were calling it a lake). The mist still clung to the mountains.

I only want to look at the view!

Past some more of those pretty trees.

Another bridge

A  pink house - we are not sure if this is the site of Big Pink, the house made famous by Bob Dylan and his band for all you 'rock afficiandos' but the Lonley Planet guide, from which this quote comes, tells us it is in West Saugerties, and that's where we are, so we're going to assume it is because it's very pink and it's a house.

A sculpture park where Eric meets some more new friends.

A 'man' fishing from a bridge (something of a theme?), although this one looks a lot more comfortable than the last.

The next part of the drive takes us up into the mountains where, as you may be able to tell, it was still very foggy, enough to make the road very wet. It was still very scenic anyway.

Then, I guess because we were at higher altitude and the air chillier, we finally get an idea of what colour changes in big blocks of trees might look like.  

Returning to Woodstock it is time for dinner and a stroll around the village.  It is very reminiscent of Byron Bay in Australia and I guess that's because it has that same hippie vibe. 

Some interesting shops, which luckily were closed for the evening.

This one permenantly I guess - bitter or what?!

How would you like a cushion like this?

An interesting selection of very specific books, perhaps a typical thing to have in an alternative community.

Dinner was good too.

A cup of tea back at the homestead, accompanied by, in answer to our questions, an explanation of why the Woodstock Festival of 1969 was called that when it was actually held at Yasgur's Farm in Bethel, which is about 60 miles away. If you really want to know too, you'll have ask us when we get. back. 

On the Hippie Trail.

Start the day with apple and cinnamon pancakes and fruit, plus a good cup of tea!  Decide to have another crack at Shelburne Museum on the way out of town, as it looks very interesting.  

On the basis of:

A) the latter comment, to visit it for only a short time would not do it justice

B) the car park was already filling up, two tour buses and a school bus had arrived and a resulting queue had formed at the ticket office

C) the cost was $24 each, go back to A).

If you hadn't guessed, we abandoned the visit (maybe next time). But not before taking some photos of the trees.

Just a few turning colour.

An indication of what it could be like if there was a massive hillside of trees like this.

Our next stop was Button Point State Park.  The book said there was a nature centre there that was actually open into October and they have a daily list of birds seen. It wasn't too far from our main route and the sun was still shining (just).  There was a school bus in the car park again, so that bodes well for it being open.  There were also some more pretty trees (well you were getting bored with the bird pictures weren't you?)

The nature centre is about half a mile walk and there are some views of Lake Champlain along the way.

More Canada Geese? But we're not in Canada anymore! 

The nature centre is small, has two bicycles outside but no people about anywhere (we had passed the school group going back towards the car park on our way there). There is no bird list but some other interesting exhibits and posters. We hadn't realised that another name for the Marmot we had seen earlier in our travels was a Groundhog - will we have to repeat this day over and over again? 

Some useful tips for identifying animal tracks.

We set off on the Champlain Trail around the point, a short walk through the woodland interspersed with views of the lake. There is a sign telling us to beware of Poison Ivy, but the photo is so faded I'm not sure that we would recognise it if we saw it. It did however have a useful rhyme:

"Leaves of three, let me be,

Hairy vine, no friend of mine"

We were careful to avoid brushing up against anything that looked suspect, although apparently the irritation may even be transmitted through the air by the oils exuded by the plant!!

We safely return to the start, and Eric points out that perhaps we should have been looking out for snakes too!

Our next stop is the border between the states of Vermont and New York, crossing the rather elegant bridge at Chimney Point.

We are welcomed to New York

Right next to the visitor centre there are some important historic sites, lots of forts where the French held off the British (is this one reason why it would have been a good idea to stay in the European Union?) 

We fought them here, we fought them there, we fought the French nearly everywhere.

Eric admires the remains of the French Fort plus another view of that bridge.

Time is passing and we still have quite a way to drive.

We drove quickly past here in case they put us on sale as well.

Still time for a scenic drive around Lake George though. It was quite difficult to find somewhere to stop and view the scenery, although we did find this short walkway at Bolton Landing (no tea shop though!)

Eric balances carefully to avoid going 'in the drink'.

And photo bombs a mountain scene

We pass through what looks like a bit of a ghost town straight out of a spaghetti western and by then 

hunger pangs have set in.   A Memorial Garden provides some picnic benches and restrooms.

An Olympic volleyball park? 

Hunger sated we move on passing through Lake George Town and bravely taking the Interstate in order to make some time.  It is not too busy to start with, but as we approach Albany the traffic gets rather hectic and the driving rather boring as the roads are lined with trees, and they haven't even started turning colour yet. Consequently a diversion, that handily also avoided the toll road, was taken. 

It looked like we would be driving along the Hudson River, exciting!  Pah! Not a peep of the river was seen for miles, and then, just as were about to turn inland, a brief glimpse of this major grand waterway.

All too soon disappearing behind us.

The structure and architecture of bridges is subject suitable for a PhD. No doubt there may have been plenty, although we haven't read any of them!

Make good time and arrive at B&B before dark. Good job too as it was quite difficult to spot the entrance even in the daylight. It's in the Catskills Park area. The rain had started about half an hour before so we had to make a dash for the door.

The swimming pool is about to be closed for the winter, but looked quite inviting even with the raindrops splattering on the surface. This is the view from our balcony.

The view from the front (and our bedroom windows). Those chairs are Adirondack Chairs and they have them everywhere here and in Vermont.

Get the lowdown on the house from the landlady. Find out that David Bowie used to rent the house from her every summer for a number of years!  In addition, when we tell her that we are from Wales, she tells us her next door neighbour (Donna Lewis) is also from Wales and is a famous singer-songwriter who had a hit record in Europe, The States and Australia. We apologise as we had never heard of her, but checking it out later find she had a number 2 hit record in the UK in 1996. 

Recommendation for dinner was the Bear Cafe, in Bearsville. Emphasis on, not the Little Bear Cafe, or The Bear Theatre Cafe, so off we go.

Excellent wildlife spotting in the car park of the B&B 

Eric peruses the menu and the view from the dinner venue. Not looking too brilliant for vegetarians unless they want pasta again.  Gosh that vegetarian is awkward! A salad is decided on, with some garlic mash potatoes. 

Back at the ranch.

So we are at the end of our hippie trail, we are in Woodstock and David Bowie has sat there!