BOARD FRIEND WESTIE'S TRIP TO MAINE

 This fellow writes the most interesting trip reports, and I'm posting it here because it can serve as a good source of what to see and do and eat if I ever get to Maine again.

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SARANAC LAKE FOR MEETUP WITH COLLEGE FRIENDS.

 

Seven of us, four of  whom graduated from SUNY Buffalo and were members of the International Club there, met in Saranac Lake for fun and frolic.

Mike and Dawn and Debbie stayed with Elizabeth and I at the Best Western, just across from Lake Flower. Robin and Bobbie live in Saranac Lake.

Elizabeth and I managed to have a fine swim one afternoon, but the rest of the time was scheduled with visits to interesting places in the area.  I did not make all of them. I would not seem to get rested enough to embrace the adventures. 

One I missed was to John Brown's house and fully enjoyed by all with a good lecture on his life and his mission.  

A second place was ??  where visitors learned of the use of Saranac Lake area as a place giving sick people a quiet and clean air environment to aid recovery.  

We also enjoyed a fine time at the nearby carousal.  It is quiet wonderful.  No fake looking plastic horses here.  Every animal is hand carved and the variety was just grand.  It was a work of art that could be ridden.

I love to ride a merry-go-round.  It taps into my youth and I experience it as I did as a kid.  I rode the one at Lime Lake often.  Ten cents a ride and rings to snatch in hopes of a free ride when a gold ring came up.

I rode twice.  Once I rode a wonderful porcupine, intricately carved to show the spikes.  Another time I rode a frog called Wiggly who was stretched out as if swimming.

It was also grand to find I could climb on the moving animals, and off with a little help from Michael.  

FOOD

The first day we had pizza (some with cauliflower crust) at a local place. Then for supper everything seemed closed and we ordered a pizza to be sent in.  I skipped that pizza and had some meatballs.

Our breakfasts were all at the McKensie restaurant next to the hotel.  Hotel guests got a 10% discount.  The food was very good.  They had a kiebasa sausage, but it was very salty and not as good as I hoped. Good coffee.

One night we ate Mexican.  I had mushroom fajitas and it was very good.  Others had other taste treats.  No one was disappointed.  They served Buckler as their NA beer.  So much better than the standard O'doul's or 00 Heineken.  

We also ate once at a BBQ place that served outside on picnic tables.  They had great ribs, a fine tasting baked lobster, clams, and both oreo and smores flavored milk shakes.

On the way home Elizabeth stopped at the Noon Mark diner in Keene and bought a pecan pie and a berry berry pie,  so the off diet life has extended back here to Burden Lake.

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Mexican place

ribs with baked lobster and oreo milkshake.

E and I swam for a while one afternoon.

Carousel I rode the porcupine and then a rather floppy frog.

Hand carved.

Ate at the hotel one night as all restaurants were closed.

Had breakfasts each morning at McKensie's right next to the hotel. A great spot for eating and visiting.

Stopped at Noon Mark diner in Keene for homemade pies. Berry berry and pecan pie were just grand. Real old fashion pie taste.

I did not visit the museums, but many saw John Brown's house and a museum depicting the benefit Saranac Lake area had to allow people to recover from diseases like tuberculosis.

TRIP TO STARLIGHT LAKE

Starlight Lake is located in Pennsylvania, but just over the New York border. It was a couple hours of driving, but we took a rather meandering route through the countryside.

It was beautiful.

The first part of the journey was route 88, the most beautiful highway I've seen. However, we were to learn on our return trip that 88 is not a road to travel just now. beyond Richmond. Too bumpy and under construction.

The second part of the ride out was through farms and very small towns. It was hard to find bathroom stops or food.

We were also on the lookout to buy corn to bring, and finally we found some corn. In the early part of the journey we did not even see corn fields. Mostly we saw dairy farms.

We also bought some summer squashes, the usual yellow and a new white scallop patty pan squash which we ate later at Burden Lake.

At Delhi we found ourselves in a great spot for brunch. The Blue Bee cafe. 

Blue Bee Cafe | Facebook

The coffee cups were huge and the sandwiches and soup were both very, very good.  

I had a panini with turkey, kale, cranberries, and other tastes. It was delicious.

The town is a student town, driven by SUNY Delhi, and the college looks very inviting.

SUNY Delhi | NY State College | Upstate NY | College near New York City, Albany, Orange County

Whereas the surrounding rural area reflected a conservative attitude, as in a row of cow head skeletons and a homemade sign that announced the election was stolen, or in another spot a Confederate flag, Delhi reflected a more educated population. Quite a contrast!

For a long while we followed the Delaware River, and at Hancock we went over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania and it was not long before we were at this little, isolated lake.

The river seemed inviting. There were no boats or canoes or any buildings close to it and I could see how one could get lost in wilderness with a trip down this river. However, the river is the 5^th most polluted in the USA, so one would want to travel close to the source before it gets to industry. However, I think that reputation is earned farther downstream.

I had a dream that my yellow canoe was lost and floating down a rough river. I could see it, but not reach it. I followed the river and looked in likely places, but I never found it.

In the real world, Mike completed the job of resurfacing the canoe and it is ready to go.  I may try it out today.  I can't get out of it, but I can get in, and I can tip it over in the shallows and get out that way.

I slept well. Of course, I woke up at 3 AM but I went out on the porch and smelled the night air, and ate a bowl of Death by Chocolate iced cream.

I read more of Sandburg's, “Always the Young Strangers” reading about how his father bought property that had a sleeping mortgage and found himself in debt for over 8 hundred dollars, a good bit of money for that family in those days. Nothing could be done but pay it, so he borrowed at high interest and paid a little each month.

The book is oddly written, and clearly his audience is himself. There are all the details of his life, details of what and how and from whom he learned in early schooling.

Sometime the style seem unpolished with bits tossed on on top of the other.

However, I am enjoying it.

And it makes me sleepy.

We awaken to rain, just a drizzle at first and then a downpour. It is dry on the porch here however, and the only sound beyond the lapping of water is an airplane and a very occasional car or truck on the road across the lake.

No motors are allowed on this lake, and it is sparsely populated with cottages. So, generally, it is quiet and it is this morning.

Today, Elizabeth and I have been married for 21 years. Time goes along so quickly.

It is a happy anniversary day here on this rare road trip in a beautiful and peaceful place with a gentle and interesting host.

I waded out to fish for pickerel. The water was a bit cool, but not bad. I fished the heavier rig with some hammered spinners and a worm, but I got no action. A few small fish worked on stealing the worms, and a few very small minnows hovered around me and pecked at my legs. Otherwise no fish.

I got dressed and started writing this and there was a huge splash at the dock, so I went down and cast light gear and caught a nice perch and a very tiny bluegill.

A blue heron came down to see what I was doing.

A young man and a pretty girl in a bikini rode water boards.

Otherwise it was absolutely quiet. Quite a contrast to Burden Lake.

I read an 2017 Rolling Stone magazine in the upstairs porch while Elizabeth and Susan had some talking time. Pretty interesting. I don't know many of the performers mentioned, but Willie Nelson was mentioned as working on an album of Sinatra covers. I'll be interested to hear that. I see it has been released and is called, “That's Life” and that there is also a duet with Diane Krall on line which I think is also on that album.

Elizabeth and Susan went to the Colgate Rochester Divinity School and so they had a fine talk about all the people, where they are now and such.

The cottage was built in 1896 and reflected much of the original. Susan's husband's family bought it in 1946. A relative had sold it, but retained some of the furniture and the family retrieved those old pieces which are still there today.

One retrieved treasure was a book that all guests have signed since 1896 and for most of the book they added fairly long comments. So, it is a book of memories. My own writing from 1996 was found and read. Fun. Of course, both Elizabeth and I made entries for this visit.

Elizabeth grilled a steak on the barbecue grill and she cooked up the corn we bought along the way and boiled up some small potatoes. It was a grand supper to celebrate our anniversary, and my part was to do the dishes.

I read more of the Carl Sandburg and then drifted off fairly early to sleep.

Sandburg's “Always the young Strangers” is very detailed. He is very people oriented and he has a spot for everyone he ever knew and seems to remember them and their quirks in detail.

One unnamed “roundhouse wiper” made his living at a dollar and thirty cents a day. “ With a lumpy textile known as waste” he “groomed the locomotives for their next trip.”

One day a week he dressed up and walked to the Knights of Abbadabba lodge. I have not been able to find such a lodge, but it was a wild memory.

On our last morning it was lightly raining again when we got up. Very quiet this early in the morning here. Just the sound of a bird a ways down the lake.

We decided to take highways home, the first being 88. That highway is half closed for repair and most of the road is very rough with bump apparently waiting for resurfacing. It was really annoying.

I looked like the highway is done out to Richmond, which is the way we went out. So, we had substituted beautiful meandering back roads on the way up and not had the discomfort.

We had a very fine visit, but we are also happy to be home again.

We made popcorn and watched the last two available episodes of “Lucifer.” More are coming mid September.

Then I watched two Robert Young movies. He seems featured just now on TCM watch. “Paradise for Three” and “ Married Before Breakfast.” If I watch these before bed, Lucifer scenes do not invade my dreams.

Once again I did not take photos. I had my camera. Just never took any. Also, I dropped my external mouse, so I'm writing with the little square finger controlled mouse and making plenty of typos.

I also do not really know how to put photos on here from my phone.  When I get a new mouse tomorrow, I'll be able to move them to Facebook and then to the blog.  But I want to post everything today.

So, photos will appear here.  They are now on Facebook in separate posts.

PITTSFIELD

 We traded in the loaner and Elizabeth got her car back after three weeks.  Before Pittsfield's Haddad Subaru she had been to Carbone where she bought the car, and to Goldstein, and no one could find the electrical breaks an fix it.  Haddad just earned themselves a new customer.

Afterwards, of course, we needed a good breakfast at the Misty Diner.  I ate polka fries which was crispy fries topped with sauerkraut and small bits of kielbasa and some melted cheese.  It was great.

CLARK MUSEUM

After getting the repaired car and having breakfast in Pittsfield, we went to the Clark to see the new exhibit.

Nikolai Astrup: Visions of Norway

Here is a video presentation of his art, his technique and his personal history.  It is long, but very well done.

https://youtu.be/Hqewm3httHc

I took the photos posted below.  

Both  Elizabeth and I were very pleased and impressed with the entire exhibit.  We delighted in the intensity of the colors and the rural scenes of Norway where huge mountains back up intense foilage.  The people he painted were not always impressive, but all the rest was.  We will definitely visit again before it is over.

I was especially interested in his woodcut prints because he embellished  them afterwards with oil paints to make them more to his liking.

This was the first time he exhibited in the US and it was really grand that the Clark picked up this exhibit.  It also impresses us that the Clark never seems to add on those extra charges for the special exhibits.  We are members, so it is always free for us.

I get tired easily so a couple hours is always enough, but we did stretch it into seeing another special exhibit of whimsical metal work.  Also, we visited some of the old favorites, the Winslow Homer, the four Italians in the painting called "Musical Group" some Innes, especially the boy fishing with a cow.

Then we tired out and met some friends at a great Indian restaurant called Spice Root.  I had lamb korma and it was just wonderful.

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Here I put myself in a painting.  The walls were done in a way that allowed it.

This was a sketch.  

Outside the Clark were new fountain decorations.  Great to have fish there.

This was a separate exhibit.  Really amusing.

Many of the others also opened like this rhino, for drinks or a unusual desk.