Upstate New York

From our campground outside Burlington we drove south, headed for upstate New York.  About twenty minutes into the trip our GPS - a unit specifically configured for recreational vehicles - told us to turn left and get into a line leading to a ferry.

Whoa!  We don't hold with no ferry where our motorhome is concerned.  Some ferries have weird rules regarding onboard pets.  And getting our big old motorhome and its towed pickup truck onto and off ferry ramps was not a complication we needed.

Turns out there is a GPS option - "Avoid ferries" - which had not been turned on.  Operator error.  After ordering the GPS to yes, avoid ferries, we re-entered our destination - Lake George, New York - and off we went.

Unfortunately, no U-turn appropriate for a motorhome of size presented itself, so it was quite a while before we got back to our Burlington area campground and on the proper road to our next campground.  We found Lake George to be a truly beautiful body of water, and we would have enjoyed more time there, but we had only one night scheduled before our reservations further down in the Hudson River Valley.

Nancy was intrigued by the description of one of the many resort hotels on the lake - the Inn at Erlowest: "A magnificent turn of the century stone castle".  You know how we love our castles.  We drove there, thinking that we might have a light dinner at the bar.  The building was impressive but probably doesn't meet the Wilson criteria for a castle.  Not a single turret!  (Sorry about the underexposure.)

We walked into a wedding reception at the inn.  Pretty twenty-something girls in beautiful bridesmaids' dresses and their male counterparts on a gorgeous terrace overlooking Lake George.

The bar was open for business, and we had drinks and small plates for dinner there.  It was fun talking with our fellow barflies, most of whom were guests at the inn and hailed from all over the country.

The next morning we moved on .. and the skies opened up.  A heavy rain descended upon us, and driving on a busy multi-lane highway in a downpour is not one of my favorite things to do.  Eventually we pulled safely into our destination RV park in the town of Rhinebeck, New York.

The Hudson River Valley in upstate New York is a fascinating part of the country.  It contains a number of "gilded age" mansions - that is, magnificent - some would say excessive - residencies of the super-rich built in the late 19th century.  It also is home to the FDR presidential library and the Culinary Institute of America - the premier cooking university in the country.

We began our explorations by visiting Staatsburgh, the home of Ogden Mills, who was the fabulously wealthy son of Darius Mills, one of the richest men of his era.  I'm not sure what dance step Nancy is attempting there.

The Leland-Stanford-designed mansion is said to have similarities to Downton Abbey (or Upstairs, Downstairs or Gosford Park) in that the lower floors were the province of the servants, and the upstairs was where the owners and their guests lived what looks like a charmed (if stuffy) existence.

Unfortunately, our tour through the property was led by a middle-aged lady who inexplicably loved the sound of her voice.  No on-off switch was provided so it was something of an excruciating hour.  But the house was nice.

Ogden Mills reportedly was one of the good guys.  He built his estate as a working farm not to be a profitable enterprise but to provide work and prosperity for the community and the hundreds of his employees.  An admirable outlook.