September 13th, 2013
On a gloomy overcast day, 13 top up Miatas left the Charlton rest area. We traveled west on the Mass Pike to exit 3 getting stuck in bridge construction mid way. We drove some wonderful scenic routes in southwestern MA on route to our lunch stop in Hudson NY.
Bob, Janet, Lillian and Joe had a picnic lunch at the Volunteer Fire Fighters Museum. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to tour the museum (maybe a future Miata trip?)
In the afternoon, we stopped to tour Olana the home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church. Our group was too large to tour together so we were broken into two groups. The difficult group went with the strict tour guide and we easy rule following people went with the nicer more laid back tour guide.
After the tour, we crossed the Rip Van Winkle Bridge on route to the Hotel Vienna in Windham NY. We were all tired and hungry, so after checking in, most of us headed to nearby Cave Mountain Brewing Co. for supper.
Saturday dawned beautiful and foggy but we managed to drive top down to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts to visit the Woodstock Music Festival Museum. On our way we encountered gravel roads, the reservoir built over the town of Neversink, and a memorable lady, in a black lace bustier, walking a dog. Saturday was Joe’s birthday and Lillian treated him to dinner at his favorite Italian restaurant in that area, the Brandywine.
Sunday started out foggy again. Is it always foggy in the mountains? The group split up into two main groups.
My group, led by Ed Jutras, started the day traveling to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite never having been on these roads we made the trip without incident with only one slight deviation from the directions. Good thing Ed has a GPS. We had lunch in Cooperstown and traveled on to Howe’s Cavern.
Howe’s Caverns were discovered by Lester Howe after observing cows hanging around the opening to get the cool breeze on hot summer days. “How do you know the rocks on the roof won’t fall down?” The cave was very interesting but didn’t have many classic stalactites and stalagmites. The official photographer took our group picture and I think Ed has posted it on Face book. Lillian’s group spent the morning resting and visiting at the hotel then departed on their Zip-line adventure. They were full of stories when they returned. Bob rented the helmet with the camera so we were able to view some of their adventures on Jack’s computer. I think most of them were glad they had gone but also glad it was over.
The Hotel Vienna was very nice and the owner asked us to line our cars up in front of the hotel for a picture. I think he wants to use the picture on his Face book account.
Monday we returned home. Most of the group took I-90 for a quick trip but a few of us went north to connect with Route 2 for a more scenic drive.
Another great trip with a great group of people.
Submitted by Lillian Orchard
