Fall Weekend in the Berkshires

 

I find myself way behind on blogging about summer in Philadelphia for America 250, where we were blessed by abundant free entertainment and great natural beauty.

Just having returned from a road trip to Austerlitz, New York, I thought I would first share photos of that trip.

Fall in the northeast brings the dramatic changing of the leaves.  The further north we drove, the more the leaves exploded with color.  It was a preview of what will become more prominent in our home town of Ardmore over the coming weeks.

The highways were far from empty but also not jammed.  We set a comfortable pace, stopping for breakfast at McDonald's after an hour and a half.  Then we took a rest stop at the beginning of the Taconic State Parkway for Julie to take the wheel for 45 minutes before she resumed her navigator position at a gas stop for the final few miles.

We knew we would arrive before Amy, who was riding up with her wonderful friends Oliver, Rachel and their baby boy Kai.  

That gave us time to unload my recliner (recently replaced) with the help of their friend and roommate Topaz, who was about to go to the gym.

Ready for a walk on this sunny but brisk autumn day, Julie and I hiked down the path to their pond.

We still had enough time to drive to iconic Dan's Diner to split a double smash burger with fries.

Shortly after we returned, Amy and her friends arrived.  We spent some time visiting before the friends headed to their hotel.

Amy was working remotely, so she completed her projects while I did some research on shore excursions for a client, and Julie read.

Gina took the train to Hudson, where Lukas would also be arriving from his job in time for dinner.  It's an amazing technological age in which we live, where so many of us work remotely without missing a beat thanks to technology.

Downtown Hudson is the six block nucleus of a sprawling community.  It has a charming, artsy feel, having been recently gentrified.

After dropping Gina's luggage at the Howard Hotel, we walked down centrally-located Warren Street. 

We were pleasantly surprised to see Lukas's sister Rabea hunting for a parking space as we walked toward the upscale wood-fired, "all natural" pizza restaurant where we would have dinner.  Rabea thought she might not make it there until after we finished dinner, but the timing turned out to be perfect.

At Baba Louie's, we asked for a table for six upon  arriving and were seated as soon as tables could be re-arranged.

It's good we did, because within five minutes, the whole place was packed and would-be diners were waiting for tables.

Two large pizzas, a family-sized Caesar Salad and a bowl of soup, plus wines or beer for everyone except Amy, sated our crew.  The specialty vegetarian pizza with figs and other non-traditional toppings, plus one pepperoni pizza, seemed to provide sufficient choice.

We finished all of the food, but walking back past the ice cream store that Amy said she's been hoping to try because of their vegan selections, everyone said they were too full to eat more, so I guess we had the perfect amount of dinner.

Rabea headed directly to her car, while the rest of us stopped in at Gina's hotel lobby for a few minutes.  There's a house guitar in the lobby, which I plucked a bit as we talked.  After a few minutes, most of us headed back to Austerlitz, where I played my guitar and sang songs for over an hour before we went to bed.

I recently subscribed to Ultimate Guitar, which on my iPad gives me access to chords and lyrics for thousands of songs.  I feel like a young boy with a new toy.

The next morning after I picked up Gina in Hudson, I was playing again.

About 11:45, Julie, Gina and I headed to Lukas's parents' house, where the "featured attraction," a baby shower, would be held.  A stop at Price Choppers for groceries ended up taking longer than we expected as we searched for specific brands of assorted snacks and drinks for the party in an unfamiliar store layout.

Upon arriving in New Lebanon, we were put to work washing dishes, chopping tomatoes, other vegetables and cheese for Caprese Salad and seven-layer dip.  Julie ironed a table cloth.

We were all happy to know how we could help out with the arrangements, which we had volunteered to do, arriving early to do so.  Topaz also pitched in with cutting vegetables when he arrived.

Most folks attending the shower have known Lukas since he was a little boy.  Amy has held mutual affection with these folks for a decade or so at this point.  They're nice folks.

The younger contingent was made up primarily of Lukas's childhood friends and their significant others, who also grew up in this rural community.  Fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons, and nature adventures are prominent for them.

One of Amy's roller derby friends, Olive, took the train up from NYC, staying in a guest bedroom at Amy's house.

Apple pie

Joe Brown, who has been a mentor for Amy for years, also came to the party.  He relocated to the countryside from New York City a few years ago, but like so many others still keeps a busy schedule working remotely.  It was great putting a face to the name I've heard so often in Amy's work stories.  He's a nice guy, too.

Joe arrived at the shower just before a toast by Silke, Lukas's mother, and a few speeches and poems by the group.  It's not the type of social gathering that Julie and I are accustomed to attending.

I suppose if I'd known what was happening, I would have brought my guitar to the porch to be ready to sing Danny's Song, but I had left my Ovation in the car.  It always needs to be tuned after being transported, which would have made the merge less than seamless.  Plus, I still feel to some extent like a fish out of water up there.

It's a unique place with its own rhythm, where everyone else seems to be enveloped into the community, much like Stars Hollow in The Gilmore Girls.

Next on the unwritten agenda, Amy and Lukas took seats in the yard to receive good wishes from guests, who arrived on their own or in pairs.

Many brought items once prized by their now grown children, including a freshly renovated book shelf.

Others, including us, purchased items from the gift register.  Some made or purchased special gifts on their own accord.

All of the gifts and best wishes were warmly received.

It almost felt like the Magi delivering frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus,  although in this case the baby is still inside Amy for a few more weeks.

Most of the "Magi" shared some advice on what to expect when raising a child.

Joe walked over along with Stu, who I thought must be another friend from the magazine world.  Actually, Stu is a neighbor of Silke and Winfried.  Joe and Stu both have 7-year-old daughters and so thought it appropriate that they both speak as a team.  They had sometimes contradictory words of wisdom, but it all sounded right in its own light.

After the party, I dropped Gina off at her hotel and drove back in the dark.  Fortunately I did not encounter any deer running across the road in front of me.

Back at the house, I played guitar again.  I have a bit of obsession with my new toy.

Early the next morning, Julie, Amy and I drove Amy's friend Olive to the train station in Hudson to catch an early morning train.  A lovely rainbow arched across the sky, though Julie's iPhone seems to have "corrected" the color out of it.  We always say rainbows are my mom smiling on an event.

We picked up Gina at the Howard Hotel and drove to Plaza Diner for breakfast.  I had southern fried steak with eggs over easy, potatoes and rye toast.  Gina went with French Toast and Bacon.  Julie had an eggs and sausage sandwich.  Amy had eggs over hard with rye toast and potatoes.

It was a very good meal in a place that felt like a step back in time to a simpler age.  Plaza Diner was a lot like restaurants where my childhood family would have stopped on cross-country road trips.

We went to Gina's hotel for coffee and conversation in Howard Hotel's lobby before dropping her off at the train station for her trip home.

A leisurely day awaited the rest of us once we returned to beautiful Austerlitz.

Julie and I went for a walk around the tree-lined streets to take in the fall colors, but mostly we just relaxed around the house.

For dinner, Amy made a delicious dish of cabbage in spicey peanut sauce.  That was my favorite food of the whole weekend in New England.

Lukas's mother came over with a zucchini as big as my arm, which she split in half and filled with vegetables, ground meat and cheese.

There were also sauteed mushrooms and a tossed salad, plus some wine from Lisboa (Lisbon).

It was a delicious farewell feast.

Rabea had built a fire in the hearth early and kept it stoked all evening.  Once again I brought out my guitar.  Topaz also played his guitar.  He and I had little cross-over material, but the whole group was happy to sing along with songs they knew.  At one point I did a highwire act of trying to play songs on request, looking at Ultimate Guitar "sheet music" for the first time.

The next morning, Amy and Lukas rode back to Jersey City via Manhattan with Julie and me.  Both of them were working remotely as we drove, stopping once for phone meetings at a little rest stop along the highway.

As Julie and I drove home after dropping them in Jersey City, we found the Frank Sinatra Sirius station, where I hoped against all odds to find his rendition of Let's Get Away from It All.  Instead, we were treated to cuts from a new album set recorded during Sinatra's era at the Sands in Las Vegas, with commentary by hotel magnate Steve Wynn.

That specific song wasn't among the cuts we heard, but Frank started that show with "Come Fly Away," which has a similar sentiment.

We loved our weekend in the Berkshires.  Originally I wrote that we loved our weekend in New England, but Austerlitz is actually 10 miles away from the Massachusetts border.  New York (named after York, England) is not considered to be in New England.  But Austerlitz sure could play New England on TV, especially in autumn.

The Bermuda Triangle

No, we were not sucked into a mysterious vortex, never to be seen again.

We instead repeatedly found ourselves standing, floating or sitting under an umbrella in waist-deep water at Tobacco Bay.

We also loved taking turns swimming through colorful tropical fish while snorkeling.

I long ago gave up trying to take photos underwater, which never turned out anything close to the remarkable reality.  You just have to see God's miraculous creations for yourself.

The best snorkeling for clear water and lots of fish was inevitably before the cruise ship passengers made their way over by ferry from the Royal Dockyards on the West End of Bermuda.

The gray building is where Julie and I spent nights.

NCL keeps a dedicated ferry boat for exclusive use of their passengers.

However, the big snorkel highlight was when Jay guided us to find an octopus hiding in his "garden."  It's hard to find this clever sea creature that blends so well with its surroundings, but Jay spotted it on different occasions to show different people on separate swims.

Sometimes, we simply played in the sand or lapping water on shore, using the shovels, buckets and castle wall forms furnished by our rental.

On our first morning in Bermuda, continuing to play in the sand was not going to be sufficient to satisfy 3-year-old Owen, who wanted to snorkel with his mama and papa.

I told Owen if he stayed with me, I would walk over to our rental apartment for a treat.  That seemed to satisfy him, but then he decided he wanted a treat and to go snorkeling.

With a binary choice, he walked with me to our rental that had a direct view across the access road to the craggy rocks, turquoise water and sand of the bay.

In front of our place was a small circular table and two stools, all made of concrete.

We brought out peanut butter crackers, similar to the ones my Granddaddy used to buy me when he took me to a cattle auction in Alabama when I was young and on vacation.  For me, that was always a treat, so I had no doubts Owen would see it as such.

Thankfully, he did, as evidenced by his big smile and the relish with which he gobbled down the crackers.

After peanut butter crackers, Owen wanted more, so we split a two-pack of granola bars for a balanced diet.

We enjoyed our treat break so much that Owen asked to repeat it for mid-morning breaks every day, although I ran out of peanut butter crackers after the second day so we substituted English tea biscuits, which weren't as good but filled in.

The little house also served as a nice air-conditioned place for baby Rory to take naps.  Adults took turns watching over the little guy, also enjoying the air-conditioned shade oasis from the regular 80 + degrees daily temperatures outdoors, day and night.

Rory also loved beach time, too.  He wants to be part of the action, just like his big brother, whom he obviously admires and adores.  And Owen loves his baby brother.

As for Julie and me, we enjoyed our views from the windows of that little apartment.

Not fancy by any means, the selling point was obviously the view of and proximity to Tobacco Bay.

In terms of provisions for our stay, Julie and I had brought oatmeal packets, cheese, granola bars and coffee from home, basically covering breakfast with a view throughout our sojourn.

Upon arrival, our shuttle driver stopped at the minimart in the harbor town so we could buy a few grocery items, including rolls, lunch meat and two six-packs of Guinness Extra Stout.

Jay, Laszlo and I savored an occasional beer on hot beach days.

That was the first corner of our Bermuda Triangle vacation.

We would get up early, have coffee and breakfast and then make two trips over to Tobacco Bay carrying beach supplies, most of which were stored in a back room at our place by Jay's family.

That included a small tent, suitcase full of snorkel gear and lounge chair-like floaty. We also brought sand toys, smaller floaty and towels from the rental unit.

Once we had dropped everything in the prime spot each morning, Julie and I donned masks and snorkels to explore the crystal clear water.  The snorkeling was always best in the early morning, when we were the only ones out there.  No feet shuffled along the ocean floor kicking up silt.

I would say there were fewer tropical fish than our last trip to Tobacco Bay, but still plenty to see, including beautiful coral.  There were a lot fewer clouds of tiny "fry" fish.  I assume this is seasonal, because we have gone a little later in the year on recent visits.

Paddle boarding was another activity at Tobacco Bay.

Initially, Emma tried a non-traditional stance that somehow worked.

Emma's figure skating balance helped her be stable no matter how she paddled.

Owen was happy to hitch a ride with his Papa, cousin Emma or Auntie Gina.

Eventually, Jay's family would take a shuttle or walk down the hill from the second corner of our Bermuda Triangle, St. George's Club, where they stayed, as usual.

Downhill, it is not a bad walk, but going uphill after a day at the beach can feel like a slog.  It is good St. George's Resort has a shuttle bus for guests that goes to the St. Regis, which is near Tobacco Bay.

Because they had the toddler and baby to contend with, it was easiest for them to meet at their place after our beach days.

As with any family gathering, we enjoyed a bit of game time, though not so much as we might when not on a tropical island.

Owen and Rory love the water so much that they inevitably wanted to be in the swimming pool in the evenings, when the temperatures still hovered in the 80s, (though fortunately we all had air conditioning in our places).

We had fun throwing and retrieving little re-usable water balloons.  Owen found my juggling expertise with those water balloons quite impressive, as you can hear at the video linked here. 

Owen loved playing the same game I played with all of our kids: "Fly to Me, My Chickadee!"  It is a simple game, where Owen would jump from the side of the wall toward my awaiting hands as I slowly, unnoticeably moved back to a point where he would not have attempted jumping there initially.

Jay barbecued steaks and hamburgers on the poolside grill.

Sous Chef helps make hamburger patties

He cooked enough so that Julie and I ate the leftovers one night when we watched Rory when Jay and Sasha went out on a date night at a fancy restaurant in the St. Regis complex.  Owen went out with his nanny Paige for a special meal, too.  

Earlier that same afternoon, Jay and I walked to to check out Moongate Brewing Co., a new brewery in St. George's Harbor.

We shared beer flights.

I wouldn't give the beer a high rating, but the setting was great for a little father-son time.

Gina, Laszlo and Emma had gone on an adventure by ferry for Emma to swim with dolphins that day and were late returning home.

Gina and Laszlo bought admission to the museum to watch Emma frolic with the friendly dolphins from a distance.

The Dolphin seemed happy about the encounter, too!

The third corner of our Bermuda Triangle was the house that Gina, Laszlo and Emma rented with a harbor view.

Theoretically, that should have been the ideal location for pre-dinner snacks and drinks, because they were located close to the restaurants of St. George's. 

Their cottage was quite charming and had a great view, but Julie and I didn't make it over until walking home from St. George's Club on our last night in Bermuda. 

Gina packed bagged snacks from TJ Maxx in her suitcase and purchased wine at the grocery mart in St. George's with plans to host.  But only Jay's family would be staying more than four nights, and we've already accounted for two dinners that we did not eat in town.  They ended up bringing snacks and wine they bought in town to Jay's condo at St. George's Club

Gina calls herself a "pre-crastinor" --- making plans way in advance, but staying open to possible adaptation --- and not only did she pre-plan for potential snack times, she also planned a few day trips, including Emma's dolphin swim.

On another excursion, Laszlo and Emma went helmet diving, where a helmet connected to a source of oxygen allows guests to walk on the ocean floor for a guided tour about twenty feet below the water surface.

The rest of us stayed at Tobacco Bay with the usual fun daily routines while Emma and Laszlo went helmet diving.

An important item on Gina's to-do list was to watch the Town Crier performance that we had barely missed the last time.  That is a daily occurrence at the Harbor a short walk from her rental house, but when not on the road, we were at Tobacco Bay most of the days and St. George's Club in the evenings.

So, on the appointed day, she planned to walk there about lunchtime from Tobacco Bay.  I joined her, because I too wanted to see it.  We were thrilled when Owen said he wanted to go, too.  It would be a fifteen minute walk away, but we thought it might be a bit too far of a walk for Owen in the hot sun, so we grabbed a taxi.

Owen unjustly put in the stocks!

It was a fun outing for the three of us.  We ran into the Crier and asked what time the show would start.  He said at one.  So, we had arrived well over an hour early.  Seeing local kids fishing without poles, we checked it out.  Owen enjoyed interacting with those older kids, who were very sweet to him.

Still with more time, we went across the street to the White Horse Tavern for lunch.  We were seated at a nice outdoor table in the shade with a view of the stage.  A singer guitarist sat on a stool playing folk music.

All at once in the middle of a song, his barstool snapped and broke apart.  He was not, as you might imagine, overweight.  He was understandably shaken.  A restaurant worker ran over to see if he was okay.  He wasn't injured but he was irate.  "Never give me this stool again. It's the second time this has happened!"

When the worker retreated to retrieve a replacement stool, the guitarist picked up the biggest piece of the splintered stool and threw it over the wall into the harbor.  When the worker returned, the singer admitted what he had done, and then proceed to play more songs.  Walking back to the Town Crier performance area, we saw the stool pieces floating.

The Town Crier chose me first to assist him with his trial of a woman accused of being a shrew.  A voice vote of the small crowd assembled found her guilty, so we dunked her repeatedly in the water using the dipping seesaw.  It was a fun outing for the three of us.

Owen tried out the "dunk" seat

Another day, Gina also planned an afternoon ferry ride to the Royal Dockyards as the first leg of a water trip to Hamilton.  Julie and I joined Laszlo, Gina and Emma on this trip.  

Taking the ferry provides some relaxing time on the water for about the price of a bus ride.

Gina and Emma bought some souvenirs, but Laszlo, Julie and I focused on cold drinks at a little coffee place that was ridiculously crowded on this sunny day.

After shopping a bit, strolling over to the historic fort and getting cold drinks, we caught another ferry to Hamilton, where we would have dinner before going to to Harbor Nights, a street fair celebration.

While Julie and I joined Gina, Laszlo and Emma on the boat rides, Jay's family took longer to transition from the beach, opting to take the bus directly to the restaurant in Hamilton, Devil's Isle, which is one of their favorites.  I assume the name refers to the other name for the "real" Bermuda Triangle --- the Devil's Triangle.

The food was tasty, and there was something to fit everyone's diet needs.

Emma was the most adventurous, going with the Nourish Bowl with Kelp Noodles, adding Grilled Octopus as her protein choice.

Julie and I were the most predictable, splitting Bonny's Smash Burger with hand cut fries.

Gina surprised us all at dinner with gifts of Bermuda Christmas ornaments she bought at the Royal Dockyard.

After dinner, we walked over to Hamilton's Harbor Nights, where a parade with loud, festive music and Goombay Dancers, plus lots of stands hawking local goods and souvenirs.

The huge street party was crowded, and at one point we found our group split.  It turned out Jay, Sasha, Owen and Rory had popped into a family-oriented pub, where Owen had fun with a plastic hatchet dart board.

We eventually found them and got back together to watch the Goombay Dancers before heading back to St. George's by bus in two shifts.

On our last night, we finally made it to the Wharf in St. George's for dinner.  Another great family meal, this time outdoors along the water.

We enjoyed our time in our Bermuda Triangle, which flew by like magic.

Julie and I had planned to stay for seven nights, but then we received invitations to our niece Bree's wedding to her fiancée Hayden scheduled for the Sunday we were supposed to fly home, so we cut the trip short.

I decided that Julie's plan to fly back to Philly, re-pack, and fly to Denver the next day for a whirlwind two-night stay was just not something I was ready to do.  I said I would happily do the wedding or Bermuda, but not both. 

Julie did both, and I flew back to Philly along with Julie, Gina, Laszlo and Emma.

Jay's family stayed three more days in Bermuda.  As it turned out, they did have air problems, forcing them to fly home a day later than planned and barely make it on a connecting flight back to Los Angeles, but all's well that ends well.

Before the trip, they had visited their brother-in-law's family in Long Island and then driven up to Austerlitz, New York, to stay at the new house Amy and Lukas purchased recently.  They all enjoyed a nice visits.

Amy and Lukas, incidentally, had not planned to join us in Bermuda, so they were free to go to Bree's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and the visit a lot of fun for everyone.  I'm sorry I missed it, because I love that side of the family, too.

I wasn't left alone to stew in regret.  Gina and Laszlo came over both nights to watch movies with me, "Young Washington" and a funny Thor movie.  We also went on hikes together, and the next thing I knew, Julie was back with tales of her happy Colorado escapades.

Back to the subject of this meandering tale, Julie and I had essentially cruised to the corners of the Bermuda Triangle a year earlier, cruising past Miami to an eventual port in Puerto Rico and onto Bermuda, in the wake of a hurricane.  We lived to tell the tale.

For this island stay in Bermuda, we didn't even have any hurricanes to worry about.  In fact, this is the first time since 1914 that there have been no named hurricanes in the Atlantic by the end of summer.

However, if you want to know more about the subject of this post, here are a couple of videos to sate your curiosity.  The first is a long forgotten ghost-story-like song I well-remember hearing the pre-Stevie Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac perform in concerts in the early 1970s that made us say "Oooooh!"  Maybe this video will inspire you to buy one of those old albums.

The other talks about the legends...and it too is told like a ghost story.

But it also includes scientific reasons, like the very probable sargassum theory for sailing ship wrecks and magnetic fog disorienting pilots who crash small planes.  Hopefully it doesn't make you too afraid to visit this special part of the world.