This past weekend I got to spend time with a familiar face, which I really needed! I went up to Saratoga Springs, NY to visit my friend from home, Amanda, who goes to Skidmore College.
On the way there I stopped in a town called Stockbridge, which Frommers named one of the best small towns. It is located in the Berkshires, which is Western Massachusetts and driving though it I couldn’t help looking all around me at the trees beginning to change. Stockbridge is the first town to be what I envisioned as a cute New England town. The downtown consisted of about a two-block long main street and two other side streets. I stopped at Stockbridge Coffee, hoping to enjoy a drink while getting some schoolwork done, but the five people in the shop were taking up all the seating space available. What I loved most about Stockbridge was that there weren’t any tourist shops, and even though some of the people I’m sure were tourists it didn’t feel like a tourist town. The one store I went into was really cool and is kind of hard to describe. It had an eclectic mix of items from the past decades. I saw posters of 1960s bands, old issues of Life magazine, and CDs.
As I was approaching Saratoga Springs, I immediately realized that it was bigger than I thought. I met Amanda and she and her friend, Lindsey, showed me around campus then we walked downtown, which was only 15 minutes away. The downtown, which spanned several blocks, was much larger than I thought it would be. It consisted of boutiques, cafes, restaurants, and random shops. I learned that Saratoga Springs is known for its water, and downtown there is a park where there are fountains of water you can drink from. Amanda told me that there is fountain with water that tastes really good and is carbonated, but smelled like sulfur. I was skeptical if it would really taste good if it smelled bad, so I waited until a young boy tried it to see his reaction. He absolutely hated it. Apparently people bottle this water because it is so good for you and contains several beneficial minerals. I decided I wanted to try it anyway. The first time I didn’t get that much and thought it was disgusting. Since I really wanted to taste the carbonation I drank more. It was so disgusting that if you ever decide to go to Saratoga and drink it, bring a mint or gum to get the taste out of your mouth.
For dinner we ate in the dining hall, which was huge! There are so many stations and several healthy items. There was even a projection screen showing college football. Later that night we went to a comedy show featuring some stand up comics from NYC.
After breakfast the next day, where I made my own omelet in the dining hall, I headed back to Massachusetts. I stopped at a town in the Berkshires, Lenox, to get some work done at Lenox Coffee. Once I arrived I discovered a festival, called Apple Squeeze, was going on. I sat at a table outside since it was a beautiful day of 80 degrees and listened to a band play a block away for the festival, while I worked. When I was done a walked around the festival, which consisted of stands selling homemade crafts and food, especially apples. Walking around the rest of the small downtown, I decided I had discovered another town that was my idea of a cute New England town.
No comments:
Post a Comment