Yep...you heard it here first. I'm camping again. It's not nearly as cold here, but super buggy! Of course I didn't notice the level of bugs until after I went to buy new firewood. Now I feel obligated to have a fire though I have no desire to sit out with the bugs any longer than I have to.
Today was a good day. It was the first in a while that I've felt I can really say that. It just felt good to be out here. It was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. Nice and sunny and warm, but not hot. The leaves are really starting to change colors and I was driving through beautiful areas all the way. Lots of mountains (Catskills) as well as a lot of farmland. The farmland is cool because the bright green fields on hillsides set off the deep colors of the leaves just perfectly.
It's a good thing the driving was so great, because that's most of what I did today. Starting with getting out of Schenectady. I thought I'd found a great short cut road to get to the highway from my hotel. Unfortunately it wasn't labeled very well on the map. But I got going and was just sure I'd found it. I drove and drove and finally saw what looked like a highway and was very excited. It seemed strange though because it looked almost exactly like the on ramp for the other highway by my hotel. "How strange," I thought. "All of Schenectady's on ramps seem to look exactly the same." Of course then I realized it wasn't the highway I was looking for. It was the one by my hotel. And sure enough I drove a little further and there was my hotel. So a half hour after I'd left I was back where I started and I still have absolutely no idea how I did it! There must have been a lot of slight curves in the road or something because I really don't remember ever changing directions.
Turns out, had I just gone straight from my hotel it was a direct route to the highway. Direct as in not even making a single turn. So much for my shortcut.
The first chunk of drive as all interstate, but very deserted, beautiful, scenic interstate. Then I got to get off the highway and head out to the Catskill nature preserve. It's funny...it really didn't get anymore scenic between the nature preserve and the interstate. Everything is pretty quiet and nature-like out here. I was really surprised at how quiet everything is out here. I had expected it to be more like the Adirondacks where even though it was off season it felt like there was stuff everywhere and all sorts of places to be a tourist. The Catskills are more just quiet little towns with little neighborhoods and an occaisonal ice cream shop or two.
Speaking of little towns, I stopped in one that had the world's largest kaliedoscope. It's stuff like that that makes road tripping so great. So random and fun. I think this kaliedoscope was the realization of somebody's drug trip. It's a 10 minute long show where you lay on the floor and see all sorts of crazy images...ranging from political to pot leaves to just plain crazy going through the already crazy kaliedoscope lens....along with all sorts of background music and drumming, some of which shook the floor. I was just an eensy bit motion sick afterwards.
After the show you go in to this incredible shop that has kaliedoscopes made out of everything. And I do mean everything...wood, glass, gold, bike parts, baseballs, footballs, etc. Some of them played music or lit up, some of them had hand painted "spinny parts", some used beads, etc. I would've never been able to pick one to buy but I really just wanted to hang out in that shop for a few days and play!
After dragging myself out of the shop I went to the little deli that was connected to it to get a snack. I got a slice of broccoli cheddar quiche. This place had everything! :)
From there I headed up the windy little road to Woodstock. Woodstock is a funny little place. You drive up this windy little road through the trees and then all of a sudden BAM! A road full of all the tie-dye you could ever want! I parked and walked around for a bit, and it was fun but a bit strange because every store sold just about the same stuff. Woodstock t-shirts, stickers, and tie-dye. And old band t-shirts. I bought a couple of bumper stickers but surprisingly, no tie-dye.
I'd planned to drive further today but I ended up in a place where I could either stop early, or drive a lot longer to the next place to stay. Since these roads are scary at night (dark, hard to see wildlife), I figured it'd be better to stop early. So I'm at the super buggy Woodstock KOA. Good times will be had i'm sure. The good news is, the guy who checked me in (who needs to work on his people skills, but that's another story) said that even though there's no tent campers tonight they've had quite a few coming through, especially on the weekends. That's really good news because hopefully I'll be able to go back to camping more regularly now without that creepy only person there feel. Yay!
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I'm glad you got to camp again...the last couple nights here have been warm again & I was thinking they'd be good nights for you to be doing that. (Then thinking how easy it is for me to say that, lying in my bed, under the window, with my blankets and the occasional cat.)
ReplyDeleteThe changing leave are beautiful. A couple of the early changing trees here have started to turn. Still, fall always makes me a little sad, even thought it is the most spectacularly colorful season.
That kaleidoscope sounds so cool. I'd have like to see that; I like seeing odd things that people think of making. I'm kind of impressed that you were able to get out of the store without buying one; I'm not sure I'd have been able to do that.
From your description, the shops at (in?) Woodstock sound a lot like the ones I remember from Hawaii -- all the same stuff in different stores. I probably would've gone for the tie dye...just bought one this summer, as a matter of fact! I know there was a movie about Woodstock playing recently. Not sure if it's a documentary or not. Might've been fun to see that while you were there, if it was playing.