Saratoga Memories

Saratoga is a wonderful place to take visitors.  There is so much to do that everyone can find something she or he can enjoy.  Alice and Nancy had done their homework and knew exactly where they wanted to go: lunch, peruse the shops on Broadway, Canfield Casino, the Carousel, and ice cream.  Who could argue with those choices?

We ate at Circus and then wandered and found a knitting shop so I could replace the cable stitch holder I left at Dad's on Saturday.  Nancy was very patient and sat in a convenient (and I hope comfortable) chair while Alice and I sorted through a basket of free patterns (yup, free!).  We each found many and were able to direct each other to patterns fitting the other's tastes (she makes scarves, mittens, hats, and baby things while I stick to sweaters and socks for the most part).

Then we had to find a new parking spot and were lucky to hit pay dirt right across the street from the Saratoga Springs Historical Museum in Canfield Casino.  This is a historical museum unlike any others I've visited.  There are the usual "history of the town" photos and items (the history of the town is quite interesting), the anticipated history of the Casino complete with gambling memorabilia and furniture, and then a most unexpected history of a single Saratoga family.  Talk about soap opera!  This drama is housed on the third floor, and I don't want to go into the details (no way could I remember all of the convoluted relationships, comings and goings, let alone the sins/crimes/mental-emotional issues with which this family was fraught.  Suffice it to say, it's worth the time, and you won't believe it until you see and hear all about it.  We had quite a time there.

After all that "sturm und drang"* on the third floor of the Casino, well, we needed a little frivolity:

Next time I'll choose the horse in front of them as my own special steed, but this photograph isn't as bad as I thought it might be.  The Carousel had just started when I called to Alice and Nancy to turn around.  Cell phones are terrific, aren't they?

It was Nancy's work on her cell phone that helped us find our final stop of the day, an ice cream stand where we all had root beer floats.  We were thirsty and hot, and oh, it tasted soooooo good!

Saratoga in the summer may be hot and a little crowded (but we were there before racing season really started), but well worth the time.

*German, literally, storm and stress, from Sturm und Drang (1776), drama by Friedrich von Klinger †1831 German novelist and dramatist

First Known Use: 1845

citation from:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sturm%20und%20drang