Even though the trees are still predominately green, we are glad to see a hint of color in the hill-sides that we passed.
We are pleased with our camping site at Pine Park in Broadalbin, New York. We haven't had a site with 50 amp electricity and full-hook-ups for some time, so we are spoiling ourselves with a week here. We took a picture of the tree in front of our motor home on this beautiful evening. We plan to compare it with a picture of the same tree a week from now.
After our long drive, we rested up for the next day's busy touring schedule. Bright and early the next morning we were on the road to our first stop--the National Bottle Museum in Ballston Spa, New York. Denisa is notorious for finding little-known museums, and this was a dandy. We had never thought much about how bottles were made before an automated process was developed in the early 1900's. Prior to that, all bottles were made one-at-a-time by hand. We got a private tour that explained the process of hand blowing molten glass into wooden or metal molds. They had examples of the tools and molds used and it was surprisingly interesting! Then we were more knowledgeable to see and understand the wall of bottles displayed at the museum.
The museum is free, but they do accept donations. Denisa's Mother was making a donation, when our guide explained that they give a free bottle for every $5 donation. They have duplicate or non-museum-quality bottles that they don't need, and they wrap them up. Betty chose the smallest wrapped bottle so it would fit in her suitcase.
We opened it there at the museum, so we could get an expert opinion of the mystery bottle. He instantly knew that it was hand-blown, and that it was made between 1850 and 1903. That's because it has the vertical lines on the sides where it was formed in a mold. But the lines are discontinued at the lip, where it was finished with a lipping tool while the glass was hot. Now he could conclude that it was probably closer to 1850 because of the lipping tool used. He also mentioned that it was probably a medicine bottle with a corked lid. All of that made perfect sense to us now that we had just toured the National Bottle Museum.
Our next stop was the Saratoga Spa State Park--an unusual state park that offers more pedicures and facials than hiking trails. All this pampering started because of the mineral springs found throughout this area. People came from around the world to bathe in the healing bubbles of the naturally carbonated mineral water. We walked along the trail that connects some of the bigger springs, including the Island Spouter--appropriately named because it is constantly spouting. It forms a geyser-like spray that forces the mineral water up through an opening in the center of the island. But unlike a geyser, this mineral water is pushed upward out of the earth by naturally occurring pressurized carbonic gas.
Mark and Denisa walked the mile-long trail that also took us to the massive Orenda Spring. We found a tall mound of tufa that was decorated by the colored stripes from the minerals present in the water.
Besides bathing in the water, there was believed to be healing properties found in drinking the water. Denisa was the only one brave enough to take a drink out of the fountain. It was probably the wretched face she made as a response to that bubbly bitter water that convinced everyone else they didn't need to taste it.
It's beginning to feel more like fall. We've gone from wearing shorts yesterday, to jeans and jackets today. Some of those falling leaves are embedded in the mineral-rich sides of the spring.
It's beginning to look a lot like autumn!
As we drove into the state park, we saw many people running beside the road. We found out they are part of the 200-mile Ragnar Relay that begins here at Saratoga Spa State Park. They have had 2,000 runners leave this starting line since 2 a.m. this morning. The last two teams took off on their first leg of the relay as we watched. Their 6-member team will run through the day and night to get to Lake Placid and the finish line some time tomorrow.
Our next stop is Queensbury, home of the annual Adirondack Hot Air Balloon Festival. Now wearing coats and gloves, it's even starting to sprinkle. So we're not surprised to find out that the 5:00 lift-off of balloons has been cancelled. A few brave balloon pilots decided to air up their balloons to give the spectators a taste of the festival. But the increasing cold winds are wreaking havoc on keeping the balloon upright.
So just as quickly as the balloon went up, they had to lay it back down to the ground.
Several others used fans to give the audience a sense of their size, without using the hot air to raise them off the ground.
One hot air balloon used the bad weather to their advantage by inflating on the ground and selling tickets to enter. Denisa and her Mother paid the $2 to see the inside of a hot air balloon.
We were disappointed that we didn't get to see the lift-off of the 80 balloons tonight. But if that would have happened as scheduled, we wouldn't have the experience of seeing the inside of a balloon.
It's hard to find something that Denisa's Mother has never done before in her 86 years of traveling, but today we found it.
Since our hot air balloon festival ended early, we went to plan B for our evening activity. We headed towards Saratoga, home to world-class horse racing. According to the Saratoga Springs travel brochure, the "Saratoga Race Course is the country's oldest and most beautiful thoroughbred race track." Their racing season ended on Labor Day, so we could only get a picture of the outer gates of the famous race track.
That season might be over, but they are still hosting harness racing at the nearby Saratoga Casino Raceway. We went there, and discovered our first casino that doesn't allow smoking inside. Good job New York! It was dark by the time we were taking pictures of the race horses pulling the two-wheel buggies.
It was interesting to see that these races are not started in a traditional starting gate. Rather, the horses follow a moving gate on the back of a pickup. When they get to the starting line, the starter vehicle speeds off to the side, while the horses continue around the track several times.
With the falling rain, the track was muddy this evening. But we were told they even race in the snow at this track. We saw a horse lose his footing, and both the horse and jockey hit the ground. We were glad to see them both up and walking later. With the fall of darkness, the best place to take pictures was in the lighted winner's circle. The falling rain and muddy track means that the winning jockey was covered with mud.
This day we took Denisa's Mother on a whirlwind trip through bottles, springs, balloons and horses in eastern New York, and she loved it. Mark thinks he has figured out where Denisa inherited her love of travel.
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