When I think of the stereotypical image of New England – the fall leaves, the bright green grass, the serene neighborhoods, the flowing maple syrup – I think of the upper three states: Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I had never been to any of these so I was quite anxious to get into them. On the other hand, the stereotype of New York is the hustle and bustle of Times Square, which the northern part of New York is really nothing like. On Thursday, July 12, 2012, I got to travel from one area to the other and experience the seamless transition between the states. Of course, this was no simple afternoon drive; it was all part of the quest that my friend Bob and I were on as we wove our way through the New England area.
The day began in Saratoga Springs, New York, where we had spent the night in order to get a leg up on our first stop of the next day. We checked out of the Roosevelt Inn & Suites and headed on over to the National Museum of Racing & Hall of Fame elsewhere in the city. This might sound cool – but it turns out the racing was horse racing and it was a subject that interested me very little. I opted to sit this one out, but I still respected Bob’s desire to visit all of the sports Hall of Fames around the country. The only problem here was that we expected it to open at 9am, but it didn’t open until 10. Bob roamed around the exterior and I sat in the car meditating with my iPod ear buds in my ears. Eventually 9am rolled around and Bob got in and out of the museum in about 20 minutes.
Bob goes where the horses and riders are honored
With a statue of that famous Seabiscuit animal cracker
The next museum on our agenda was the National Museum of Dance & Hall of Fame also located in Sarasota Springs. I like a good stage or movie musical and am fascinated by certain types of dance that can be found within them, so this was one I didn’t choose to skip. It wasn’t the most exciting museum by any stretch of the imagination, but it provided us with at least 20 minutes of casual browsing of the displays – including the current rotating exhibits Tails and Terpsichore and En Pointe! The former involved the intertwining of animals and dance (and included plenty of Disney references), the latter involved ballet shoes and made me want to gag.
Gracefully gliding into the National Museum of Dance
Hall of Fame inductees, including Busby Berkeley
Trying in vain to look as gracefully and debonair as Fred Astaire
Peace out, MJ
Animal animation display – with a Disney Fantasia connection
Even in the bathroom we can think about dancing. The Nicholas Brothers are two of my favorites.
But the funniest event of the day occurred around 11am as we left the Dance museum. In the parking lot was a bus from Schenectady, and as I’ve already mentioned, the city’s name evokes laughs between my cousin Chris and me. Therefore I had Bob snap a picture of me with the bus. As we were driving away, the bus drive came running over to us, concerned about why we had taken a picture of the bus (thinking he might be illegally parked). Bob tried in vain to explain that I had a ‘thing’ about Skenet…Schken…Sneget… but the tongue twister name of the city just wouldn’t come out. So he hit me and just told the bus driver not to worry. Of course I couldn’t stop laughing for a full 20 minutes, recalling Stan Laurel’s line from Me and My Pal, “Well the man said there was no such place as Saskatch…Sussquash…”
I knew this bus would generate laughs. I just didn’t quite realize how many.
Our next stop was a great one – and by far one of the most fascinating Presidential sites I have ever seen. It doesn’t sound too glamorous, but it was the remote cottage northeast of Saratoga Springs in Wilton, New York (actually in the hamlet of Gansevoort) where President Ulysses S. Grant had passed away. The location shares a plot of land with the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility, so there is some extra security getting in and out of the area – but it is well worth it. Our tour guide Bob (not to be confused with my Bob) gave the two of us a great tour of the cottage, which has remained virtually untouched since Grant passed away in it in 1885. I will be updating my posting on Ulysses S. Grant in short order to include this incredible site.
Bob watches the introductory film at the Grant Cottage
The Grant Cottage was at the southern base of the Adirondack Mountains, and it was now time to drive through them for nearly three and a half hours. We left the Grant Cottage a little after 12:30pm and arrived at our next destination around 4pm. During the drive we stopped off in the tourist area of Lake George to pick up some McDonald’s for lunch.
Where were we headed you ask? Well…I know if I tell you, you’re going to think that we’re nuts, but I guess if you’re reading this website then you already know that. My friend Bob and I drove three and a half hours out of the way to visit the grave of another obscure dead Vice President named William Wheeler. This gentleman was the 19th Vice President of the United States from 1877-1881, serving the full term under President Rutherford B. Hayes. If you’ve never heard of him, don’t feel bad; when Hayes first heard that Wheeler had been nominated as V.P., he wrote his wife and said, “I am ashamed to say: Who is Wheeler?”
Nevertheless, there was no way that either Bob or I were going to miss the grave of a Vice President, especially since we were this ‘close’ to it. He was buried in the Morningside Cemetery in Malone should you ever decide to make this trek to far reaches of northern New York, about 10 miles south of the Quebec, Canadian border. And of course, because of the remote locations, it makes it one of the ‘rarer’ locations for Presidential buffs. I made sure that we took pictures with both of our cameras…just in case.
The grave of our 19th Vice President William Wheeler. Who??
Before we left Malone, we stopped at an old ice cream stand called Bokie’s drive-In, where I was happy to partake in a peanut butter shake. But I digress.
Peanut butter diversion in Malone
This finished up our New York adventures for this trip, but there were many stones unturned in this state, so Bob and I knew that there was going to have to be a re-visit to some spots in our future. We began out trek eastward and about 90 minutes later we crossed into Vermont.
Entering Vermont for the first time ever
Since remote locations seemed to be the order of the day, we took drove another hour to get to the rather desolate location of the birthplace of President Chester A. Arthur. This location can be seen in full here.
Checking out the (possible) birthplace of Chester A. Arthur
Bob driving in a cornfield or something
OK, I know you already think that we’re totally nuts, so I’ll just go ahead and put out next location out there without any reservations: the world’s largest filing cabinet. Don’t worry, it was on the way to our final destination of the night. Somewhere in Burlington, Vermont, which was about 45 minutes south of Fairfield, is an empty lot in which someone with more time on their hands than I’ll ever have (although by now you might find that hard to believe) has stacked one file cabinet on top of another, presumably with the intention of reaching heaven. I had found this stackable Tower of Babel on the Roadside America website and thought it might provide another nice diversion. I was right.
A 38-foot tall pile of file
The massive height of the filing cabinet is put into a better perspective when I’m next to it, so I happily trudged through the overgrown weeds in order to bring you this photo
Another hour south of the filing cabinet was the town of East Middlebury, Vermont. This is where Bob and I arrived at around 8:45 to stay the night. I’ll wait until the next posting to get into the reason why, but for now I’ll just tell you that I was finally able to taste some of that famous Vermont maple syrup. Sort of.
Maple syrup in slab-of-rib form
Taking a load off in a most special location
We ate in the B&B restaurant known as the Pine Room and I enjoyed some clam chowder and Memphis style ribs – which had been cooked with smoky poblano, jalapeño, and you guessed it, Vermont maple syrup. I had arrived.
The New England trip will continue with more of Vermont…
Was Tom on the Schenectady bus?
Chris
March 19th, 2013