First, getting there. We left from the Madison airport, where they have toddler seats where you can strap your toddler in while you pee, or use them for your bag if you don’t happen to have a toddler handy at the moment.
We changed planes in Chicago to fly to Albany. And had a typical mediocre bagel breakfast. Sadly, I did not take a picture of the companion excellent H&H bagel I had in the NYC Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, but more on that later.
Seen in the background is my old purple Nalgene that I must’ve left under a chair at O’Hare. And I ordered a replacement while we were in the rental cat driving to Albany that should be waiting for me at home when I get there
When we left Madison it was about 60°, and when we got to Rach & Iain’s it was close to 90°, like 87° or so. I went with the boots & bare legs look, that has been all over my insta and Facebook. We’re getting ready to go back now and it’s in the reverse: 40s here, chilly and grey, while it’s supposed to reach a high of 77° back in WI, although it’ll probably be in the 60s by the time we land. So, I’m wearing the same jumper, light leggings, light fleece, and then wool socks with my boots.
Our first night, Rach made dinner, marinated chicken thighs, rice, and roasted asparagus. Perfect for after a day of travelling and iffy food.
View from Rachael’s guest room window
In the morning, Friday, we got up and went for a walk around the neighborhood. Mark and I drove into Saugerties for coffee and some toast at a nice local place called Olsen & Co. Formerly a field mill.
Then we went to Olana, a house museum that’s the home of Frederic Church, one of the Hudson River School painters. I had also visited in 2017, but I need to re-do the photos on that post because the slideshow app I used to use doesn’t work anymore.
Here’s 2026. Looks like I was more interested in furnishings and windows this time.
We had signed up for a guided tour and git a really nice guide, an actor up from the city, who was unpretentious and willing to admit when he didn’t know what something was.
After we wandered the grounds a bit and then went into Hudson, where we had dinner reservations at Feast & Floret, a combined restaurant and florist. I guess they’re into combos in Hudson. We were early so we stopped at a combined coffee and motorcycle & motorcycle gear shop, which actually worked out really well for me, since I wanted to change and they had fitting rooms where I could do that.
We also stopped at Face, a cosmetics store, and I got a bright red lipstick that’s actually some kind of lip dye so it doesn’t seep into my old lady lip wrinkles.
We stopped for a drink at another combo, but not as unusual as motorcycles and coffee, The Maker, a fancy hotel, bar, and restaurant, where Iain’s stepson Rainier works, though Rainier and his girlfriend are in France this week, so we didn’t see him. We got some fancy drinks although only I got any alcohol, some kind of gin drink with a carrot ice cube and elder-flower. It got tastier as the ice melted.
Modeling my lipstick at The Maker
I was a little regretful of my dinner choices at Feast & Floret. Rach got a salad for her main, that was smart. I had a pasta with rye flour and mushrooms that was good but later the photo just looked like a big pile of slugs, and even with the rye & mushroom it really didn’t have much fiber and no vegetables to speak of. Mark and I split flat bread with ricotta that once again seemed too flour-y, too carb-y.
Drying flowers hanging at Feast & Floret
Saturday we went to Storm King, a vast sculpture garden located about an hour south of Rach & Iain’s. Same side of the Hudson River. Things were going along fine, although it was hot and there were some major hills, until Ian got a bout of irregular heartbeat. Rach took him home and Mark and I did a circuit of the park.
The first arty thing was the rainbow cast by the lucite dividers at the outdoor sinks
Storm King view
Colonade outside the museum building
We spied this Martin Puryear from afar when we first got into the park, before Iain started feeling unwell, and eventually Mark and I made our way over to it. It’s called Lookout and is site-specific to Storm King.
On the way we looked at this mirrored fence.
We completed out circuit and sat down for a cold drink.
The original plan was that Mark and I would proceed on to Beacon NY where there’s a DIA Beacon; Rach & Iain were going to go home at that point anyways, because they’d visited that museum recently. Then we’d rendezvous at a little restaurant back in Saugerties called Miss Lucy’s Kitchen. Mark and I did proceed on to Beacon, but we were kind of museum-ed out by then, so we had lunch (bacon, lettuce & avocado sandwich, they were out of tomatoes) and walked around and then simply went back. Iain slept a lot that afternoon and recovered.
So instead of Miss Lucy’s, Rach and Iain had soup at home, and Mark and I had ice cream for dinner at place called Sawyer’s, and then went to see Project Hail Mary at the restored historic theater in Saugerties. It’s called the Orpheum, and is part of a group called Upstate Films that’s restored old theaters in Saugerties, Rhinebeck, and Kingston. Mark says there’s something similar going on in northern Illinois. A fine way to end a long museum day.
Looks like this post has only covered the NY part of the trip – stay tuned for NYC.