Backpack to Buggy

Despite best intentions, planning and sometimes a chance to save a lot money on a hotel room, I end up in a hotel room without a refrigerator.  If I don’t need to access items, I will check with the front desk to see if I can keep my well marked items in a hotel fridge or freezer.  I can also fill the bathtub or sink with ice as a makeshift cooler, but these days both are in use enough, it’s not practical.

My other quick fix is turning the air conditioning unit into a refrigerator.  I place items that will last longer cool, like fruit, vegetables and hard cheeses on top of the unit.  Items that should be much cooler, like milk, go in the ice bucket surrounded by ice before being put on the AC unit.  Soft cheeses and opened drinks go on top of the ice. I cover everything with a bath towel and turn the temperature WAY down on the AC.

Homemade hotel room refrigerator.

While food service professionals and health inspectors will cry that this cannot get temperatures low enough for food to be “safe,” I figure if half the ice is unmelted after a night’s sleep, it’s doing a good enough job.  (Then again, I follow the 30 second rule for food on the floor too.)

Blueberries at Saratoga Farmers Market

For a taste of the real Saratoga Springs, you don’t want to miss the outdoor Saratoga Farmers Market held in High Rock Park, just north of downtown.  You can definitely get a taste of the local community who come to shop on Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoons.  On Saturday mornings in July the market is crowded and lines snake around popular vendors.

High Rock Park in Saratoga Springs

The taste from the local producer only vendors is the real treat.  The Hudson Valley is filled with a growing number of small farms committed to sustainable and heirloom agriculture.  The result is some of the tastiest food in the nation (in the opinion of this farmers market shopping, food snob loving, Northern California expatriate.)  I especially appreciate the diversity of food available considering the long, harsh winter in the region.

July produce at the Saturday market.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, milk in glass bottles, pasture raised meat, apple cider, locally roasted coffee, regional cheeses, fresh flowers, salsas, sauces, maple, preserves, and baked goods can all be found.  If it’s still available when you arrive, I highly recommend treating yourself to a quart of chocolate milk, drinking right out of the glass bottle.  There are also a number of local non profit groups and crafts vendors with stalls under and around the dedicated market pavilion.

Farmers market pavillion in High Rock Park.

You can buy breakfast or lunch and picnic right there in the park.  (Brewed coffee is available if you want to make it your first stop of the day.) It is a great place to provision for a picnic on the SPAC lawn before a performance.  This year, I’m putting a cooler in our car so I can stock up on meats and cheeses plus buy my produce for the week.

Heirloom cauliflower.

(If this rave, groupie-like review doesn’t give enough love to the Saratoga Farmers Market, I give them super bonus love for welcoming well behaved dogs!)

Saratoga Springs Summer Farmers Market: May – October, Wednesday, 3:00pm-6:00pm, Saturday, 9:00am-1:00pm, High Rock Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Congress Park, in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY, seamlessly combines sightseeing and wandering in a kid-friendly environment.  (If it didn’t would I be writing about it here?)  At the southern edge of the pedestrian friendly downtown, the park includes the Saratoga Springs History Museum housed in the historic Canfield Casino, duck filled ponds, a carousel, open lawns, scattered benches, shady trees, natural springs sprouting up in ponds and fountains and not a playground in sight.

A family of ducks along one of Congress Park's ponds.

There is limited auto traffic so it is safe for kids to run wild around with minimum supervision.  The ponds and the War Memorial, a gazebo set on one of the ponds, do not have railings or fences so I was watchful of Mirielle around them.  Otherwise, both my husband and I had time to stroll through the park reading historical markers with stories of the springs or history of the park.  At each spring with a fountain, all three of us tasted the waters.

Namesake, Congress Spring.

The historic wooden carousel, of course, is a magnet for kids’ attention but it is situated fairly discretely.  That means we could spend quite a lot of time wandering around the park before the “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, can I ride the carousel, PLLLLLEEEEEAAASE?” began.  At only $0.50 per ride (2010 price) we spoiled Mirielle with a few rides.  Possibly better than the carousel were the children congregated on the adjacent lawn.  Par for the friendliness of the Saratoga Springs community, Mirielle was invited to join them playing tag and ball.  Somewhere along the way, I was roped into the games too and was playing ball with a stranger’s child while my daughter was running around with his brother.

She was much quieter after the carousel ride.

Congress Park is stroller friendly.  Free events such as concerts and art shows are often held in the park. There are no public bathrooms in the park, so we ran across the street to the Saratoga Springs Visitor Center.

I fell in love with Saratoga Springs, NY, located on the southeastern edge of Upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains, as a tween on a day trip with my family.  Something about the place spoke to me despite my aversion to the stench of sulfur that bubbled up from the famous springs.

The Saratoga Spring still flows in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY.

Returning decades later with my family, Saratoga Springs has only gotten better.  It still speaks to me as an old town full of activity and energy that lets me relax.  It is also a town where I can enjoy “adult” activities while parenting. This is definitely a place to go with the kids, not for the kids.

World class performing arts are enjoyed beneath the stars wearing shorts, drinking wine or lemonade, and paying very little for tickets.  Delicious food is readily available and separate kids menus aren’t needed.  History is everywhere.  People are friendly.  A town full of amusement parks, hot dog stands and mini golf courses set on a spectacular Adirondack lake is less than 30 minutes away.  And of course, healing waters bubble up all over town including into a spa (because some adult activities are best without the kids.)

A weekend in Saratoga Springs is now an annual trip anchored on catching performances of the New York City Ballet‘s summer program at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.  We make sure to visit the Saturday morning farmer’s market, take a ride on the carousel at Congress Park and I sneak in a bath at Roosevelt Spa while my husband and daughter go swimming.

Learn more about what we see and do in Saratoga Springs: (Coming in July)
Saratoga Springs: Congress Park
Saratoga Springs: Saratoga Spa National Park
Saratoga Springs: Saratoga Center for the Performing Arts (SPAC)
Saratoga Springs: Farmers Market
Saratoga Springs: Great Food
Saratoga Springs: Roosevelt Baths and Spa
Saratoga Springs: Hotels

Basics:

• Located halfway between New York City and Montreal (about 3.5 hours from each) off of I-87.  Close to Lake George, Albany Airport and Adirondack Park.
• During the summer, there is always enough going on that popular hotels sell out and traffic is slow on Broadway Ave. but the racing season and Skidmore College events are particularly busy.
• Visit Saratoga! at saratoga.com is a comprehensive visitors guide including deals and events.

Here is the second part of my favorite new discoveries in New England. (Check out #6-10 here.)

5. Medical Tourism
I have to get political here because there is health care rationing in the U.S. unless you think having to wait 4-6 months to see a dermatologist for a skin check is okay.  As someone with skin cancer I need check-ups every 3-6 months, so I found a phenomenal practice in Boston where I could book an appointment within three weeks.  Now, I make day trips to Boston working in a couple hours of shopping, sightseeing and a Niçoise salad while keeping tabs on my sun scorched skin.

Mirielle on the beach in Kennebunkport, ME.

4. Kennebunkport, Maine
Best known for the summer house of the Bush family, something about this quiet coastal town captured my heart.  Maybe it was the Northern Californian style cold beaches, a poolside filled with people wearing sun hats and reading books at least 2 inches thick, being significantly below the average age, or the pleasant walks and bike rides around town.  I can’t wait to return.

Boiling Maple Sap

3. Maple syrup (and cream and almost anything with maple in it.)
When lots of sweeteners are marketed as “all natural,” maple syrup is one of the least processed of them all.  Basically step 1, let sap drip naturally from trees; then step 2, reduce to a syrup via boiling.   In addition to finding lots of new ways to cook with maple syrup, I am learning that each sugar shack produces a very different flavor of syrup.  We have been applying our California-honed wine tasting skills across New England’s maple producers.

2. Connecticut’s own Neapolitan pizza.
While holed up in corporate housing for a few months, we ate out a lot. For a while it was looking like the only non-chain restaurants that were affordable enough for everyday meals involved meat or pizza.  All it took was a few bites of my first Frank Pepe’s Neapolitan style pizza for me to sing the praises of this wonderful food.  The Guardian newspaper actually named Frank Pepe’s as the best place to eat pizza in the world (so sorry Chicago, NYC and Naples – NOT).  I would put it a close second to our local pizza place, Harry’s but I am looking forward to visiting Naples to see how Connecticut’s own holds up to its birthplace.

Vermont countryside.

1. Vermont
Aaahhhh, just crossing the state line brings a smile to my face. After three visits in south and central Vermont, I can’t get back enough.  The landscape, the people, the food, the attitude suits me so well there may be a small cabin on a river in our future.

Top 10 Things I Discovered in New England During My First Year, #6-10