Saratoga Springs
Moving to NY, Part 5 | Our first visit to Downtown Saratoga Springs | August 21, 2016
We woke up on Sunday morning in our tent, having slept better than we ever have while camping. We took our time getting up, packing our things, and eating English muffins for breakfast, then headed back into town. We would have loved to do another hike or something…but we didn’t have cell reception anywhere but in the downtown areas, and we didn’t want to miss any calls from our potential landlords! Besides, I guess we’ll be here for a while, so we’ll probably have a little time to do some more hiking. 😉
The day before, we had driven through the main street in downtown Saratoga Springs, and found it to be a charming yet crowded place. Of course, this is largely in part to the fact that it’s horse racing season at the famous historic race track, so the tourist season is in full swing. We were thinking that coming early on a Sunday morning would help us to avoid the crowds, but it was still quite a hoppin’ place even before 9! We found free parking in Congress Park (thought I’m pretty sure parking is free most places) and began our little city tour here.
We learned that one thing Saratoga Springs is famous for is its springs! Who would have thought? 😉 We began our walk by looking at the water fountains and checking out the mineral springs. Well…Curtis sampled the springs anyway, and his expression told me all I needed to know, that I didn’t really need to try it. 😉 Even Charlotte seemed a little skeptical. Along with the springs, the park had walking trails, gardens, fountains, and monuments. It’s right along the Main Street in Saratoga, not huge but decent sized and very green, and we were loving everything about this place right from the start.
We walked to the downtown area and walked all the way down the street and back, just to familiarize ourselves with it. It was here that we learned something amazing and honestly refreshing about this city, and the people we came across. Not only did they all LOVE Charlotte, but EVERYBODY knew that she is a basset hound!! If you were to follow us around on any of our walks or hikes, you too would be disgusted with the amount of people that call her a beagle. Everywhere we go it’s either “Is that a beagle?” or “Aww look at the beagle!” We get it, she’s smaller than most basset hounds, but compare her to a beagle and they still look NOTHING alike. But here, it’s different — we saw SO many people, yet anyone who said anything more than “What a cute puppy!” was calling her a basset hound. I know bassets are not extremely popular but I always thought everyone knew the classic basset look, with the long body/short legs/long ears. We haven’t seen any other bassets here, everyone just seems to know what they are! This is truly an amazing place!
Charlotte just soaked up all the attention and loved this whole walk. Whenever we walk around downtown areas, she always gets so curious and wants to go in the buildings. We found a bookstore along the way that said dogs were welcome, so we decided to satisfy her curiosity and take her in to check it out. I think she had unrealistic expectations about what the inside of a store would be like, because it wasn’t long before she wanted out. She just sniffed around a bit and decided leaving the excitement of the outside world wasn’t worth it. Curtis and I did manage to sneak a peek at a few hiking books and maps of the Adirondacks that we may have to invest in. Other than that, the only other stop we made was for some gelato, just so we could sit down for a while, relax, and people watch (Charlotte).
We got the call around 11 that we were accepted for the house, and were able to sign the papers and move in by 4. So hey, not only did we manage to hike a mountain, camp, and visit Saratoga Springs, we also locked down a living situation in the first 30 hours of living here! And only one night without a home — not too bad!
I guess we could say this is the last post of our moving trip — since arriving here, we’ve managed to get all of our things moved in, and now we’re settling down and figuring out life up here. But we’ve also happened to go out multiple times in the past 2 weeks and have more adventures and make new discoveries about our new home. It’ll be a while yet before I’m “caught up” on our happenings. Just know that we are happy here and are very excited about all we could possibly do over the next 8 or so months! Oh, until winter comes…that’s when you should start worrying about us. Or just me. 😉
