Follow That Bird
Hello World,
It doesn't seem possible, with Thanksgiving being so early, that we could have put the whole long holiday weekend behind us, including Black Friday and everything, and right now be staring December straight in the face, but here we are indeed. Flying in on the heels of the Great Turkey Dance, here's the After Bird Report for anyone who wasn't there with us. Of course, everyone knows how I hate those short weeks at work, and the last one was a doozy, being only three days, with the holiday on Thursday and a day off on Friday. It certainly turned into exactly everything I hate about short weeks, in textbook fashion, with nothing to recommend it. In fact, as a contestant, it not only wouldn't have won the beauty pageant, but also would not have been chosen as Miss Popularity or Miss Congeniality, and most likely, the other contestants would have thrown its sorry butt right out a window and considered that an improvement. But then Thursday dawned bright with promise, and a lovely day it was too, as anyone who watched the venerable Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV could tell you. It was sunny and warm, and all that modern pilgrims could hope for, as in their travels over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house they go. Bill and I have no grandmothers to go to, but we wouldn't miss a chance to visit my Mom, so off we went. Our plan was to have brunch at the diner and then make an early day of it, since it was shaping up to be a busy weekend for us with lots of places to go. It will come as a surprise to no one that our original timetable went by the boards, and while the notion of brunch at 2PM is a concept that I reject out of hand, we still had a very nice meal in spite of the hour. After that, we ran some errands, since in the new spirit of rampant consumerism, all of the stores are open all day on Thanksgiving, and didn't get home until after 4:00, just ahead of the burgeoning traffic. Some people may remember that Bill and I met on Thanksgiving, in fact it was in 1982, making this our 25th Thanksgiving together, and we celebrated with presents, which is an innovation that hasn't much caught on with this holiday, but one which I can heartily recommend. From that point, we hunkered down to some serious packing, and turned in early.
I would say that we were the first people up early on Friday morning, except for all of those crazy people who camped out at stores overnight, where they opened at 4AM and selling ridiculous things at ridiculous prices to ridiculous people. We were on the road by 8AM and worried about traffic backups around popular retail outlets that we might be passing on our way upstate, so we kept to the outskirts and managed to avoid the worst of it. We had been invited to my sister Linda's log cabin for breakfast, and we weren't going to miss it. There was a tantalizing spread of bagels, muffins, crumb cake, waffles, cinnamon buns, grapefruit, hot apple cider, chocolate turkeys and more, not to mention, left-over pies from the day before. It would be unseemly to say that we pounced on it like a couple of homeless people who had never seen food before, but we certainly did justice to it and had seconds, as well as wrapping up some left-overs to take with us. That was a special treat, and we were glad to enjoy a nice meal together, without all the headaches of traveling on a holiday. We were back on the road after lunch, this time for our friends outside of Albany, where we usually stay over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Not so fast! Due to some unexpected family circumstances, our friends were not as prepared to accommodate us as they usually are, so instead we reserved a suite at the nearby Comfort Inn & Suites of East Greenbush, which is fairly new and has a lot to recommend it. It's not only close to where our friends live in Valatie, but they were having a "Home for the Holidays" special, with their regular rooms at $79 and suites at only $99 per night. We snapped it up and were glad we did. It turned out to be a lovely place, full of charming architectural details throughout, plus a variety of amenities like an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, fitness center, banquet rooms, complimentary breakfast, business center, vending machines and a Dunkin' Donuts just steps away from the front door. Besides the TV, the room included a refrigerator, microwave, coffee-maker, hair dryer, ironing board and iron, plus Internet access, even in the bathroom. We had what was described as a "one room suite," and the different areas of the room were separated by a decorative archway with two columns, which I found delightfully unusual. There were two beds plus a convertible sofa, which would be plenty of room for anybody. It was easily one of the nicest places we've ever stayed, for the price, although Bill felt they accomplished that at the expense of the TV service, which left a lot to be desired. But it was new and convenient, and not at all some cheesy flea-bag joint on the highway. In fact, the lobby was so sumptuous that when we walked in the door, I whispered to Bill, "We can't afford this place!" Luckily there was a back door where we could smuggle in our tattered luggage unseen, so as not to spoil the effect for the other guests.
Once we got settled in, we called our friends and invited them to come on over and sample the opulence for themselves, which they did, and pronounced it all that we had claimed. However, we found that they have no dining facilities at the hotel (apart from a breakfast buffet that is included in the room rate) and it was getting to be about that time, so we all headed down the block to the East Greenbush Diner. We had a wonderful meal, and I can personally vouch for the fried ravioli, which is a treat that I never tire of. Although the diner is spacious enough, the staff must have taken one look at the six of us, and decided to squeeze us all the way in the very back of the back room, wedged into a corner next to a table with the most appalling man, who was so loud and obnoxious that the people on the other side of the building could hardly hear us. He was there before us, and he was still there when we left, which is the first time in memory that our antics have not chased everyone out a room within shouting distance from us. Either we've lost our edge, or this fellow was so tuned into the "ME" channel that even we couldn't break through, and believe me, that's saying a lot. It's not easy to ignore six people doing their impressions of Scooby-Doo reciting the Gettysburg Address, or so I've been told.
Although Thanksgiving was lovely and almost balmy, after that it really cooled off in a hurry, and by the next day and hundreds of miles north, the cold was no joke. That's why it probably came as a surprise to the Engineering staff at the hotel, when we got back to our room, and Bill thinking he would adjust the thermostat so the fan would provide some white noise, instead turned on the air conditioner, which gamely chugged along all night, giving our room a bracing ambiance that was not for the faint-hearted. In the morning, we went and gathered up some goodies from the breakfast terrace at the end of the hall, which is a lovely and airy expanse that looks over the lobby and couldn't be more charming. They seem to have every kind of coffee, tea and juice to drink, plus fruit, yogurt, waffles and hot or cold cereal. The buffet includes a wide-ranging variety of bagels, muffins, Danish, donuts, French toast, rolls, cookies and cupcakes. There were even hard-boiled eggs, already peeled, and you can believe they didn't have to ask me twice. Considering the breakfast was included in the reservation, it was certainly more of a treat than we might have expected.
Our friends invited us to lunch at their house in Latham, just north of Albany, and if you're ever in the area, I can recommend their grilled cheese sandwiches and cranberry walnut bread. Tell them Scooby-Doo sent you. The nearby Shaker Museum was having their annual Holiday Craft Fair, so we hurried over there, and it was well worth the trip, as we snapped up some unique hand-crafted items from amid the amazing welter of products on display. Next, we were off to the Saratoga Automobile Museum, where they have some lovingly restored classic cars in what used to be the bottling plant at Saratoga Springs, and these vintage beauties would make a strong man weep, especially if he arrived in one of those little silver doorstops that they make people drive nowadays. No doorstops at this museum, not by a long shot, and each meticulously detailed vehicle was more astounding than the next, and a sight to behold. Ah, those were indeed the days, my friend, and all that hard work by the cavemen to invent the wheel was not in vain.
As it was getting late, I insisted that we have dinner at Denny's, since we have none at all around us, and is one of our special treats of traveling, but the one nearby that our GPS device directed us to had been closed and changed into something different. I find this an alarming trend in our travels, since they also closed the Denny's in Fishkill, where we used to stop on our way home, and I don't mind saying, I don't care for the direction this is going. But we found another one and had an excellent meal, and even though they squeezed us all the way in the very back of the back room, our hijinks had the usual effect of clearing everyone else out, although I thought that the people who jumped out the window were taking it just a little bit too far.
Having cracked the secret code of the hotel thermostat, we did not have the same alpine experience in our room as the night before, which probably made the Engineering folks happy as well. Going to the breakfast area earlier, I found an even wider variety of edible options, which the early birds polish off before the late arrivals even get there, and I certainly enjoyed every morsel. After we checked out, we joined our friends at Cracker Barrel to browse their distinctive merchandise, which is always fun and different. Unfortunately, everyone on the eastern seaboard apparently had the same idea, and the place was mobbed like they were giving away CARE packages at a refugee camp, with a line just to get in the door. It was so crowded inside that in order to move, you had no choice but to attach yourself to the sea of humanity as it churned through the store, and go wherever it was going, stop when it stopped, and hope that you could see what you wanted to see along the way. Some of us managed to get souvenirs in spite of the obstacles, but it was not our most optimal trip to Cracker Barrel of all time. Although there's a Denny's right next door, we thought that might be just too much wonderfulness, even for us, so we opted instead for lunch at Friendly's down the street, which turned out to be so tiny that they basically had to seat us at six different tables to fit us all in. We had another nice meal that included some of their newest menu choices, although our system of sharing our food by throwing it between the different tables was about as unpopular with the other patrons as you might expect it to be. Honestly, you'd think people way out in the boondocks wouldn't be so uptight.
All too soon, it was time to bid our fond farewells and hit the highway for home, being Sunday of a long holiday weekend, when the traffic is notorious enough to make even seasoned travelers quail at the prospect. Luckily, our trip home was uneventful, and even the cats seemed to have noticed our absence after a few days, although whether they regarded our return with a happy anticipation of food, or as an unwelcome interruption of their diabolical schemes, it would be difficult to ascertain. And while I'm sure that there's a perfectly logical explanation for that home-made pipe bomb we found in with their toys, we took it away from them anyway, just to be on the safe side. After all, the holidays are dangerous enough without taking chances, heaven knows, or in the immortal words of Scooby-Doo, "R-r-r-r-righty r-r-r-r-right!"
It doesn't seem possible, with Thanksgiving being so early, that we could have put the whole long holiday weekend behind us, including Black Friday and everything, and right now be staring December straight in the face, but here we are indeed. Flying in on the heels of the Great Turkey Dance, here's the After Bird Report for anyone who wasn't there with us. Of course, everyone knows how I hate those short weeks at work, and the last one was a doozy, being only three days, with the holiday on Thursday and a day off on Friday. It certainly turned into exactly everything I hate about short weeks, in textbook fashion, with nothing to recommend it. In fact, as a contestant, it not only wouldn't have won the beauty pageant, but also would not have been chosen as Miss Popularity or Miss Congeniality, and most likely, the other contestants would have thrown its sorry butt right out a window and considered that an improvement. But then Thursday dawned bright with promise, and a lovely day it was too, as anyone who watched the venerable Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV could tell you. It was sunny and warm, and all that modern pilgrims could hope for, as in their travels over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house they go. Bill and I have no grandmothers to go to, but we wouldn't miss a chance to visit my Mom, so off we went. Our plan was to have brunch at the diner and then make an early day of it, since it was shaping up to be a busy weekend for us with lots of places to go. It will come as a surprise to no one that our original timetable went by the boards, and while the notion of brunch at 2PM is a concept that I reject out of hand, we still had a very nice meal in spite of the hour. After that, we ran some errands, since in the new spirit of rampant consumerism, all of the stores are open all day on Thanksgiving, and didn't get home until after 4:00, just ahead of the burgeoning traffic. Some people may remember that Bill and I met on Thanksgiving, in fact it was in 1982, making this our 25th Thanksgiving together, and we celebrated with presents, which is an innovation that hasn't much caught on with this holiday, but one which I can heartily recommend. From that point, we hunkered down to some serious packing, and turned in early.
I would say that we were the first people up early on Friday morning, except for all of those crazy people who camped out at stores overnight, where they opened at 4AM and selling ridiculous things at ridiculous prices to ridiculous people. We were on the road by 8AM and worried about traffic backups around popular retail outlets that we might be passing on our way upstate, so we kept to the outskirts and managed to avoid the worst of it. We had been invited to my sister Linda's log cabin for breakfast, and we weren't going to miss it. There was a tantalizing spread of bagels, muffins, crumb cake, waffles, cinnamon buns, grapefruit, hot apple cider, chocolate turkeys and more, not to mention, left-over pies from the day before. It would be unseemly to say that we pounced on it like a couple of homeless people who had never seen food before, but we certainly did justice to it and had seconds, as well as wrapping up some left-overs to take with us. That was a special treat, and we were glad to enjoy a nice meal together, without all the headaches of traveling on a holiday. We were back on the road after lunch, this time for our friends outside of Albany, where we usually stay over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Not so fast! Due to some unexpected family circumstances, our friends were not as prepared to accommodate us as they usually are, so instead we reserved a suite at the nearby Comfort Inn & Suites of East Greenbush, which is fairly new and has a lot to recommend it. It's not only close to where our friends live in Valatie, but they were having a "Home for the Holidays" special, with their regular rooms at $79 and suites at only $99 per night. We snapped it up and were glad we did. It turned out to be a lovely place, full of charming architectural details throughout, plus a variety of amenities like an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, fitness center, banquet rooms, complimentary breakfast, business center, vending machines and a Dunkin' Donuts just steps away from the front door. Besides the TV, the room included a refrigerator, microwave, coffee-maker, hair dryer, ironing board and iron, plus Internet access, even in the bathroom. We had what was described as a "one room suite," and the different areas of the room were separated by a decorative archway with two columns, which I found delightfully unusual. There were two beds plus a convertible sofa, which would be plenty of room for anybody. It was easily one of the nicest places we've ever stayed, for the price, although Bill felt they accomplished that at the expense of the TV service, which left a lot to be desired. But it was new and convenient, and not at all some cheesy flea-bag joint on the highway. In fact, the lobby was so sumptuous that when we walked in the door, I whispered to Bill, "We can't afford this place!" Luckily there was a back door where we could smuggle in our tattered luggage unseen, so as not to spoil the effect for the other guests.
Once we got settled in, we called our friends and invited them to come on over and sample the opulence for themselves, which they did, and pronounced it all that we had claimed. However, we found that they have no dining facilities at the hotel (apart from a breakfast buffet that is included in the room rate) and it was getting to be about that time, so we all headed down the block to the East Greenbush Diner. We had a wonderful meal, and I can personally vouch for the fried ravioli, which is a treat that I never tire of. Although the diner is spacious enough, the staff must have taken one look at the six of us, and decided to squeeze us all the way in the very back of the back room, wedged into a corner next to a table with the most appalling man, who was so loud and obnoxious that the people on the other side of the building could hardly hear us. He was there before us, and he was still there when we left, which is the first time in memory that our antics have not chased everyone out a room within shouting distance from us. Either we've lost our edge, or this fellow was so tuned into the "ME" channel that even we couldn't break through, and believe me, that's saying a lot. It's not easy to ignore six people doing their impressions of Scooby-Doo reciting the Gettysburg Address, or so I've been told.
Although Thanksgiving was lovely and almost balmy, after that it really cooled off in a hurry, and by the next day and hundreds of miles north, the cold was no joke. That's why it probably came as a surprise to the Engineering staff at the hotel, when we got back to our room, and Bill thinking he would adjust the thermostat so the fan would provide some white noise, instead turned on the air conditioner, which gamely chugged along all night, giving our room a bracing ambiance that was not for the faint-hearted. In the morning, we went and gathered up some goodies from the breakfast terrace at the end of the hall, which is a lovely and airy expanse that looks over the lobby and couldn't be more charming. They seem to have every kind of coffee, tea and juice to drink, plus fruit, yogurt, waffles and hot or cold cereal. The buffet includes a wide-ranging variety of bagels, muffins, Danish, donuts, French toast, rolls, cookies and cupcakes. There were even hard-boiled eggs, already peeled, and you can believe they didn't have to ask me twice. Considering the breakfast was included in the reservation, it was certainly more of a treat than we might have expected.
Our friends invited us to lunch at their house in Latham, just north of Albany, and if you're ever in the area, I can recommend their grilled cheese sandwiches and cranberry walnut bread. Tell them Scooby-Doo sent you. The nearby Shaker Museum was having their annual Holiday Craft Fair, so we hurried over there, and it was well worth the trip, as we snapped up some unique hand-crafted items from amid the amazing welter of products on display. Next, we were off to the Saratoga Automobile Museum, where they have some lovingly restored classic cars in what used to be the bottling plant at Saratoga Springs, and these vintage beauties would make a strong man weep, especially if he arrived in one of those little silver doorstops that they make people drive nowadays. No doorstops at this museum, not by a long shot, and each meticulously detailed vehicle was more astounding than the next, and a sight to behold. Ah, those were indeed the days, my friend, and all that hard work by the cavemen to invent the wheel was not in vain.
As it was getting late, I insisted that we have dinner at Denny's, since we have none at all around us, and is one of our special treats of traveling, but the one nearby that our GPS device directed us to had been closed and changed into something different. I find this an alarming trend in our travels, since they also closed the Denny's in Fishkill, where we used to stop on our way home, and I don't mind saying, I don't care for the direction this is going. But we found another one and had an excellent meal, and even though they squeezed us all the way in the very back of the back room, our hijinks had the usual effect of clearing everyone else out, although I thought that the people who jumped out the window were taking it just a little bit too far.
Having cracked the secret code of the hotel thermostat, we did not have the same alpine experience in our room as the night before, which probably made the Engineering folks happy as well. Going to the breakfast area earlier, I found an even wider variety of edible options, which the early birds polish off before the late arrivals even get there, and I certainly enjoyed every morsel. After we checked out, we joined our friends at Cracker Barrel to browse their distinctive merchandise, which is always fun and different. Unfortunately, everyone on the eastern seaboard apparently had the same idea, and the place was mobbed like they were giving away CARE packages at a refugee camp, with a line just to get in the door. It was so crowded inside that in order to move, you had no choice but to attach yourself to the sea of humanity as it churned through the store, and go wherever it was going, stop when it stopped, and hope that you could see what you wanted to see along the way. Some of us managed to get souvenirs in spite of the obstacles, but it was not our most optimal trip to Cracker Barrel of all time. Although there's a Denny's right next door, we thought that might be just too much wonderfulness, even for us, so we opted instead for lunch at Friendly's down the street, which turned out to be so tiny that they basically had to seat us at six different tables to fit us all in. We had another nice meal that included some of their newest menu choices, although our system of sharing our food by throwing it between the different tables was about as unpopular with the other patrons as you might expect it to be. Honestly, you'd think people way out in the boondocks wouldn't be so uptight.
All too soon, it was time to bid our fond farewells and hit the highway for home, being Sunday of a long holiday weekend, when the traffic is notorious enough to make even seasoned travelers quail at the prospect. Luckily, our trip home was uneventful, and even the cats seemed to have noticed our absence after a few days, although whether they regarded our return with a happy anticipation of food, or as an unwelcome interruption of their diabolical schemes, it would be difficult to ascertain. And while I'm sure that there's a perfectly logical explanation for that home-made pipe bomb we found in with their toys, we took it away from them anyway, just to be on the safe side. After all, the holidays are dangerous enough without taking chances, heaven knows, or in the immortal words of Scooby-Doo, "R-r-r-r-righty r-r-r-r-right!"
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 6:50 PM
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