Biking Rochester, New York and Columbus, Ohio

Ok I know why are these 2 cities together?  Well we only spent a couple of days in each spot so seemed easiest to just combine them!

Rochester, New York

The motivation for visiting Rochester New York area was to remedy a frustration from last summer's trip through the Finger Lakes region of New York.  We had driven up to the Erie Canal area with the plan of renting a bike and riding the canal.  That did not happen since the bike rental place had sold all of their bikes.  This year, we brought our own bikes!  We went back to the same area of the canal because we had liked it a lot last year.  

Erie Canal

I see a future trip here - this was a couple in their boat on the canal at  lock

Lake Ontario 

Why did you go to Lake Ontario?  Because we were near it of course!   Jeff cannot be near a large body of water and not visit it.

Jeff in a long sleeve shirt in July - had to point that out!

boats passing by a bridge that is closed during the summer

Columbus and Dayton, Ohio

We decided that we did not have to drive all the way to my mother's house in one day this year like last year (14 hour drive was a little brutal).  Columbus was around the half way point and had a nice bike trail.  The front desk clerk at our hotel commented that we looked to be around her age and that while she was not a big aviation fan she enjoyed the national Air Force museum in Dayton, OH so we stopped on our way to St Louis.  It was/is a nice museum.  We spent a couple of hours which was enough for us.  We saw the WWII gallery and the Air Force One section and enjoyed both.  There are many more areas to see too.

Truman's plane

Saratoga Springs

Saratoga Springs

I am my father's daughter.  I always watch all 3 races of the triple crown each year and have gone to the Kentucky Derby and held parties for it.  So when it was pointed out to me that we would be close to Saratoga Springs, I had to consider going there.  When I realized the racing season was starting on Thursday July 15, it was a done deal we were going for a couple of days.  The newscasters had always said that both the town and the race course were pretty and special places.  I have to agree.

Saratoga Spa State Park

The springs in Saratoga Springs are natural mineral waters.  The town sprung up when people thought the mineral water could help with a variety of ailments or just aid people suffering from the polluted air and heat of the cities.  The State of New York bought an area of several of the springs where there had been several resorts to create a state park.  We explored the park some on our first day in town.  There are currently 14 different springs in the park.  Surprisingly to me at least each of the springs has a different mixture of minerals in them.  One of the springs was very carbonated and was all but exhausted before the State stepped in.  It has a small spout of water now whereas the photos showed a  huge spout like the geysers of Yellowstone.  At one of the springs, we saw people filling up jugs with the water and there were signs admonishing people to only get 6 gallons if other people were waiting.

The old buildings were made of brick and quite nice looking.  At first they all seemed abandoned to me which seemed a shame.  I then realized one is a modern day spa.  The attendant told me one of the other buildings was used by an event center company and another was being refurbished for performing arts groups.

Saratoga Race Track

The start of racing season at Saratoga is the reason we are here.  For my St Louis friends, think opening day for the St Louis Cardinals and all the hype from the local radio stations - well that was Saratoga for opening day of the races.  Probably even more so this year since there had not been in person racing last year.  The track is pretty.  It was laid out differently than other tracks I have been to.  There is the usual dirt track and inside of that was a turf track and then a nice landscaped infield.  However, a really popular area is behind the stands - and you just went huh?  Yep.  It is the paddock area (where the horses get ready for their race).  On the news, they had shown pictures of people running for their favorite picnic spots so I was expecting them to be in the infield.  Nope.  They were running for spots around the paddock area.  It has nice big old trees providing shade, picnic tables and lots of stands/booths.  We explored the park for awhile, found some lunch and then settled in to watch the races.  The stands were a mixture of permanent and temporary like the one where I got a free glass of wine or another where I could have tried to win a car.  The permanent was mainly food stands but there was a bandstand in this area and another close to the finish line on the grandstand side.

program cover

entrance

at our seats in the clubhouse

grandstand area near the track itself

starting gate getting ready for a turf race

turf race

Abode

Luckily our Airbnb was only a 5 minute walk away in a nice neighborhood.  Many people were parking on the street and walking to the track in the neighborhood.   As you can tell from the first photo below, we were once again in an attic.  This time we were over the garage.  It was a nice apartment except it gets the award for the smallest shower ever.  It was a premade shell so our theory was that it was designed for an RV.  Yes it was that small!

our bedroom

looking into kitchen from living room

living room itself

Realized we have no photos of the town.  Trust me it is a cute, small city.  We walked around it and shopped a little.  As I was told, it is a nice city and nice racetrack.