It rained all day today, but we had a great time nonetheless. What fun it is to be warm and dry in a car (still) celebrating my 70th birthday (still)!
We left our motel about nine and drove in search of breakfast, which we found in High Falls (home of the Egg's Nest of yesterday's lunch) at Bodacious Bagels.
Following breakfast, we drove to Mohonk Mountain House. This stunning resort high on the granite Shawangunk Ridge is truly unique and wonderful. Room rates range from $270 to $852 a night. I worked as a waitress at Mohonk in 1962. The money I earned at Mohonk took me to Europe for a year in 1963.
Jessica and I explored the main buildings, hiked the grounds (the resort has 85 miles of trails), visited the horse barn--now a museum, but housing 120 horses when I was there--and walked the lower trail around the lake. It was strange hiking on wooded trails with umbrellas! I was very eager for Jess to sit at Cope's Lookout, my favorite spot in 1962, and look into the valley below, but it was rainy and very foggy, so while we hiked to the lookout we could not see the valley (see below).
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| Cope's Lookout in fog |
Much has changed in the years since I was there. For instance, when I worked at Mohonk, guests were driven the 2 1/2 miles to the main house in horse and carriages or in green limousines on an unpaved lane. No guest vehicles were allowed up the mountain. Guests are now allowed to drive up a paved lane to a paved parking area below the main house. Since the resort was established and is still run by the Quaker Smiley family, there were no alcoholic beverages when I was there, and the help ate in separate male/female dining rooms. Now there is a fine bar area, and one can order an alcholic beverage with one's meal. I don't know whether male and female help still eat in segregated dining rooms. The resort still has a "Rustic Crew" that keeps all the trails and gazebos in order, and a "Garden Crew" that keeps the wonderful gardens, but no longer needs a "Stables Crew," though horses can still be boarded and ridden on the trails. Most of the stables building has been turned into a museum. Ice was cut from the lake in the winter and stored in an ice house. I'm not sure they do that anymore. Some of the ice was used for the Sunday buffet ice carvings. A spa has been added, as well as additional tennis courts. The golf course hasn't changed, but there is now a picnic area north of the main house, a mountain bike and disc frisbee rental, and any number of other amenities that have been tastefully tucked into the wooded ridge.
After hiking, we ate lunch in the main dining room. I asked the maitre-de if we could sit at my old station in this enormous dining room. Fortunately they had seating there. The lunch for the day was a large buffet and dessert table. I had a wonderful salad and lake trout burre blanc. We both had coffee and passion fruit trifle for dessert.
I will let the following photos illustrate our day.
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| Jess negotiating a narrow crevice on the way to the lower lake trail |
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| Jess sheltered from the rain on our walk around the lake. |
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| View of about one fifth of Mohonk's vast upstairs dining room. There are three other dining rooms downstairs. |
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| The end-of-journey (for Jessica at least) glass of bubbly before a soak in the jacuzzi and a swim in the pool. Jess returns to Albany and flies home tomorrow at about 5 p.m. We've had a wonderful mutha-dauta week together. |
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