Birthday Weekend Getaway
anarckid and I had a wonderful weekend in beautiful Howes Cave, NY. About 30 minutes west of Albany, the area consists mainly of rolling mountains and farmlands. Our mission: To explore Howe Caverns.
We arrived at Howe Caverns on Saturday evening, and went on their Lantern Tour; the first half of the tour is given with the lights on, and culminates in a boat ride on the underground Lake of Venus. When we reached the far side of the lake, the lights were turned out throughout the caverns, and we were handed rather primitive candle-lit lanterns. With these lanterns, we retraced our steps back down the Lake of Venus, and then all the way back to the cavern's entrance. I cannot express how cool this tour was. It lasted over two hours, and gave us two completely different perspectives of our surroundings. The tour guide let us wander back with our lanterns at our own pace, telling us to take as much time as we wanted; we were allowed to leisurely explore the darkened corners and see things as they might have been witnessed upon the cave's discovery. (Except, of course, for all of the railings, pathways, staircases and such. You know.) It was SO COOL. My first impression of Howe Caverns is that it's really huge and open. There are some tight and twisty areas, but for the most part, you're led through caverns that are really quite, um... well, cavernous. There were a lot of cool flowstone formations, but most of the stalagtite and stalagmite formations were kind of small. The few really huge formations inside the caves were found lying on the cavern floor upon its discovery, knocked down by glacial movement above. They are displayed, though, and are nonetheless impressive.
At the end of the tour we were led back to the lodge above, where we were treated to complimentary beverages and freshly baked cookies. Tee hee!
We stayed overnight at the onsite Howe Caverns Motel, which commanded a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains and valleys right from our window. When we looked out there on Sunday morning, though, you'd never know there was anything beyond the edge of the pavement where we were parked... eerie!
By 9:30 or so, it lifted enough to get a peek at the grazing moo cows below.
After breakfast, the fog had lifted to reveal a rather grey and overcast day. The view was still spectacular, though.
Next we visited Secret Caverns. Much smaller in scale, and only lasting about 45 minutes, we expected this tour to be much less exciting. It turned out, though, that this cavern was even more exciting in many ways. It was much narrower, tighter, damper, and rougher than Howe Caverns; it really felt like you were exploring a cave here, whereas the grand scale and neat little paved walkways and railings at Howe's gave it an almost Disney-like feel. Much of the time we were walking through narrow fissures in the earth, which occasionally opened up to reveal some incredible scenes of natural geological artwork; even a few fossils were visible in spots. At the end of the cavern was its piece de resistance - a 100 foot underground waterfall. Way cool! (Sorry for the blurriness of these photos, especially the waterfall; we had to turn off the flash to get decent pictures, and the shutter had to stay open forever to get these shots. Our hands just aren't that steady!)
After Secret Caverns, we stopped in at the nearby Iroquois Indian Museum. Designed to resemble an Iroquois longhouse, it boasted some gorgeous exposed-beam architecture, and held some nice displays of Native American art, baskets, pottery and archeological material (eg: arrowheads). The children's museum on the lower level was fun, too; there was even an indoor pond with turtles. I especially enjoyed hiking through some of their 45 acre natural reserve. During our woodland trek we spied minnows, crayfish, toads, frogs, caterpillars, butterflies and mating crickets!
After grabbing a bite to eat at some nondescript place whose name I cannot for the life of me remember, we started off for home. Much of the drive was through some rather heavy rain; but it cleared up from time to time, and all in all wasn't so bad. It's actually a really beautiful drive down Routes 88, 90 and 87. In good weather, it's definitely enjoyable.
The one thing about our weekend that's barely worth mention is the food. The nearest town, Cobleskill, houses a Pizza Hut, a McDonald's, a Taco Bell, a diner, and a few unexciting looking non-chain eateries. Of course we stuck to Route 7 (also called Main Street), as we had no clue where else to look for food; perhaps there are nicer places to go, but that would require some serious research. (Next time, for sure, I will look into that.) We had dinner on Saturday at the Dairy Deli, which oddly enough is a restaurant serving Thai food and some random misplaced pasta dishes and such. The small menu does not really lend itself to the vegetarian, so it was with some trepidation that we ordered the pad thai - with no chicken or shrimp, and no fish sauce please - and the sauteed vegetables with tofu. The owner looked horrified when we specified No Fish Sauce; it makes me wonder how many of the "vegetarian" dishes we get elsewhere actually DO contain the stuff, even when they say they don't add it. (Best not to think about that.) The food was okay, though I've had much better Thai food - mainly, I think, because we usually go to places that somewhat understand vegetarianism, and strive to make vegetarian dishes that are varied and interesting. Here, this was not the case.
Sunday's Breakfast at the Colonial Diner was great; I had the spinach and feta omelette, which was really good, as were their homefried potatoes, speckled with bits of sauteed onion. Decent coffee, too. What could have been the best meal of our weekend was tarnished, however, when anarckid found a hair in his potatoes. :o\
I would eat at the Colonial Diner again, though, when we return to Howes Cave. And return we shall - next October, for their annual Halloween at Howe Caverns! One day a year (always the Friday before Halloween), they host a self-guided haunted cavern tour, with all proceeds going towards a local charity. I'm sure it's no Terror Behind the Walls, but I grow seriously excited over the prospect of a haunted house inside a cavern 156 feet below the surface of the earth. :oD
So that was our weekend! We're already looking forward to our next trip, which is coming up in just a couple of weeks - Halloween thrills and chills in Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. WEE!!
We arrived at Howe Caverns on Saturday evening, and went on their Lantern Tour; the first half of the tour is given with the lights on, and culminates in a boat ride on the underground Lake of Venus. When we reached the far side of the lake, the lights were turned out throughout the caverns, and we were handed rather primitive candle-lit lanterns. With these lanterns, we retraced our steps back down the Lake of Venus, and then all the way back to the cavern's entrance. I cannot express how cool this tour was. It lasted over two hours, and gave us two completely different perspectives of our surroundings. The tour guide let us wander back with our lanterns at our own pace, telling us to take as much time as we wanted; we were allowed to leisurely explore the darkened corners and see things as they might have been witnessed upon the cave's discovery. (Except, of course, for all of the railings, pathways, staircases and such. You know.) It was SO COOL. My first impression of Howe Caverns is that it's really huge and open. There are some tight and twisty areas, but for the most part, you're led through caverns that are really quite, um... well, cavernous. There were a lot of cool flowstone formations, but most of the stalagtite and stalagmite formations were kind of small. The few really huge formations inside the caves were found lying on the cavern floor upon its discovery, knocked down by glacial movement above. They are displayed, though, and are nonetheless impressive.
At the end of the tour we were led back to the lodge above, where we were treated to complimentary beverages and freshly baked cookies. Tee hee!
We stayed overnight at the onsite Howe Caverns Motel, which commanded a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains and valleys right from our window. When we looked out there on Sunday morning, though, you'd never know there was anything beyond the edge of the pavement where we were parked... eerie!
By 9:30 or so, it lifted enough to get a peek at the grazing moo cows below.
After breakfast, the fog had lifted to reveal a rather grey and overcast day. The view was still spectacular, though.
Next we visited Secret Caverns. Much smaller in scale, and only lasting about 45 minutes, we expected this tour to be much less exciting. It turned out, though, that this cavern was even more exciting in many ways. It was much narrower, tighter, damper, and rougher than Howe Caverns; it really felt like you were exploring a cave here, whereas the grand scale and neat little paved walkways and railings at Howe's gave it an almost Disney-like feel. Much of the time we were walking through narrow fissures in the earth, which occasionally opened up to reveal some incredible scenes of natural geological artwork; even a few fossils were visible in spots. At the end of the cavern was its piece de resistance - a 100 foot underground waterfall. Way cool! (Sorry for the blurriness of these photos, especially the waterfall; we had to turn off the flash to get decent pictures, and the shutter had to stay open forever to get these shots. Our hands just aren't that steady!)
After Secret Caverns, we stopped in at the nearby Iroquois Indian Museum. Designed to resemble an Iroquois longhouse, it boasted some gorgeous exposed-beam architecture, and held some nice displays of Native American art, baskets, pottery and archeological material (eg: arrowheads). The children's museum on the lower level was fun, too; there was even an indoor pond with turtles. I especially enjoyed hiking through some of their 45 acre natural reserve. During our woodland trek we spied minnows, crayfish, toads, frogs, caterpillars, butterflies and mating crickets!
After grabbing a bite to eat at some nondescript place whose name I cannot for the life of me remember, we started off for home. Much of the drive was through some rather heavy rain; but it cleared up from time to time, and all in all wasn't so bad. It's actually a really beautiful drive down Routes 88, 90 and 87. In good weather, it's definitely enjoyable.
The one thing about our weekend that's barely worth mention is the food. The nearest town, Cobleskill, houses a Pizza Hut, a McDonald's, a Taco Bell, a diner, and a few unexciting looking non-chain eateries. Of course we stuck to Route 7 (also called Main Street), as we had no clue where else to look for food; perhaps there are nicer places to go, but that would require some serious research. (Next time, for sure, I will look into that.) We had dinner on Saturday at the Dairy Deli, which oddly enough is a restaurant serving Thai food and some random misplaced pasta dishes and such. The small menu does not really lend itself to the vegetarian, so it was with some trepidation that we ordered the pad thai - with no chicken or shrimp, and no fish sauce please - and the sauteed vegetables with tofu. The owner looked horrified when we specified No Fish Sauce; it makes me wonder how many of the "vegetarian" dishes we get elsewhere actually DO contain the stuff, even when they say they don't add it. (Best not to think about that.) The food was okay, though I've had much better Thai food - mainly, I think, because we usually go to places that somewhat understand vegetarianism, and strive to make vegetarian dishes that are varied and interesting. Here, this was not the case.
Sunday's Breakfast at the Colonial Diner was great; I had the spinach and feta omelette, which was really good, as were their homefried potatoes, speckled with bits of sauteed onion. Decent coffee, too. What could have been the best meal of our weekend was tarnished, however, when anarckid found a hair in his potatoes. :o\
I would eat at the Colonial Diner again, though, when we return to Howes Cave. And return we shall - next October, for their annual Halloween at Howe Caverns! One day a year (always the Friday before Halloween), they host a self-guided haunted cavern tour, with all proceeds going towards a local charity. I'm sure it's no Terror Behind the Walls, but I grow seriously excited over the prospect of a haunted house inside a cavern 156 feet below the surface of the earth. :oD
So that was our weekend! We're already looking forward to our next trip, which is coming up in just a couple of weeks - Halloween thrills and chills in Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. WEE!!