Saratoga Springs

Carly Simon introduced me to Saratoga Springs in 1972.

"Well I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse, naturally, won."

Forty-five years later I visited for the first time with Thom, Magda and Joe.  Coincidentally, Anthony and John were there, too.  We met for lunch and brought them back to see our fabulous Airbnb on Lonely Lake.  It didn't feel that way at all.

Thom shouldn't have ordered a second Cosmo.  He promptly passed out on the lawn at Saratoga State Park, the first stop on our abbreviated, post-lunch tour.

It didn't matter. No appointments were available at what was known as the "gay resort of fashion and wealth" when FDR established it in 1935 to preserve the springs.

Magda & Joe looked right at home.

An antique auto auction occupied the performing arts center next door.

This bug sold for more than the Mercedes coupe in the video.  I should have kept mine!

The classic cars and motorcycles displayed on the grounds were buffed to a a shine.

 

Afterwards, we tasted the waters in Congress Park, site of a former bottling plant and home to a veteran's memorial.

A sculpted dog greets visitors to the Canfield Casino, which abuts the park.

Stained glass offered the only evidence of horse racing in the off-season.

Thom, Magda and Joe took a ride on a nearby carousel before we bought a bottle of Cab to drink and catch up on the screened-in porch back at our Airbnb.

Imagine waking up to this.

Saratoga is a big dance town, as we discovered when Magda insisted on finding an acai bowl.

Disembodied ballerinas danced en pointe everywhere downtown.