Tuesday/Wednesday February 16th and 17th - Home from Adirondacks, off to Poughkeepsi - Days 3 & 4 of travels - Saranac Lake NY to Victor NY then Victor to Poughkeepsie - No hike

 The giant snow storm didn't really come together as intensely as was predicted. It did snow about 5 inches but it was only snowing overnight and by the time I looked out even a 5 or 6 am it was all done.  The parking lot of the hotel had been plowed at some point but was still pretty deep in snow so clearing the car was a bit of process but nothing absurd.  We headed out in by 8 am and the drive East on NY-3 etc was very sedate and easy.  

 We had lunch in Oswego (on the shore of Lake Ontario) at a Spanish/seafood restaurant called La Parrilla.  Brian had Chicarrones and I had a tomato clam soup and we shared a Caesar salad.  Everything was wonderful including the staff. When we sat down we were the only customers in the whole place which is great for our COVID sensibilities. We also each had a piece of cake after lunch and both the chocolate and the vanilla cake were delicious and home made by the owner's mother. It was an indulgent nice way to finish our drive up.

After staying overnight at home (meeeeeeeeeeeow the cat said 500 times), we headed out again this morning about 8 am after having French Toast at home.  The drive to Poughkeepsie took us through Canandaigua (near home) then East along US-20 through Geneva, Seneca Falls and Auburn before heading south along NY-41 on the East side of Skaneateles lake and then East on NY-206 and eventually NY-28 and NY-30 through the heart of the Catskills.  I'd never been through the Catskills before and the natural scenery and numerous trailheads along the road were appealing.  For some reason the IDEA of the Catskills loomed larger in my mind than whatever we saw today. I've watched multiple videos of explorers visiting long abandoned Jewish resorts and formerly hopping ski areas etc in decline.  There used to be comedy clubs and all kinds of random things in the area.  What I saw today was entirely average looking low density roadside tourist stuff.  Clearly the interesting history is tucked off the main drag!  Thankfully there wasn't much traffic or irritation along this part of our trip.

The traffic and irritation was saved for getting into Poughkeepsie.  We kept looking at Google maps and wondering how 22 miles could take over an hour then getting closer and closer with no apparent troubles until we were less than 8 miles away and it still said 30 minutes.  Then just before we got to the ramp for the 'Mid Hudson Bridge' we got the details that a tractor trailer over-turned on the bridge etc.  There are very few bridges across the Hudson in this part of the state and despite the stressful grind inching forward to the toll plazas than painfully merging down to a single lane, it was allegedly the fastest route.  Unfortunately, getting across the bridge wasn't entirely the end of it because the gridlock ran both directions so all the intersections along the roads leading to the bridges were backed up etc.  It was really unpleasant and put both of us on edge.  In the 2 years we've been in Rochester, prior to today, I've spent literally just a few MINUTES in gridlocked traffic.  And I don't just mean in Rochester.  In driving in and out of NJ and trips to PA and my work trip to Los Angeles and most recently driving from Oregon back to NY.  In all that driving I've spent virtually zero time in traffic at all.  The last big traffic snarl I can remember being in was Nashville about 3 years ago on a visit.  So, really, today's 30 or 40 minutes of total delay was more psychologically jarring than of actual harm to our schedule.

The hotel we are staying at (Best Western at the Falls) used to be some sort of ultra luxury non-chain hotel but the owner retired about 20 years ago.  While it's still more architecturally interesting than your average off-ramp Inn, the ultra luxury clientele is long gone.  The lobby smelled like a bong as did a lot of the hallways.  Our room has a beautiful view of the river and is a spacious suite.  Unfortunately it also had sticky or greasy spots on almost every surface including bits of food on the counter and there are burn holes in the comforter.  Sigh.  I think there is a lot of recovery and probably some shaking out to come in the hotel industry.  We got housekeeping to come back in and wipe and vacuum our room before we settled in.

It's supposed to snow a lot while we are here.  I hope it isn't extremely snowy and that we succeed at having some good outdoors activity either way.  It hasn't been the most inspiring start to our Poughkeepsie stay.