Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Kaatskills #AtoZChallenge

On K day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, some may object that I am cheating, that I am blogging about the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York and not the Kaatskill.

Kaatskill is a variant spelling of what we know today as the Catskills, but, in 1656, this was called the "Landt van Kats Kill" on a map.

A small part of the Cat...I mean Kaatskills jut into the eastern part of the county (Broome) where I live but most of it lies to the east.  For almost thirty years, we traveled through the Kaatskills on our way to visit my mother in law.  

This past summer we had to make the trip almost every weekend for several months, while we helped to take care of my elderly mother in law after surgery and downsized her so we could bring her up here to be closer to us and a couple of other relatives.

The road stretched before us, an almost three hour trip each way.
Remember Woodstock?  You are probably aware the Woodstock music festival of August, 1969 did not take place in Woodstock but in the town of Bethel, in the Katskill Mountains.  There is now a museum on the property and, sadly, we never had a chance to visit it.  We still hope to, one day.
 A large Jewish tourist population (and a number of year round residents) makes for a fascinating selection of kosher baked goods at a local supermarket.
A bench in the Kaatskill town of Roscoe, which calls itself Trout Town USA.

As grueling as the weekly drives were (especially for my spouse, who did the driving), I have some fond memories of some of the things we learned, and experienced, in those several months.  Strange how life is like that.  The hard work, the tiredness, drop away from memory and what is left are the lessons life has taught us.

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.

Today was "K" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenges.

14 comments:

  1. We all have to get creative during A to Z. Nice info.

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    1. Thanks. Now, we have to be creative for "X". Yikes.

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  2. Spent many a day in those mountains. Grossingers. Fallsview. Nevele. Raleigh. And, those were just the big ones. And, then my camp moved from the Delaware Water Gap (where the land got flooded) to a lake in the Catskills...

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    1. I must have been one of the few of my heritage who did not vacation in the Catskills. We were able to bring our son to the Raleigh perhaps 15 years ago because an aunt and uncle were vacationing there, but then it closed.

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  3. Great info, didn't know about Woodstock '69 :) All the best!thetrucktraveller.com

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  4. I've heard of the place, of course. At least you have some good memories to hold on to from that time.

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  5. The Catskills are gorgeous! I sure would love to see that Woodstock museum...

    Hope you're having fun with the A-Z!

    Michele at Angels Bark

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  6. I had the opportunity to go to Woodstock and turned it down. I didn't want to have to camp out. Too conscenred with my appearances back then. Live and learn.https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/

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  7. The Catskills are beautiful! I walked through that area in 2010 during the Walk for a Nuclear Free Future. I did two segments of the walk: Buffalo to Rochester and Utica to New York City. It was fantastic.

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  8. My grandmother used to spend Summer's in a bungalow colony in the Catskills. My parents honeymooned at the Nevele. Sweet memories. Last summer my boyfriend and I went to Cooperstown, and drove through the Catskills on our way home to Long Island. It's a nice drive.

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  9. I have heard of the Catskills but have not had the opportunity to visit them.

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  10. I've never been to the area. Sounds really cool. I like to visit places that offer a break from the ordinary.

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