Durham, NY trip

Yesterday, we made a day-trip to Durham, NY, where Michael and Amy (Michael is the nephew of Rob Shay) have just this year bought a cabin, a get-away spot in the northern Catskills. They wanted us to see it, so we drove over - a 2 1/2 hour drive, give or take a few minutes, going over via Bennington, Troy and Albany, and then SW from Albany about a half-hour's drive. It seemed pretty easy going over - coming back in the dark was a bit more stressful for Ellen around Albany, esp. on I-787. We had never been in this part of the state of NY before, and it was very interesting. It is mountainous, and quite scenic, but it is also culturally interesting. Durham has several little hamlets within its boundaries, four of which are Durham, East Durham, Oak Hill and Cornwallville. Of these, we spent some time mainly in East Durham and Oak Hill. East Durham is "Irishville," - at some point in the early 20th century it was heavily settled by Irish immigrants, and some echoes of that persist to this day, e.g., in Irish shops. Oak Hill is funky but fascinating. Michael and Amy had not explored it before, and were happy to get to know it a bit. I had found a photo on-line which looked interesting and when we tracked it down, it was in Oak Hill: it was the L. Tripp Store and House complex. The store was a chock-full old General Store cum Antique Store. The brick house next door was classic from the outside but not open to the public. Across the street was an odd mausoleum. We also attended an event - A Halloween City Craft Fair and Flea Market which was unlike anything I had seen before: hundreds of booths with vendors dressed for Halloween selling an odd assortment of stuff and people wandering about in costume - people that clearly were different from me and I would have loved to have had a conversation with some of them, but it was not set up to facilitate that. But it was fun to look around. Amy and Michael's cabin is quite nice and they feel they got a good deal on it considering today's crazy real estate market. It has a nice entry room, a large kitchen, very roomy living-room/dining area, a downstairs bedroom and bath, an upstairs loft bedroom, and a little back sun room/laundryroom. Michael fixed us a nice lunch of omelettes, sausage and toast with peach jam made from their own peach trees. We also met Amy's father, Alfredo, who was visiting this weekend. They took us for a drive into neighboring Windham, a very lively, touristy village, and we got some great views of mountains and valleys. All-in-all, a very interesting, fun day! The time flew by. We got home at about 9:30p.m.

Michael and Amy's cabin in Durham, NY

The living-room/dining-room area of the cabin - Amy's dad is in the doorway

Michael preparing lunch in the kitchen

The view just a little up the road from their cabin

A couple of places in "Irishville." I thought the separate benches for Democrats and Republicans was sort of cute

Several scenes from "Halloween City" Craft Fair

The L. Tripp Store and House

Inside the store

Michael and Amy looking over old books

It's yours for $75

A display as you enter the store

The "funky" mausoleum - I don't think anyone is actually buried here, but it looks that way