We drove from Malta to McConchie’s Heritage Acres in Galway NY, which is a 30 minute drive north of Albany and  20 minutes south of Saratoga and the Adirondack mountains. Luckily we went in search of the campground before we took the coach. It wasn’t far away but there were a couple of low bridges in our path which were only 12’3”, no way, so we went further afield and found a truck route.

Albany is the New York State capitol and where Steve grew up. You don’t see an awful lot of RVs around these parts, people tend to buy trailers just park them in a campground like this one and spend weekend summers here, so during the week the park was empty but everyone started to arrive on Friday afternoon. We’d booked a month here, plenty of time to visit family and friends.

Our site was at the back on a hill and what appeared to be the “no kids” section, so it was pretty quiet. We were very much in the middle of nowhere, but the nearby village of Ballston Spa was a very vibrant little village with a delightful array of independent shops and restaurants surrounded by some beautiful homes.

The little village square where trees were adorned with bird houses

Among others, Abner Doubleday, the inventor of baseball was born here..

It certainly has a hometown feel about it

Churches of all denominations and building styles.

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There were so many delightful cafes and restaurants to choose from like Henry’s for burgers, Next Door Kitchen where Chris found her favorite dessert of sticky toffee pudding, the Whistling Kettle, a REAL tea shop, where we had gateaux and crepes bananas foster with Earl Grey.

There was no shortage of antique stores either

Iron Roost for breakfast. They served every dish with waffles, even Eggs Benedict on waffles.

When living in Albany, Steve worked with the band Kashmir, and all those band members are now solo acts or have formed or joined other bands, and during the “season” they each play at various venues.We spent our first evening with Steve’s friends. Bob Boyer was performing at the Sport Island Pub on The Great Sacandaga Lake. Such a great guitarist and singer with all kinds of electronic gizmos.

Other  friends were there and Penny Knight, singer and drummer joined Bob to belt out a Melissa Ethridge  song.

At one point we looked up from our conversation and Bob was gone, music was still blasting and just a guitar on stage. He eventually came back and continued, not a moments break in the entertainment . Great night with great friends, Bob, Artie, Penny and Susan.

Next outing was to go and see Bob and his band NY Players, a 10 piece band at The Crossings Park of Colonie. They are definitely a great wedding/party band. Two hours of non-stop 80’s music with 3+ singers.

Our good friends Tony and Brett joined us for a lovely evening. Tony had put together a spreadsheet with all the local venues of local bands/friends playing. There were so many and this was an easy way to determine our agenda for the evenings

We went out again to catch some more friends playing at Carson’s Woodside Tavern just down the road from our campground. Dan Barnum(keys) and Matthew Spataro(guitar) playing in a band called Legacy, a Journey/Foreigner tribute band. They sounded great!

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Matt shredding on some Journey

A little Foreigner

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Next we went back to The Crossings Park of Colonie to see Penny Knight with her new endeavor a band called Edge Of Town

Penny and Artie

Finally got to see Steve’s cousin Linda, who was a life line to Chris when Steve got sick. She is one of 5 nurses in her family. Theirs is a huge family, and all 70 of them had just returned from the Jersey shore. Photos of the family adorned every space on the walls and furniture

We went out to a place in Saratoga Springs called Panza’s Starlight Lounge to catch a friend Bobbie Van Detta playing solo. This was a set of soft ballad/dinner music, and the setting was a fancy restaurant. At least we’d dressed up a bit.

Food was delicious

We found a gummy place, Leaf and Fog and it was next to Bochester Regional Joint Board. How ironic.

Time for some golf. It’d been a long time for Steve, but he tried.

Chris had mentioned to Tony, bass player for Kashmir, that she wanted to take up the instrument again, Chris played bass and cello when she was young, next thing you know, Tony presented her with a bass guitar.

Next stop was to visit Steve’s oldest friend Calvin, Steve’s best man at his wedding and another lifeline for Chris when Steve was first diagnosed with cancer.

Calvin with Harper, his first grandchild

Breakfast with Calvin. We’ll see more of him later when we visit him and his new house in Thousand Islands. He’s got just enough time to complete it before we arrive.

Lobster time. We’d been eyeing up these little beauties for a few days. Finally broke down and had them steam some for us.

Steve’s cousin John, who is the president of NY OTB, had a table at the Saratoga Race Course which is track side right by the finishing line.

So there we sat with cousin Linda, and her son Mickey, who dropped us off right at the gate. He was also the big winner of the day. Cousin John, who wasn’t present, sent us tips for each race, which would have been great had we understood racing lingo

The “out-riders” who walk with the horses when they make their entrance are stable mates and keep the horses calm before the race.

And they’re OFF, with an audience of fascinators.

And we lost another race!

They spray down the horses after the race as it was 88 – 90 F this particular day

The track bugler playing Happy Birthday to a patron at the next table

Studying form for the next race, (ooh that’s a good name)

We visited cousin Mickey and Vicky at their beautiful home just outside Albany, joined by more of the family.

Now turn this way and include Chris

We spent a fabulous month in the Albany area, unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favor and it turned out to be the rainiest July on record. But we made as much of it as we could and really enjoyed it. Wonderful family and great friends, only wish we could see them all more often.