June 3, 2018

We slept later than we planned!  We crawled into the truck bed around 10, our first night camping on this adventure.  The Silver Springs Campground in Stow, Ohio, didn't have a lot of spaces but the spaces were spacious.  :)  The campers weren't real close to one another.  However, many spent a few hours talking and playing and talking and playing.  The neighboring site liked their campfire BIG and at one point I woke up to a large orange glow in the back of the truck and it was just a bit frightening for a few seconds!  

But waking up a bit late wasn't too bad and it was such a pleasant drive.  The homes we encountered reminded us of homes in England!  Old and most well-kept, farms, trees, stones stacked up to create retaining walls and house supports and walls surrounding lovely old cemeteries.  

In 1827 the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company began to investigate the use of steam engines for traction and locomotive use on its gravity railroad to haul coal from its mines to Honesdale, PA!  It proved to be very successful! There was a sign as we drove through commemorating the steam engine's importance at the entrance to town. :)

We passed an interesting sight of two windmills (actually there were more but these two caught our attention!) as they weren't far from one another and they weren't moving.  Cheryl thought they looked like they were "facing off," whereas Andrew thought they were giving one another the "silent treatment."

The GPS told us to take a certain turn but then, after we'd turned, was "recalculating" for us!  ????  We had been following a car with Florida plates that was following a U-Haul. We were debating whether they were going to Woodstock too, but they kept going and we turned around to humor Siri.  Well, we caught up with them after a few miles!  They eventually pulled over so all those following could pass and we didn't see them again.  

We saw signs for a "camp" and it didn't look like a traditional campground.  The first thing that came to both of our minds was the movie "Dirty Dancing."  In that movie, Baby and her family make a yearly trip to a camp in the Catskill Mountains, and she meets up Johnny.  This camp looked just like that one did in that movie! 

The last time we drove this road was WAY back in 1981!  Yes, when we go married!

We were on our way to the Pocono Mountains.  Back then, the Poconos were THE honeymoon destination!  We had our little yellow Datsun that we filled with oil and checked the gas, and by the time we got close we were losing lights too!  It RAINED and RAINED and we followed a semi closely so we could see the road, and eventually made it.  Penn Hills closed its doors in 2009 and it looks like everyone just up and left one day.

The temperatures were cool, mid to upper 60s for most of our drive.  We crossed Pennsylvania and unceremoniously crossed the Delaware into New York.  It was a simple road so no fanfare or big signs welcoming us.  Andrew recognized the town and county so we knew were close!

Believe it or not, neither Andrew nor Cheryl has ever been to the location of the original Woodstock.  Almost everyone we meet finds that incredible as much as Woodstock is part of our lives. Andrew always blames his mom for not allowing him to go, but then neglects to share that he wasn't even 9 years old yet. He has the spirit of a generation before. 

We drove small back roads, curving this way and that and parked in the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts parking lot.  We walked across their lovely brick courtyard, passing beautifully constructed buildings and tents being set up for an upcoming concert (more on that in just a bit).  Then, there it was: a sign sharing that we were truly looking at the sight of the original Woodstock nearly 49 years later.  

Wow.  It truly was the perfect site, a natural field sloping down to what was the stage.  

The original Woodstock was supposed to be held in another location but people there complained, loudly, and the promoters needed to move it.  Enter Max Yasgur who offered his farm in nearby Bethel, and with only a month, they set it up!  They were definitely not expecting the over 400,000 people that eventually showed up to what also turned out to be a free concert! It was hard to imagine, standing on the "stage" what it looked like with that many people there.  We could feel the energy of that day.

We went into the museum and wandered around the grounds.  As we were walking, we heard the music of the Who.  Cheryl thought they were appropriately piping music throughout the grounds as the Who did play at the original Woodstock, but Andrew knew what was going on:  this upcoming Friday, June 8, Roger Daltry, some members of the Who, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic are going to be performing "Tommy," at this venue!  Roger Daltry was here somewhere, just across the trees and caution tape! The rehearsal sounded amazing but we couldn't cross the line to actually see him.  We did ask several but all we got were polite, "No, you can't." responses.  Cheryl most likely could have as she was wearing black but Andrew was attired in his bright yellow, so would have been sort of easy to spot.  

As we were leaving, it happened. It started to rain!  We had hit and miss rain the entire day, but it had been clear our entire time walking around.  We took advantage of the karma and Andrew got to chant, "No rain. No rain. No rain." while walking on the original grounds of Woodstock.  Sigh.  Wow.

We found a great little campground, the Happy Days Campground, just a few short miles away, and for tonight we believe we are their only campers.  There are campers here, but we believe they are people's permanent camp sites by the way they are set up. 

It is actually cold out this evening, and could be dropping to maybe 49??  LOVELY!!