Crossing Into Kindness: A Journey Through Upstate New York

It’s easy to ignore a stranger’s invitation to visit. Harder to say no to a friend.

This is the challenge now when it comes to visiting the United States.

The U.S. is not a stranger to us Canadians. For me, New York is not only the place where friends and family live, but it’s also the place where I lived. For a short time, when I was in school, I was a New Yorker.

It was a different New York then. But some things, of course, remain the same. Anyone I tell this to raises an eyebrow but I’ll keep saying it: New York residents are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.

There’s a mixed bag of feelings Canadians have when we cross the border into the United States these days. There is a familiarity, the shared history of weekend trips and cross-border shopping.

But you can’t ignore that there is something new now about traveling here. I felt it in the tension of my shoulders when I landed at Newark. My face hardened as I handed over my passport at the border control, prepared for a confrontation.

Instead, I was greeted with a smile. “Have a great trip,” said the customs officer.

New York is in bloom year round, in gardens, orchards, small towns, and historic estates. During the fall, the colours transform into gold and amber. Everywhere I went, I was reminded that Americans in these communities from Millbrook to Rhinebeck to Hudson to Saratoga Springs are genuinely happy to see Canadian visitors.

Hudson: Where the Story Began Million Years Ago

All year round, Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard in North Salem, New York bears fruit and the family-owned orchard is always a postcard of the season. Right now, you’ll find apples and pumpkins and you’ll be greeted by the smell of cider as soon as you walk in.

A 50-minute drive away to Millbrook is Innisfree Garden, a 185-acre landscape shaped over decades as a work of art and inspired by a poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats. The artist Walter Beck, who died in 1954, never visited Japan or China, but he was inspired by both countries and dedicated decades developing the landscape with man-made rock formations.

“This garden speaks to me in a way that others haven’t,” said Kate Kerin, the landscape curator of the Innisfree Garden. “I have found this one keeps me inspired and busy.”

The story of the garden began 400 million years ago, explained Kerin, with the mountain building events and the ridges of an ancient mountain ranges that were once as high as the Himalayas. They’ve since eroded and retreated, leaving gravel deposits from glacial ice wash 13,0000 to 15,000-years ago. That was nature’s doing.

What was manmade was the vision of the Becks. Walter, an artist, and Marion, an avid gardener, worked with the natural topography surrounding the garden’s 16-hectare Tyrrel Lake and developed a stroll garden as a sequence of intimate spaces. It was first opened to the public in 1960 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Meals Tell the Story of the Region

At Terrapin in Rhinebeck, local and the world’s most diverse flavour mingle in the heart of the Hudson Valley. It was here  where I tried my first ever ramps, wild spring onions that are a combination of savoury garlic and sweet onions. I heard that chefs wait for ramps season as a herald of spring. This is not a heavy root vegetable for the winter. In a pasta dish with morels, asparagus, kale and buffalo milk ricotta and as a pesto over grilled organic king salmon, ramps were, for even non-garlic eaters like me, surprisingly fresh and its pungency was not, as I had feared, overwhelming.

Chef John Kroner, now in his third year at the restaurant, says the restaurant was one of the first in the area to embrace farm-to-table dining.

Lunch the next day was at Saint Florian where, I admit, I initially sniffed at the prospect of dim sum in Hudson, New York. Inspired by the Supper Clubs and Roadhouses of old school restaurant dining, the dim sum including cumin lamb dumplings and shrimp siu mai, and Maine scallop toast, made me a convert. I didn’t need to be in Richmond, British Columbia, to get great dim sum. Robb Finn, the chef/owner, opened Saint Florian in a two-storey former firehouse, hence the name for the patron saint of firefighters. “We approach everything from a traditional lens. Keeping it cozy and classic,” he said.

Living Canvases: Landscapes as Art

New York landscapes have a way of revealing both their wild heart and softer side. Here the landscapes ask you to slow down, breathe in and pay attention to the small details that make travel meaningful.  Lake Mohonk where the resort Mohonk Mountain House overlooks offers breathtaking views from every balcony.

The mountaintop sanctuary was founded by  Albert Smiley in 1869 when he purchased 300 acres and a 10-room inn by a majestic glacial lake. The Smiley family still manages it today but it’s grown considerably grander.

Another grand landscape about an hour and 15 minutes away is Olana State Park, where artist Frederic Church, his wife Isabel and their four children created a 250-acre living landscape, one of the most intact and well-preserved artistic environments in the United States. Bucolic fields and historic restored homes can be found in Aurora at Finger Lakes where the main street is a picturesque village of just under one square mile of elm-lined streets. The Inns of Aurora has a flagship boutique hotel built in 1833 and is a collection of historic homes restored and united to become a singular destination standing on 350 acres of bucolic landscape.

The wild heart and softer side of the landscape were most movingly found at The Ant, known as the Autism Nature Trail. It’s a hands-on space which encourages imagination and critical thinking, using natural items to create patterns, structures, and whole worlds, according to a memorial to Grandma Susie whose vision and perseverance helped make the trail a reality. The one-mile loop was designed for and by people on the autism spectrum with places to pick up and leave items like stones and sticks.

The ANT is located in the Letchworth State Park, which has been called the Grand Canyon of the East, a 5,800-hectare  park  in western Upstate New York. The park has been recognized as the best state park in the country with more than 106 km of trails. Genesee River roars through the gorge over three major waterfalls between cliffs. Some as high as 600 feet in some places. The views, especially from a hot air balloon takes in all the peaks and valleys.

Watching the rush of water is a familiar sight, even though this is my first time here. Niagara Falls is less than a two hour drive away and the realization is unmistakable. This landscape is shared. The geography, the waterfalls, the trees and the canvases of colour have inspired artists on both sides of the border.

In places like this, the line is more symbolic than real. We are neighbours.