Saratoga Springs Sweeps Up Sophomore Stallion

Peter and Pals in Skidmore Dorm Room

Peter started his sophomore year at Skidmore this week. Move in day was Labor Day. Now I know why they call it Labor Day. We made the seven hour drive from Bethesda on Sunday. My friend Lina came with us to help. Darr was at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte. Upon arrival in Saratoga Springs I got that "everything is going to be all right" feeling that I experienced last year. The town is just so damn cute and appealing and lively and pretty. Especially Labor Day weekend which marks the end of the racing season. There are "Final Stretch" festivities, including live music on nearly every street corner, and great people watching--the horsey set wolfing down their last martinis, squeezing in their last dose of fine dining and high-end shopping, men in blue blazers with cigars, and chic women in pink and green clicking their high heels as they stroll down Broadway, the main drag. I cleverly made dinner reservations at Sperry's so we wouldn't have to fight the hordes for a table. They present you with a piping hot Gruyere filled popover to get you started and from there we had calamari in Thai chili lime sauce, caramelized Brussels sprouts with bacon lardons, and fettuccine with peas, asparagus and pancetta, and before you know it the blood had returned to my white knuckled hands. Expedia served me well with a room at the Courtyard by Marriott which was a stone's throw from Skidmore.

Artist at work on Broadway

But is also time for the horsey set to make way for the Thoroughbreds, the student body at Skidmore. We headed for the campus to inspect the new room, and it was big and glorious. Peter is rooming with an old friend from his high school, and two of his other good friends are on the same floor. Even better, one of them is the RA.  There is much more comfort in sophomore year. Both students and parents know the drill, know where they are going and what they are doing. In other words, I didn't have to cry all the way home. The length of the drive made me feel like crying, but leaving the beaming Peter on that beautiful campus which seems designed to calm did not.



A horse is a horse...

...of course, of course