Saratoga's Congress Park

A couple of weeks ago during Thanksgiving weekend, Sheila and I spent the bulk of the weekend in the Adirondack Mountains in Saratoga Springs with friends. The main purpose of our visit to Saratoga was to see the Canadian Pacific's Holiday Train but we had a little time to do a few other things as well. We had a really great time and, as usual, we left feeling as though we didn't have enough time there!

Among doing all sorts of things in the few days we had in Saratoga, Sheila and I went for a walk through Congress Park one afternoon. 

This particular park is home to war memorials, veteran memorials, multiple fresh water mineral springs known for healing and curative properties, an historical society museum (I'll write more about this museum in a future blog entry), and a carousel. Although the calendar may disagree, it is pretty much wintertime here in the northeast so this wasn't exactly the best time to visit this park but we enjoyed ourselves enough to want to visit again. I'm confident that this park is beautiful in spring and summer. 

Congress Park is filled with a rich history but worth mentioning here are a few words about the carousel in this park. This isn't just some run-of-the-mill carousel. The 28 horses were carved in 1910 by one artist... a Lithuanian immigrant who lived much of his life in New York City... his carved horses were known for their jeweled decorative heads and ornate bodies... each horse even features real horsehair tails! This carousel was closed for the season while we were here but we were able to peer through glass to see this work of art.

Anyway, here are a few photos from our walk through Congress Park in Saratoga Springs...

I had to shoot through glass since the carousel was closed for the season but I like the
reflections in this image... sometimes reflections do well to frame your subject.

After walking through Congress Park, Sheila and I walked around downtown Saratoga Springs and did a little shopping. Sheila found a few nice things to buy for herself!