My granddaughter Adeline and I have just returned from a mini-vacation in mid-upper-upstate NY, and it was delightful.  Our ultimate destination was Cooperstown and the beautiful Otesaga Hotel, but we had ideas for adventures along the way.

Our first stop was  Middleburgh where we decided to have lunch.  We found a place to park on Main Street, right in front of Mrs. K’s Kitchen.  It had the look of a real down-home place that had been there for a while.  There was a much more modern-looking coffee place next door, and we went in to check it out, but they only served coffee and some pastries. We asked about Mrs. K’s and the young lady told us that their food was first-rate, so Mrs. K’s it was!

Mrs. K’s place was busy, but we were told to find ourselves a table anywhere.  The menu had lots of old favorites, but somewhere on there Adeline saw avocado toast so she ordered it with two sunnyside-up eggs, and I had a BLT.  Both were excellent.  Thank you, Mrs. K!

Back in the car, we drove to our next stop, Howe’s Caverns.  I think that every schoolchild in NYS has, at one point in his life, taken a school field trip to this famous cave.  Luckily, my sister reminded us to bring along sweaters for our tour because the caves have a constant temperature of 52 degrees.  Brrrr!

Howe Caverns was discovered in 1842 by Lester Howe, who noticed that on the hottest days, his cows stood around a hole in the pasture.  Upon further inspection he saw that cool air was blowing from the hole.  Soon afterward, with a length of rope and a lantern, Howe began exploring the cave.  He began leading hours-long tours through this extensive cavern created over millions of years by water seeping through limestone, naming the formations and calling the underground river the River Styx.

Howe’s Cavern is still doing a brisk business.  The parking lot was full and there were several charter buses. We had purchased our tickets online for the 2:30 tour, and since we arrived early thought that we could sneak onto an earlier tour.  No way, we were informed, as all the tours for that day were sold out. Soon we were herded into a small room where “Lester Howe” was represented by a life-size figure who began telling us the history of the caves.  Then forty of us amateur spelunkers were crowded into two elevators that took us 152 feet underground to begin our 90-minute tour.

We saw stalactites and stalagmites galore and hit all the high (actually very low) spots. We also had a boat ride through part of the cave on what Howe dubbed The Lake of Venus.  Getting into the boat, we were reminded of the boat ride in the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka. (There’s no earthly way of knowing/ Which direction we are going). But we all survived the short cruise and headed back through the cave.  At the end of our walking tour we encountered The Winding Way, a 300-foot long narrow passage (18 inches at its narrowest) that twists and turns and is guaranteed to make you wonder if you have claustrophobia.   From there you get restuffed into the elevators that take you back to the surface.  All in all, Howe’s Cavern was just as I remembered – cool, deep, and unique. Adeline gave it a thumbs up.

The 90-degree heat felt great after our time in the cool cave. We hopped into our car and headed west for Cooperstown.