Great day trip idea when visiting the Adirondacks region: Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY

 

Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY

Albert Camus:  “Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle.  This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.”

During the month of April (2022), my wife and I had the privilege of staying in the Adirondacks region, in a small town called Tupper Lake.  Tupper Lake turned out to be a great location to enjoy various attractions of the Adirondacks region, including Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, and incredible choice of mountains to hike.

By the second week of our stay in Tupper Lake, we had already explored Tupper Lake, Lake Placid, and had summited Mt. Jo.  We were extremely happy with all these places, but we were looking for something different, more specifically, culture.  We found it in the form of Hyde Collection, in Glens Falls, about a two hour drive from our temporary home in Tupper Lake!  

Hyde Collection, the former home of founders Louis and Charlotte Hyde, offers American and European arts spanning 6,000 years.  The objects displayed are the personal collection of the founders, and it required 50 years of avid collecting to acquire.  

We left on a rainy Saturday for Hyde Collection.  Our drive would take us the same route we had come on the first day of April, namely the New York State Thruway (I-87) and NY 28N, but in reverse.  Once we got on I-87, we got off on Exit 18 for Corinth/Glens Falls.

We knew the drive would take about 2 hours, so we decided to eat lunch first, before heading over to the museum.  For lunch, we went to a Mexican restaurant called Mi Rancho, about a mile away from the museum.

We love exploring local restaurants and this place was just that.  Decor, waitstaff, and food were all authentic.  We loved the beautiful paintings and Mexican-themed decorations throughout the restaurant.

We got free salsa and chips while we waited to order and they were so good, we finished them all!  My wife felt brave and ordered one of the spiciest dishes available at the restaurant called “shrimp Diablo” and I ordered fish tacos.  

My fish tacos were superb.  My wife’s dish was good, but it was super spicy!  I took a bite of it, and immediately needed a cold drink to douse the flame!  The name “Shrimp Diablo” was definitely correct.  Wow!  She only managed to eat about a quarter of the dish, and we got the rest of the dish to go.  

After our lunch, we set out for the museum, which only took about 5 minutes.  We arrived at the museum, then turned right after seeing a sign for parking, but realized the parking lot was only for the handicapped. We pulled out, then decided to just park on the street, which turned out to be ok thanks to the weekend.  Note:  Past the museum, there is parking for everyone on right. 

We got in the main entrance of Hyde Collection, then paid a very reasonable $12 per person admission fee.  That day, there were two different exhibitions going on, namely the Georgia O’Keeffe and Robert Blackburn exhibitions.  

We also inquired about the piano concert going on that day, and found out the concert would be downstairs at the De Blasiis concert hall.  Tickets can be purchased starting at 2:30 p.m.

We decided to turn right at the entrance first and started with Georgia O’Keeffe painting, then slowly made our way to other works.  The museum’s collection, though small, was certainly impressive, with many of them dating back from the Renaissance Period and onward.  

We ended up reading each and every one of the piece’s description, appreciating all of them and marveling at how well the pieces have been preserved all these years.  My favorite works of art were the 2 pieces by Renoir in the upstairs exhibit.  

Both pieces were paintings of little girls, and for whatever reason, it just made us smile, thanks to Renoir’s use of happy colors like reds and yellows.  I’m no artist, but I can appreciate a masterpiece when I see one…

We particularly liked many of the works from artists such as Botticelli, Cezanne, and Degas.  My wife surely appreciated these works as a painter herself, but I also enjoyed them as well.

Because the museum is a converted house, each room was being used to exhibit works.  We made sure we went to each and every room, as long as it was opened to the public that day.  While walking from one room to the next, one of the docents recommended my wife to carry her backpack in her hand, so as not to disturb any of the expensive and precious works.

We did just that, then continued our tour.  After finishing our tour of the permanent exhibits, we headed back out to the main entrance area to view the current exhibitions hall, namely Robert Blackburn exhibit.

Robert Blackburn was an artist and a master print maker who resided in New York City.  He fused print making and his artistic vision into works of art, and is one of the most influential artists in that genre.  

We toured his works in the cavernous main gallery, again reading the little descriptions along the way.  There were quite a few visitors by that time of the day, and we heard a gentle murmur from the gathering crowd.

It took us about an hour and 20 minutes to complete our tour of the gallery.  I had an idea to get some coffee, as we were getting a bit drowsy, but unfortunately, the museum did not have a cafe on premise.  We ventured out to the main street to look for a cafe, but was not successful.

We settled on the ubiquitous Stewart’s Shops, which is a gas station/food mart like Wawa or Sheetz in Pennsylvania, and you’ll see many of these around the Adirondacks region.  As soon as we entered the food mart, we saw a gigantic display for its half gallon tub of ice cream for sale.  Had I been eating sugar, I would’ve jumped at the chance to buy a half gallon tub of ice cream for $3.50!  It looked good…

Instead, we settled for a small French vanilla flavored coffee at a very reasonable $1.45.  The food mart had bunch of benches to sit at, so we did.  Coffee was not bad for that price point.  We really needed the caffeine fix, so we enjoyed it anyway.  It was something new, to be drinking coffee at Stewart’s Shops.  I’m all for new stimuli!

We decided to finish our coffee inside our car rather than at Stewart’s.  It was kind of romantic to be hearing rain pattering the windshield while enjoying coffee.  It reminded us of the times when we used to date, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…(Yup, I’m a Star Wars fan!)

After finishing our coffee, we headed back to the museum at around 2:30 p.m.  At the main entrance, we ran across two ladies with a young girl, who was holding flowers.  I had guessed she must be related to the performer, the pianist Kyra Lombard.

We went downstairs to the De Blasiis concert hall, enjoying additional modern art hung on the walls.  We paid $20 entrance fee (Cash only) and used the restroom.  On our way out of the restroom, my hunch proved to be correct, as we found out the little girl with flowers, was indeed the pianist’s niece!  I love it when my hunch is right!

We went inside the concert hall and selected the very first row, as close as we can be to the pianist.  I wanted to savor the music and watch her hands as close as possible.  We were really excited to be attending a classical music concert, as we hadn’t done that in some time.

The concert started promptly at 3:00 p.m.  Kyra Bombard came out to greet the audience, then jumped right into a piano sonata by Beethoven.  It was then followed by a piece by Ravel, then by Chopin, with two brief intermissions in between each piece.

Her playing was incredibly technical, but played with finesse and feel.  She used her legatos, pianos, and fortes really well.  The melodies came out well, and we were watching her, mesmerized by her playing.  We were feeling great to be immersed in live music once again…

Concert lasted bit over an hour to a rousing ovation.  We had enjoyed it immensely!  We departed the concert hall, then back into our car for our return journey to our temporary home at Tupper Lake.

In conclusion:

After enjoying the great outdoors in the Adirondacks region, some of us may eventually need some culture.  The Hyde Collection is just that place.  It is a great art museum with changing exhibits as well as a permanent exhibit.

Throw in a concert venue, and it’s a marriage made in culture heaven!  We thoroughly enjoyed both the art museum and the classical music concert.  We hope you do the same when visiting the Adirondacks region!

Thank you all for reading and happy trails!

Jake 

Wandering Money Pig 

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