Saratoga

I drove out to Saratoga yesterday, just for the day, to visit a friend. I love the fact that Saratoga exists within three hours of Skaneateles. It's a similar town, somehow - wealthy, expanding rapidly, filled with history (think Edna Ferber's Saratoga Trunk) and truly lovely. Of course the track and Skidmore make it different, just as the lake qualifies Skaneateles.

But you can walk, and we did with my little dog, Koko. My friend took me down streets I should have known from having lived there between 1983 and 1990, but I didn't. Instead of older homes and storefronts in disrepair, there were huge (for Saratoga) buildings of apartments. "Condos," she said. "Selling for over $800,000, I heard."

"Why? Even in Skaneateles with lakefront views and 1800 square feet and granite getting 800K was a stretch."

"Stockbrokers. People from The City. They work at home a lot - computers - and go down a couple times a week by the train from Rensselaer - only a couple hours commute. Ah," she sighed, "young people."

What a deal, I thought! A great little city, virtually no crime, "good" prices compared to The City, easy access to Montreal, the Adirondacks, and yes, my Finger Lakes. A steal!

"But," she went on, "look around. You see no young mothers with their babies. It's too expensive to live here now for young couples. The houses are too high."

And as we walked I noticed she was right. On such a beautiful fall day in Skaneateles every other person would have a young child in tow, whether they were parents or grandparents. In Saratoga there were students, and street people even, but not the plethora of strollers.

An unscientific study at best - but telling, I think, even so.