Saratoga Spa State Park

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I entered this park. That's the honest account. Saratoga Spa State Park is enormous, it's genuinely strange, and it's been operating since the 1930s in a form that nothing else in New York really replicates. The mineral springs scattered through the grounds are the thing: you walk up to a pavilion, fill a cup from a tap, and drink carbonated water that comes directly from the earth and tastes completely unlike anything that comes out of a bottle. I tried multiple springs on a single walk and each one was different.

The Gideon Putnam Hotel in the center of the park is a grand old building that operates at a different pace than the surrounding tourist infrastructure of Saratoga Springs. The bath house facilities run from April through October and are worth building a trip around. The pools, both outdoor and indoor, have the slightly sulfurous mineral character that distinguishes them from every other pool you've used.

Then there's just the walking. I picked a random path and ended up deep in the pine grove on the western end of the park where the light was coming through at an angle that made the whole thing feel less like a state park and more like a painting. Saratoga in spring is a specific thing and this park is the highest version of it. Coming back as soon as the weather turns — and I have, several times since that first April visit.