Review of Best Western Inn in Cobleskill, NY

Cobleskill is a laid-back town in Schoharie County, the site of one of New York’s state universities and situated west of Albany, NY. I like Cobleskill. The views are spectacular, the people are cheerful and generous, and the area has the comforts of civilization (such as Dunkin Donuts, movies theatres, Walmart, and Howe Caverns) while still retaining that relaxing country atmosphere. It’s also the best place to get accommodations outside of Albany, I think.

We stayed overnight at the Best Western Inn on 121 Burgin Drive in Cobleskill. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Inn situated very near a shopping complex but up a hill where the views are gorgeous.

Best Western Inn graciously provided my large family two adjoining rooms to write this review of their facilities. I had no idea what to expect when we arrived, but I can now say that the place is phenomenal! First things first…

We arrived at check-in time, 3pm. The Inn is a one-story building, featuring a slew of rooms with double beds, a swimming pool, a fitness center, a restaurant, a bowling alley and a lovely lobby! I was wowed by all the amenities. Besides the typical free morning coffee, Best Western Inn gives free wireless Internet service and a complementary issue of USA Today for all guests.

Check in was prompt and I was very impressed with the ladies at the front desk. I’ve been to a number of hotels (my husband has even worked at a few) and we’ve had our share of bad experiences with front desk employees. The Best Western Inn ladies were a breath of fresh, hospitable air. We were all extremely delighted with the friendly, easy-going manner of the ladies. I’m always a little nervous meeting new people, but these ladies put me at ease. They quickly got us settled and made us feel very welcome. Read more

Our Stay at Blue Mountain Rest, Adirondacks Region

I discovered Blue Mountain Rest, a cabin rental retreat, through a search engine search for accommodations in the Blue Mountain Lake, New York, area. We wanted to see the Adirondack Museum and decided to stay in the area for a few days. Boy, am I ever glad I found this place! We absolutely LOVED our stay at Blue Mountain Rest!!

The establishment is owned and run by proprietors Lenny and Boka Baglieri. They have maintained a variety of hospitality businesses (Lenny is co-owner of Villa Baglieri in the Catskills area, and Boka has worked as a cook and caterer and ran her own cleaning business for a while). The couple combines their background in the hospitality industry to make Blue Mountain Rest a really, really enjoyable place. Lenny calls Blue Mountain Rest “your home away from home in the Adirondacks,” and we sure felt that way! We already miss the cabin and the glorious Adirondack scenery.

We stayed nearly a week here. I wish we could have stayed longer! Blue Mountain Rest is located on Route 30, a mere 1/2 mile from the intersection with Route 28. The Baglieris offer a variety of cabin sizes for every conceivable visitor. There’s an RV camper, two small cabins that can be expanded into larger units, and a small house that is the crown jewel of the retreat. We were blessed to stay in the small house cabin.

The cabin was INCREDIBLE and everyone felt right at home. This cabin features an entry hall, a full-sized kitchen with eat-in dining room, a good sized living room, two bedrooms and 1-1/2 baths. There’s plenty of closet space. Everything is so cozy. The kids really enjoyed relaxing in the living room with its warm pine paneling and the nice wood fireplace. The place was as clean as a whistle– pristine, actually.

Boka does most of the decorating, and she has a real gift. The decor is tactful and is done in an Adirondack theme. The cabin is so cozy.

The windows offer beautiful views of the forest in the back and Blue Mountain in the front. In the mornings, I sat on the couch watching the mist swirl around the mountain’s peak, slowly burned away by the rising sun. It was so peaceful.

In the backyard, the kids explored the pond and the forest while I sat on the deck. There’s a large area for outdoor cookouts. A barbecue grill was available to us, as well. At night, shimmering white lights lit up the deck railing. It was just so beautiful. The place has a lot of lovely small touches that made our stay very relaxing.

The boys liked looking for frogs and fish in the small pond.

The front yard is pretty.

We were actually scheduled to stay just 2 nights and 3 days, but we loved the cabin so much that we decided to stay another night and day, just to enjoy ourselves. I can’t rave about Blue Mountain Rest enough– it was so beautiful and relaxing.

Here are a few details about the place–

Blue Mountain Rest is open year round, one of the few accommodation places open during the winter in the Adirondacks. Winter sports are very popular in the Blue Mountain area, so Blue Mountain Rest hosts a lot of skiers, snowmobilers, fishermen, and other sportspeople.

The Baglieris offer a huge variety of special packages and deals throughout every season. Currently, there’s the Hiking & Biking package, Whitewater Rafting Special, Teacher Conference Week, a Veteran’s Day Special, off-season special rates and more. It pays to schedule accommodations during this time because you can save 10% to 20% off. Blue Mountain Rest also has a very special Gore Mountain Package for skiers, too. You can check out current specials and deals at the Blue Mountain Rest Specials & Packages page or contact Lenny for information (phone number is below).

Lenny and Boka have plans to expand Blue Mountain Rest. They want to offer small meals or snacks (Boka is from Germany and is a superb cook, says Lenny). I am heartily in favor of this. While we loved our stay at the cabin, it was difficult to find groceries and meals. The convenience store down the street closes at 5:30, and there are no restaurants in Blue Mountain Lake. If you expect to stay at the cabin for any length of time, bring your own groceries. I hope Boka has her food service open by the time we visit again– I’d love to try Boka’s cooking!

Cabins are very reasonably priced. I did some comparative shopping for accommodations in the area and Blue Mountain Rest was the most reasonable, especially for our large family of six (and I even brought my cat with me!). Blue Mountain Rest is also in a great location. The public park on Route 28, with beach and lake access, is a 5 minute walk away. There’s a convenience store nearby. The Adirondack Museum (review of that coming soon!) is only a 3-minute drive down Route 28. The Blue Mountain NYSDEC Fire Tower Trail (see my review!) is only a few miles from the cabin. Nearby Long Lake and Indian Lake (10-11 miles away) have restaurants.

All in all, our stay was stellar and we can’t wait to go again! I highly recommend that you check out Blue Mountain Rest. Tell Lenny and Boka that NewYorkTraveler.net sent you!

Blue Mountain Rest
8821 NYS Rte. 30
Blue Mountain Lake, NY 12812
Phone: (845) 236-4071

Note: In exchange for this review, I received a small discount on our stay at Blue Mountain Rest. Be assured that my review is 100% mine, and all opinions, photos, and claims are my honest opinion. We really loved Blue Mountain Rest and recommend it!

New York Hotels

New York hotels are the standard by which all other hotels are judged. Ever since the first hotels were built there to provide lodgings for the upper class, New York hotels have led the way in providing superior quality rooms and services for commoners, kings, artists and captains of industry. The city offers a number of types of hotels. There are large national chains, residential hotels, boutique hotels and many famous hotels. If what you are looking for is the best hotel experience in the world few places can compete with the hotels that are found in New York City.

The Sohotel New York is one of the oldest hotels in New York that is still in operation. Its location in lower Manhattan gives easy access to Little Italy, China Town, Manhattan’s most interesting neighborhoods and the hottest nightclubs, restaurants and entertainment venues. The name of the hotel has changed many times since its founding in 1822. It has been called the Westchester, the Occidental and the Pioneer at different points. The hotel has hosted billionaire businessmen and philanthropists William Waldorf Astor, John L. Sullivan, Gentleman Jim Corbet and politicians Big Tim Sullivan and Pat Forley and many other great and near-great personages.

Residential hotels in New York are sometimes palatial manors which encompass several floors and are served by staffs of butlers, maids and chefs trained to provide unsurpassed service to the guests. These suites often boast Persian rugs, classic furniture, impressive dining rooms, fireplaces, gardens and incredible vistas of the New York skyline. The concierge at a good residential hotel is part manager part magician. It is said a good New York concierge can get a guest anything, including an audience with the pope. Residence hotels provide world-class cuisine and easy access to the best entertainment New York has to offer.

There are also a number of excellent chain hotels in New York. These hotels provide consistently superior atmosphere and service. High quality linens, towel and robes, large comfortable beds, state of the art bathrooms, large flat-screen televisions, Wi-fi, Skype and all the other latest technologies come standard in many rooms. Rooftop pools offer respite from the hectic pace of life for which New York is known. Many of the hotels offer media centers where traveling business people can continue to transact international business while experiencing the quality of life only New York can provide.

If you are looking to have a truly unique hotel stay consider one of the New York boutique hotels. Boutique hotels generally host very few guests at one time. Some boutique hotels never serve more than a dozen guests a day. This allows them to provide an unmatchable level of personal service. Guest can call ahead and have special meals, linens, decorations, technology and anything else imaginable prepared for their arrival. These hotels are located in some of the best locales in the city.

Are you ready for a spectacular hotel experience? Take a trip to New York and relax at a New York hotel.

Click here for great deals and offers on hotels New York and city breaks.

Home Away From Home

The kids and I have been watching some outstanding movie and documentaries lately. In particular, we have been impressed with Travel the Road, a television series that ran on TBN and is available as DVDs now. It follows two, and then three, young men who decide to sell everything they have in the States, and travel around the world to dozens of countries to spread the Christian gospel. The men travel mostly to Third World countries but I think they do travel through some swanky European areas and maybe some exotic place like st tropez. They know no other language but English, and their journey is full of deprivation, harrowing experiences, joy and hardship. And lots and lots of passion. It’s really wonderful to watch them on their travels. It’s a learning experience.

When I was a young person, I wanted to do just that– travel the road, be a missionary. I never did become a “real” missionary, but I am more an “armchair” missionary and “backyard” traveler. I decided to start up this blog to keep a journal of all our homegrown travels. I could never be much of a world traveler, but I could still travel, even if I did travel only in New York State. Who knows, I still may travel the world. The most difficult part, I imagine, is finding accommodations. In your own country, you can rely on familiar brands… but how on earth do you go about finding, for example, reputable villas in France? How can you tell by saint topez pictures online that what you see is what you get?

This, I believe, is the beauty behind rental property providers. I have discovered quite a few myself, so should we decide to leave our native boundaries, I have an arsenal of reputable and reliable companies that can offer us good information and deals on lodging, food, and sightseeing. See– I’m all ready to go. I simply lack opportunity (and finances!).

If you own a home and would like to rent it to considerate travelers such as me you can also list your home for rent. I think that’s a great idea– renting your own home, earning a little money from it to enable you to travel further. I’d love to do that!

Anyway, rental properties are the creme de la creme when it comes to holiday accommodation. Make sure you make your plans with a reliable company that has a history of providing outstanding service and listings.

Last Chance of Season for Luxury Vacation

A friend of mine traveled to Italy recently, and brought back many photos. Wow! I have never been to Italy, but I would just love to go after seeing those photos. The Mediterranean is exquisite, and the scenery by the coast is so beautiful my eyes couldn’t bear to see it anymore (my friend stayed in one of the lovely villas in Italy).

If staying mainland is more palatable now that we are nearing the end of the summer vacation season, there are some really nice Florida villas that have that warm, Mediterranean feel (and you don’t have to learn a foreign language to visit, either!).

Hot right now are self catering villas and cottages. Since it’s the end of the season, prices have been dwindling, and it’s a good time to take advantage of the deals. Moreover, the villas and rental units are DEFINITELY more convenient. I prefer them much more to a hotel room. They are usually cleaner, roomier, and there’s more of a family-friendly atmosphere with them. Owners Direct specializes in connecting traveling families with clean, relaxing, enjoyable accommodations worldwide.

Someday I may get a chance to enjoy an Italian villa, or maybe even one in Greece…

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