One of the most famous things about Saratoga Springs are the springs! You can easily travel around the Saratoga Springs area and find the waters flowing all year round. Not all Springs Tasting Tours are successful! Read on to find out how YOU can have fun tasting all the different springs!
So when we first moved here I kept seeing these cool little, and sometimes pretty large, buildings labeled with fun names in an old fashioned font. I decided that I wanted to find all the Saratoga springs, it was like a thirsty scavenger hunt. I found an awesome interactive map on Saratoga.com. I printed it out and hung it by the front door.
Many of the Saratoga springs have fun and fascinating stories and have cool buildings, well pavilions, built around them. Some are lighted at night, some spout up on their own, some have cool statues built around where the water comes out. Here is a list of the springs and some information about each one.
I frequently drove by a spring in the Saratoga Spa Park, where SPAC is located, that is always busy. (Well, I still drive by it frequently and it is ALWAYS busy). I mean, morning, afternoon, evening, night, 4:45am, there are people at this spring. They bring gallon water bottles, those giant blue jugs that go in those “glug glug” water coolers. So, I had to stop.
I had an empty water bottle in the car. I pulled in and drove around the circle and parked the minivan. There was 1 person there, a lady filling up multiple gallon jugs of water. I walked up to the spout with my bottle. The lady said, “That’s all you have? Just one bottle? And I have all these?” as she waved her hand over all her bottles. I said, “Just stopping for a quick drink.”
I took a sip. Hmmmm, pretty good. I can see why people stop here. This Saratoga spring is called The State Seal and it’s on Avenue of the Pines that runs right through the park.
I thought it would be colder. I read online that the spring water is about 55 degrees.
I did it! I tasted my first spring! Now I’m hooked. I need to find more.
I passed by a little building with a spring one day. I turned around and decided to check it out. It was the Old Red Spring on the corner of High Rock and Excelsior streets. There was no one there, so I hopped out with my water bottle in hand and filled it up.
I got back to the car and lifted the water bottle to my mouth and I could smell the water. UGH!! It smelled like rust! I DID NOT DRINK IT! I opened the door, poured out the water and put the empty bottle in the empty bottle bag in the back seat. I will not use that bottle again.
Ok, good lesson learned. SMELL the water before you dive in.
My mom and dad were visiting from Rochester for the weekend. We needed to waste time while waiting for Child #1 to be picked up from seeing a show with her friends downtown. So it was just mom and me in the car. I was driving around Saratoga, showing her places I have found so far when we saw a spring. It was all lit up under a lovely pavilion, so we decided to stop. I had an empty water bottle all ready to go. We filled it up and before we got back to the car, hubby called me. I was on the phone with him when Mom takes a big swig of the water. “Oh my God!” she shouted and tried spitting the water out onto the ground. “Give me something to eat, I have to get this taste out of my mouth!”
[twocol_one][/twocol_one]
[twocol_one_last][/twocol_one_last]
I quickly hung up. “Mom, what happened?” I asked as I handed a half a snickers bar from the cup holder. “I took a swig,” she said, “and it was cool at first. It bubbled in my mouth. But after I swallowed it…it was awful!” I smelled the still full bottle. Ugh, it smelled like rust. Oh dear.
We met up with hubby, my dad and Child #2 at Lowes in Wilton. Not long after getting there, Mom and I were in the bathroom (located at the back of the store if you need it). I was standing outside the stall as Mom was throwing up in the toilet. Lesson learned – SMELL the water before you dive in.
After this incident I quit! No more spring tasting for me! Unless I see a bunch of other people at the spring…
Ok, so I don’t really want to quit. A few months after “the spring incident” we call it, I came across another spring. I didn’t taste it, but I did find it. So for now, I am locating springs, not necessarily tasting springs.
How to have a successful Saratoga Springs Tasting Tour:
SMELL FIRST!!!
Do you have any experiences with Springs Tasting? Please leave comments!
Thanks for reading! I hope it helps! :o)