Six old friends from my high school class (along with spouses and significant non-spouses) decided years ago to form a modified travel group. Every few years we would get together for a short, relaxing reunion. We have been to places like Chico Hot Springs, Montana; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Traverse City, Michigan; Sullivans Island, South Carolina; and Niagara on the Lake, Ontario.

The the pandemic hit and, of course, all travel stopped. In addition, tragedy struck and we lost one member of our group. But over the past nine months or so, we decided it was time to resume our reunions, and we picked the summer of 2023 as our target date.

Then the discussions began, and continued and continued and continued. Where should we go? When should we go there?

Over the past several months, we went through so many possibilities. Hawaii would be nice (but far away). There’s a lot to do in California (but what if there’s a forest fire?). Everyone (almost) likes Colorado (but the high altitude can be a problem with just an in-out trip). These all may sound like flimsy excuses, but remember, not only is Art 80, but so is at least one member of each other group.

After going back and forth (sometimes “back and forth” meant that we agreed on something, only to disagree with our agreement shortly after), we decided to switch to the east. Somewhere in New England? Maine, or Burlington, or the Berkshires? A month or so ago, we reached a “final” agreement: we would go to Saratoga Springs NY. It’s a place with things to do, with a history, it will be new to all of us, and it’s only moderately inaccessible. (Our group lives in Missouri, California, Michigan, South Carolina and Washington DC., and most of us will fly into Albany, less than an hour away.)

Last night, we had our monthly Zoom. Saratoga Springs still seemed to be acceptable to all. I had half-expected someone to decide that this was not the right place to go, but if anyone thinks that, they have been keeping it to themselves.

Then, we had to decide the dates. The dates, as well as the location, had been the subject of much discussion for months, but we had been narrowing it down to just after Labor Day. The dates also held – for four of the six couples, we would arrive on the Tuesday after Labor Day and leave Saturday morning. One couple couldn’t get there until Wednesday, and one had to leave to get to Cape Cod by Friday night. But this was good – we would do no better.

Where to stay in Saratoga Springs? I had done a little research and discovered that Saratoga Springs is very pricey. A lot of the places that looked good seem to cost $400 – $600 a night. That might be good for the refugees from Wall Street, but not for all of us. Even the chain hotels were in the $250 range. But then I found the Inn At Saratoga, which has about 40 rooms, has been in operation since the 1840s, has a restaurant on site, and gets good reviews. We could get 4 nights for a grand total of about $720 per room. I presented this as the best option (but explained that I had not looked at B and Bs). The discussion lasted about 5 minutes and there was agreement that this was the place.

We knew that rooms in Saratoga Springs go fast, and that the week after Labor Day is a big tourist week for people without children, and that we should work quickly. A brief look at the Inn’s website made it questionable whether they still had 6 rooms available. The one of members of our group had a brilliant idea — she called the Inn, there were 4 king size bed rooms, and two double bed rooms, and we booked them on the spot. We each got our confirmations before our Zoom call ended.

Four miracles happened here last night. All eleven of us decided where we would go, we decided when we would go, we decided where we wanted to stay, and we made our reservations. Four absolute miracles.

Hanukkah has nothing on us.