On our recent trip to New York we were given a very special gift.  Seems that a lovely servant of God, named Rachel, a member of my sister and husband's church is a decendant of the original family who built the Mohonk Mountain resort.  This place is very exclusive and only invited guests are allowed to come and stay in the extravagant surroundings.  This place is of the same era of the Vanderbilts but built by a family of Quakers who did not subscribe to the party like atmosphere of the mansions of the families of the rich and famous.  This resort is where the original meeting of world leaders took place to plan for international peace and where the idea of an international court for war crimes was established.  Out of their work came the International court in the Hague, of the Netherlands.  Such a wonderful family legacy and one that we were invited to peek into as invited guests.  How wonderful that someone was able to find this beautiful piece of God's earth and preserve it so well with their own personal resources.  Today the resort is run by a board of executives who strive to honour the memory of the original builder and keep it in the fashion of the day.  Enjoy a few photos, that but for this generous gift from Rachel, we would never have been able to experience such splendor.

 The laneway to the resort is gated and guarded from the public.  You cannot see anything of the resort from the road and you are not allowed to even drive up to have a look at the place.  All guests are registered with the gatekeeper and you are denied entry if you do not have an invitation.
The day turned out to be a bit cool but we were dressed warmly and despite a few flakes of snow we were able to climb up to the lookout tower just to be able to have the best view of the Catskill Mountains
 This is just the view from the driveway.  Later we climbed up the side of the mountain to the top of the ridge for a better view.
 The guests had many things to do from boating on the private lake, fishing for many different species of fish, trecking the trails, horseback riding, ambling through the beautiful gardens and greenhouse or hiding in the maze.  There is also a covered skating arena for anyone who wants to enjoy skating by a beautiful outdoor fireplace!
 We were happy to just have a magnificent brunch and climb to the top of the ridge.  We were a bit frozen by the time we got to the top but it was worth the work to have such a grand view.
I must admit that I did not take as many photos as I should have and I cannot possibly do justice to the resort.  I guess I was just "gob-smaked" that one man was able to realize his dream and build so much in his lifetime.  You will have to "google" Mohonk Resort to get more information and photos of what is there.  Majestic and a wonderful gift of memories.
I was able to grab a few snaps from a video that my sister took at the top of the look out tower where we were sending bubbles down from the top of the mountain.
 This is poor Rachel trying to stay out of the wind.  She graciously joined us for the climb and gave us the guided tour and provided all of the background family history and the development of the resort.  The tower was built in honour of her great grand-father one of the original Smiley brothers who shared this vision.