Kaatskill Kaleidoscope

After lunch we headed over to visit the Kaatskill Kaleidoscope in Mount Tremper, NY.   I had seen pictures of it on the Roadside America website, however, when they did their review this little mall was more of a hippies' hangout and everything was brightly colored and groovy.  Now it is the Emerson Mall and everything is upscale.  

We loved these tree sculptures that were outside the mall.

We managed to get to the Kaleidoscope with about a half an hour to see a show and wander around the gift shop.  The lady that waited on us was very friendly and took us right into the silo to see the show.  She told us that they had three different shows so that we could come back again if we wanted to see another one.  There are some sort of benches that you lean up against and rest your head so you can look up, however, she suggested that if we wanted to be comfortable and really feel the sound and vibrations that we just lie on the carpeted floor.  That's what we did although these days getting up and down on the floor with my knee is not exactly easy.  In fact, I'm so clumsy that if there had been anyone else in the room when we were there I would have opted for the benches!

The $250,000 Kaleidoscope was designed by '60s psychedelic artist Isaac Abrams and his son Raphael and it opened in 1996. The elder Abrams called it the "first cathedral of the third millennium." It is the brainchild of Catskills developer Dean Gitter.  When the place opened it was a whole different sort of feel.  Here is a picture of the previous look.

We saw the original Patriotic Show and it was really a fun experience.  The music was enhanced because you could feel the vibrations in the floor and the show was fun.  There were flags, eagles, and our forefather's and president's heads appearing in a Kaleidoscope of color. 

Lee took a few videos with his camera and they came out pretty well.

After Lee helped me off the floor, we headed into the Gift Shop which has many many styles of Kaleidoscopes for sale, some for a few dollars and some for thousands of dollars.  It was fun trying them out.  My mother used to have a Kaleidoscope that fascinated me as a child so this brought back memories.  I've always wondered what she did with it because she didn't have it when I had to move her to a home.

The Store Clerk was named Linda and when she found out that we were from Iowa, she showed us some of her favorite kaleidoscopes that are made in Iowa by Peggy and Steve Kittelson of Woodland Designs in Clermont, Iowa.  They were really wonderful.  See what they have to offer at:

 http://kittelsondesigns.com/