Kate's favorite musician currently is Kathleen Edwards, a singer-songwriter from Toronto that is tremendous. She stopped preforming from 2014 - 2022 when she operated a coffee house outside Ottawa called Quitters. Kate had wanted to see her for years but the opportunity wasn't there. In early 2024 she announced a tour with a stop in Waldoboro, Maine which we attended on July 26 at the Waldo Theatre. On April 6, 2025 we saw her once again in Portland at One Longfellow Square.
I think Kathleen Edwards is fantastic, her voice is tremendous and puts on a fantastic show. I would go see her every month if it was possible. So when Kate said hey, Kathleen Edwards is going to be at Lark Hall in Albany on September 14th what if we took my Dad to the train station in Albany and we went to show? Of course I'm going to say, absolutely!
Sunday September 14th we hit the road about noon time with Bob and headed to the Albany - Rensselaer Amtrak station in Rensselaer, New York. It's not a complicated route, 95 south into through New Hampshire into Massachusetts. Jump on Interstate 495 to Interstate 90, take 90 east into Albany.
We stopped in Tewksbury at the Circle K for snacks and a polar pop and got back on the road with another pit stop for the restroom on 90. Kate found us a dinner spot outside Albany, the Schodack Diner in Castleton-on-Hudson, New York.
The menu was huge, just over the top, but the food was fantastic! I had the soup of the day, pasta and chicken, Bob got a cheesesteak sandwich that was huge and was basically two sandwiched, Kate had the chicken souvlaki, tender marinated chicken with lettuce, tomato, and onion wrapped in a pita topped with Tzatziki sauce that came with amazing potato wedges.
After dinner we dropped Bob off at the train station just before 6pm, his train was leaving at 7pm. He wouldn't be at his final destination in Wisconsin until almost 7pm the next day.
We headed over to the hotel staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Albany/SUNY Area. It was nice hotel near the university and only a short drive to Lark Hall. The rate was great too at $135 for the night. It was weird because I checked in via the app the night before, got the digital key and checked out on the app when we left. We never once went to the front desk.
After getting set up in the room and getting changed we headed over to the venue. We had been here before in 2023 while on our 10th Anniversary vacation where we saw The Heavy Heavy for the first time. You can read all about that trip here: 10th Anniversary Vacation Extravaganza, if you want. I LOVE the Heavy Heavy and would see them every week if I could.
We parked in the same church parking lot, as it was only $6, but the machine was broken so it was free tonight. We headed into the venue and I bought Kate a Kathleen Edwards sweatshirt, thankfully I was able to bring it back out to the van.
We notices some changes in the decor of the venue, and after the show talking to some of the staff there they told us the TV show The Gilded Age was filmed in Lark Hall and they had done the changes for the show. They looked cool and added to the venue.
Kate made friends with a couple of people while I was running her sweatshirt back to the van. Kelly is a photographer from Medford, Mass and you can check out her Instagram here: Kellyscky I don't think we ever got the name of her boyfriend.
We had good conversation with them before the show started, there was no opener just Kathleen, she went on just after 8pm and played a fantastic 18 song set that finished up with her encore just after 10pm.
It was standing room only, and while the audience looked full, no one was crammed together, we were right up near the stage and had plenty of personal space around us.
I would go see her again without hesitation, as not only is it a fantastic show with great music, it's super affordable at less that $80 for the two tickets.
We stopped at the store for some room snacks and got back to the hotel before 11pm.
We were on the road about 830am and headed over to the Capital City Diner in Albany for breakfast. It was decent, but I wouldn't go back I would try someplace else.
I like checking out grocery stores to see if they carry stuff we don't have in our area. We went to an Aldi in Canada once and we were not impressed at all. Kate's friend Brittney loves them and other people say hours great they are. Kate had a couple items that she said she would pick up for Brittney, and we got a couple things, otherwise thoroughly unimpressed with the store.
We checked out another grocery store across the street, Market 32. Then we grabbed some beverages for the road and started our way back home.
We hit some traffic at times on the way over, but on the way home it was smooth sailing. We stopped in Worcester to grab Kate Jimmy John's sandwich for dinner, but lunch was another spot in Worcester George's Coney Island!
A Hot Dog joint that opened in 1918 with a small menu, but they don't need a bigger one. Kate got two coney dogs, I got one coney dog no onion and a hot dog with just mustard.
The dogs themselves were delicious, the steamed buns soft and perfect, and the coney sauce was AMAZING! We both love a good hot dog and like finding cool hot dog places.
We got home about 430pm, it was a fun and wild time driving 668 miles in a short 28.5 hour period. The only downside is that we have to go back on September 30th to pick up Bob.
Until Next Time!
