For the last week we have been camped at the front door of the Adirondack Mountains. So our last day in the area, we spent the entire day on some of the scenic roads that wind through the mountains. We are soaking in the fall colors that are blanketing the hillsides in the Adirondack State Forest.
Our first stop was hiking up Krane Mountain. The key word here is "up" as the entire hike seemed to be slanted up to the peak. We were a little disappointed that all the trees around us still had their summer green leaves.
But the path under-foot was covered with the fall-foliage colors that we had come to see. How could this be?
Once we got to the top, we then climbed up even higher in the fire tower.
The view from the top of the tower was spectacular. From here we could see the crest of the trees around us, starting to change colors from the top. So it looks like the colored leaves on the trail were ones that had fallen from the tops, while the lower branches of the trees are still green. From the fire tower view we could also see seven different lakes around us, as the Adirondacks are dotted with clear mountain lakes.
We had gotten advice from locals on the trail, who told us how to make this into a loop hike back to the parking lot. On our hike back to the car, Mark almost stepped on our wildlife spotting of the day. Even though this guy was smaller than the leaves around him, he was such a bright orange that he couldn't be missed. Temperatures were in the 50s this morning, so he was moving slowly enough to get a photograph amongst the leaf litter on the trail.
Mark researched and found that animal was a red-spotted eft. This is a temporary land stage in the life cycle of the eastern newt, which will live in the water as an adult. But for at least 2-3 years, this young eft will hang out in the forest instead of the water. That bright orange color should make him an easy target for predators. But he is well-protected by skin toxins that would make anyone or anything sick that touched him. We have discovered another wonder on this hike!
Some of the plants growing under the thick canopy of trees are beginning to change colors, but our most colorful part of this hike is looking down at the fallen leaves on the trail.
We found the best trail color at the little lake at the end of the hike.
Just like Denisa loves to pick up pretty sea shells on a hike on the beach, she picks up pretty leaves on a hike in the fall. She spread this hike's leaf collection on a boulder by the lake for this picture.
We woke up to overcast skies this morning, but the clouds parted and we could see blue skies as we sat at the lake. We had to take one more picture of the blue skies, clouds, and trees reflected in the clear water of the lake.
As we drove further north into the Adirondacks, we saw more and more colorful trees.
Just as Mark is masterful at making u-turns on country roads, he is good at pulling off to the side of mountain roads so we can gawk at beautiful trees.
Our second hike of the day was to Good Luck Lake. Again, we found that the understory of the trail is still bright green.
But if we look straight up, we can see that autumn is working its magic on the upper branches of these trees as well.
We got to the lake, where we could see more color along the water's edge.
Once again, Denisa is chasing the wildlife--finding another red-spotted eft. This guy is warmer and faster, so most of his pictures were blurry. He was also harder to spot since he wasn't as bright orange as the last salamander. We think this is an older eft, that is closer to the color of the adult newt he will become. That might be why he was hanging out closer to the water.
Our favorite source of hiking information is advice from locals that we meet on the trail. One of those locals mentioned the Panther Mountain trail, so we drove further into the Adirondack Mountains to find the trailhead. It was a steep climb for a mile and a half over some big rocks and tree roots.
But the effort was worth it, when the view from the top was absolutely spectacular! Looking out over the changing tree tops was surely a blessing.
We knew that we had wandered into another of God's wonders today as we sat at the top of the cliffs of Panther Mountain.
All around us were the clear mountain lakes that dot the Adirondacks. On our drive through these mountains we found that every little town seems to have its own lake. Even though the day started with threats of rain, we had been blessed with a cool hiking day with plenty of cool weather. We are finding that we are blessed over and over every day!
After a week at our spot in Pine Park Campground, it is time to move down the road. We have had some frosty temperatures here at night, and we have seen a dramatic change in the fall foliage since we arrived. It would be easy to stay here to watch fall unfold completely, but we are expecting another guest soon, and we have more autumn leaves to see in other forests!
One of the reasons we had planned for Denisa's Mother to join us in New York was so we could take her to visit a dear friend. They have known each other for thirty years. Both widows, they took lots of road trips across the country together. They have both spent their winters in the same resort in south Texas until last year when Marie's health forced her to return home to New York. So we decided to plan a trip to visit her. The two old friends enjoyed getting to spend some time together.
We also got to see Marie's daughter, Candy. She and her husband recently bought an RV, so we could get advice from a local camper about good places to explore in the northeast.
Besides visiting old friends, we found a few other treasures in the Albany area. We drove to Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River. We couldn't get very close to it, but this is a grand waterfall.
It is often compared to the American Falls at Niagara that we just visited a couple weeks ago. Cohoes Falls is actually wider and taller, and has more water flow than the American Falls. The main difference is that Niagara has thousands of visitors each day, while we were the only three people at Cohoes.
Another interesting treasure in Albany is America's first Shaker settlement. We had heard about this group, but today we learned more about them when we visited Watervliet, the Shaker church family community. The Shakers came to America in 1774 to escape religious persecution in England. Led by a female, Ann Lee, one of their devout standards was equality for women. But we were curious why there are separate entry doors for the men and women into the meeting house. This is where church services were held, and was the only building open to the public.
The men and women would also be seated on different sides of the building. All the seating was crowded into one end of the sizable building--leaving most of the room for the dancing that took place in church. This religious group was nick-named Shakers because of the violent trembling and whirling that is sometimes part of their worship. There were no columns in the building to get in the way of their worship dancing, which evolved into more formal steps like the Square Order Shuffle and the Ring Dance.
This building also houses the Shaker museum. When we first arrived, we were welcomed with a sign that instructed us not to let the cat out.
It seems that they have a 17-year-old cat named William, that sometimes attempts to make a run for freedom out the front door when guests arrive. Today, William made himself at home on Betty's lap while we watched the documentary about Shakers at the museum.
We learned about the strong work ethic of the Shakers, and their fine woodworking skills. There was an example of a true Shaker chair (on the left) in the museum.
On this beautiful blue-sky day, we walked the park-like setting that included buildings of the now-closed Shaker village. All the buildings have been closed since the early 1900's, but some were re-purposed. To the left is the old Shaker cannery, and to the right is one of their barns. Even though there were as many as 6,000 Shakers in 1850, this was the last of the property owned by the community. It was sold to Albany County in 1925.
Since Betty was hungry for fish, we took her for cod at the restaurant that has been cooking for Albany for over 60 years--Ted's Fish Fry. Then it was time to take Denisa's Mother to the airport for her flight back to Oklahoma. The week has gone by quickly, and she seems to think that our wandering lifestyle is fun. After our trip to the airport, we continued our tour of Albany's treasures at the New York state capitol.
We have visited a lot of state capitols in the last year and a half, and we have to say that this is the most elaborate from outside to inside. It showcases the hand-laid floor tiles and hand-carved columns throughout the building.
We decided to take the guided tour, and we were so glad we did. Our young tour guide told us stories and pointed out details that we would have surely missed on our own. She first told us that New Yorkers planned to build the most extravagant capitol to show off to its southern neighbors that had just been defeated in the Civil War.
Denisa is standing by the grand staircase. Normally, we would completely overlook the banister railing directly in front of her. But our tour guide pointed out that the architect insisted that each one of those oft-overlooked banisters be carefully hand-carved, and each has a unique pattern.
Sure enough, when we bent down and zoomed into those foot-long columns, each one has a very intricate and very unique pattern that was hand carved and designed. It is puzzling that so much time and trouble was taken with a detail that people would have to get on their hands and knees to notice.
The large columns all over the capitol building are also uniquely carved and designed. Many of them feature faces, and the architect didn't want any face repeated. Sometimes famous people were immortalized on a column, and their names were also included. But in an effort to use many individual faces, the artists used their own likeness, or those of their friends and families.
All this detail and carving and unique planning caused the building of the capitol to drag on for decades. The plan to make an elaborate capitol building went over-budget again and again. There were four different architects hired, each trying to finally complete this project. This opulent room is the senate chambers--complete with walls covered in 23 karat gold.
The acoustics in this room are so perfect that even a whispered conversation can be heard from afar. There are two large fireplaces in the room, but they are not properly connected to chimneys, so they have never been used. So if legislators want to have a private conversation, they just walk into the 6-foot opening of one of the fireplaces to talk.
Those huge fireplaces are curiously plain in a building that has such elaborate decorations. That is because there was finally a day when the state of New York had enough, and someone declared it was finished. After 32 years, they literally told the artisans to take their chisels and go home--right now. So those fireplaces never got carved. We would have totally missed the less obvious details that went unfinished without our tour guide's guidance to see the row of carvings under the windows that didn't get completed.
In the middle of the picture, the lump of stone was left unchiseled. But even funnier, in the far right section of the picture is a row of stone beading that has remained uncompleted since that day when all the stone carvers were fired.
This was the most expensive government building of its time, but that didn't include its crowning jewel--the dome at the center. This flat top building is where the huge dome was supposed to sit when the state of New York finally halted work on this money pit.
We also got to visit the Assembly Hall, where the larger legislative house meets.
The capitol guard allowed us to go inside the ceremonial governor's office this day because Governor Cuomo is out of town. This big room is used mostly for press conferences and group meetings, but there is a desk pushed into the corner to give it some semblance of an office. New York has had some famous governors that used this office and then went on to become presidents.
One of those was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who tried to hide the fact that he was unable to walk on his own after he contracted polio. Our tour guide said that he had this secret door cut into the wool paneled wall. A secret passageway allowed him to be wheeled into this office without anyone seeing that he needed a wheel chair. He was seated at the desk, and the wheel chair tucked into the secret passage way before visitors were allowed into the room.
We have to say that this was the most interesting state capitol we have visited so far, and we were glad that we took the time to take the tour. But by the time we were leaving, the sun was lowering and lighting up the side entrance to this beautiful building.
When we were waiting for the capitol tour to begin, we walked around in the underground tunnels that connect the state buildings in the capitol complex. We came upon this curious sign in our self-guided underground tour.
That meant that we had arrived at the Center for the Performing Arts, fondly called "The Egg" by all of New York. It is actually a grand theatre, and the architects were successful when they were instructed to design an unusual building for the Empire State Plaza. It's hard to grasp the size of The Egg until you notice that Mark is standing at its base.
This picture shows the proximity of The Egg to the capitol building and many other state buildings on the pedestrian Empire State Plaza complex. It was a pleasant walk with large water features and sculptures on this beautiful autumn day. But the underground tunnels that we explored earlier would certainly be appreciated on a cold winter day in Albany.
We walked across the plaza to the New York State Museum. We didn't have long before it closed for the day, so we only had time to hit the highlights.
That would include the 100-year-old carousel on the top floor. Free rides are given every half hour, and Denisa doesn't miss a carousel ride.
They also have a large 911 exhibit that includes the remains of the fire truck of one of the first responding units--Engine 6.
We are now camped near Lake Sacandaga, and we drove through the town of Schenectady to get here. So we have already seen that American Indians helped to name many hard-to-pronounce places in this area of New York. So it is fitting that a large section of the New York Museum featured Native American lifestyle--including this life-size reproduction of the Iroquois Indian long house.
We had to run by the exhibits on New York's plants, animals, and minerals, but this huge skeleton of a right whale suspended from the ceiling would be hard to miss.
When they made the announcement that the museum was closing, we made a quick exit. We were back at the car just in time to fight the rush hour traffic out of town. But we feel that we had got to see some of Albany's treasures, and we had a great time in this area.
We often just take off driving down a country road, just to see what we can find. So we took Denisa's Mother on one of our country road-trips while she was visiting us. We did have the name of a few apple orchards in mind, as we were in search of more fruit. Between making apple crisp and cooked apples, and eating 3 or 4 raw every day, we are quickly running low. We stopped at a family orchard that was hosting three bus-loads of school children. When we heard a teacher yell, "We don't pick up the kittens!" Denisa went in search of them.
The cats were trying to stay up higher in the hay wagon than a second grader could reach.
We had to take a picture of this cat's feet, which seem to be hosting some extra toes.
Denisa likes all animals, even greedy kids that eat like a bunch of goats.
But who could refuse faces like these?
We bought a half peck of Autumn Crisp apples (that are quickly becoming our favorites), an apple cider donut, a chocolate cookie, a jar of apple butter, and a bag of honey roasted soy beans before we left. We are going to have to pace ourselves or the car will be filled to capacity before we get home today. Our next stop was at a traditional apple orchard with full-size trees. Their branches are naturally bending towards the ground from the weight of the fruit. We took a group picture here, where the ladders and tractors were out for the picking crew.
We were hoping to do some apple picking, saving bundles of money by doing the labor ourselves. But we are finding that orchards seem to charge more for the apples you pick yourself, rather than less. We are also seeing that there are a huge number of beautiful apples that have already fallen on the ground. This orchard was selling them as deer food.
We are experiencing cooler days, and we even had two nights where temperatures dipped down into the 30s. We have changed our wardrobe in the last few days, and those cooler temperatures are also spurring the foliage to change. This group of sumac along the road-side was a stunning combination of orange and red.
We are seeing more and more autumn-colored leaves. This grove behind a cemetery with headstones from the 1800's made a very picturesque stop.
Our country road-trip took us to the United State's oldest five and dime store in Northville, New York. We couldn't help but notice that inflation has changed the store name to include the quarter as well. We didn't make any purchases, but they did force us to taste the fresh fudge.
As we drove through the town of Edinburg, we saw that their welcome sign heralded it as the home to the Copeland covered bridge. It took some serious detective work and a record number of u-turns, but we finally found the bridge hidden away over a creek bed.
Then Mark showed his mother-in-law how to cross the water by making perilous leaps over slick rocks. She wisely decided not to follow him.
We have been in the state of New York for almost a month, and we are surprised that we have never seen a road-side campaign sign for Hillary Clinton. But we have seen dozens of Trump signs in yard across the state. Since Hillary was once the senator from this state, perhaps she doesn't need to campaign here? But we have to say that our very favorite election sign is one we saw proudly displayed in an irritated New Yorker's front yard:
We had to finish our country road trip early this day, as we had to get back to the Broadalbin post office before it closed for the day. We've been waiting for the delivery of Denisa's birthday present, and it arrived today. We opened the box quickly and Denisa immediately started a one-hour concert of her favorite piano tunes.
After 20 months on the road, Mark had finally convinced her that we have the room for an electric piano keyboard in the motor home. She has been playing whenever she gets an opportunity--at street side pianos, at piano stores, at churches, etc. So when Mark researched the best portable keyboard with a touch similar to a real piano, it seemed like the perfect birthday present. We also found that it will fit on the counter in the bedroom when not in use. Maybe getting another year older was worth it!
