2011 - Charleston's Trailer Tripping: 15 DAY 85 – 88, OCT 2

New York has a rich maritime and farming heritage. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano, representing the King of France, is the first Euripean to set food on New York soil; Henry Hudson claimed the retion for the Dutch in 1609. In 1788 New York entered the Union as the 11th state. In 1825 The Erie Canal that links the Great Lakes and the Hudson River is completed. In 1952 the United Nations Headquarters in New York City is completed. The Woodstock Music Festival took pace near Bethel in 1969. New York has a population of 18,976,457 and is 49,576 square miles.

Other facts for NEW YORK are: State Capital; Albany, Nickname; “Empire State”, State Motto; “Ever Upward, (funny); “You Have the Right To Remain Silent, You Have the Right To an Attorney”, State Flower; Rose (1955), State Bird; Bluebird (1970), State Animal; Beaver (1975), State Tree; Sugar Maple (1956), and State Gem; Garnet (1969).

31 years ago my Irish friend, Patti, and I (Jo) took a two week trip to Ireland. In our group were two other girls, our age, from New York (Dorothy, also Irish and Jo-Ann who is Italian). The four of us spent the whole trip together and in between touring we spent a lot of time checking out the local pubs. We had great fun! Since that time, we’ve stayed in touch. When we all retired, Dorothy and I took turns visiting each other. She would come to the Bay Area, and I would fly to Albany and visit her in Troy.

So for four nights and three days we will be visiting with Dorothy and Jo-Ann and they will be our tour guides.

We drove through New Hampshire and Vermont. We did not spend any time visiting Vermont. We had to cancel some visits to this cross country trip due to our delay in Minneapolis. Since we’ve visited Vermont with the trailer in the past, we skipped it on this trip. We did enjoy driving through it as we saw lots of color.

We made a short stop at my favorite country store in New York; Potter Hill Barn.

After 3.75 hours and 133 miles, we arrived at Adventure Bound Camping Resort in Schaghticoke, New York.

ADVENTURE BOUND CAMPING RESORTS

This is our second time staying at this campground. The first time we had a bad experience. The place was full of seasonal visitors and permanent trailers. The adults were loud and the kids were rude and louder than the adults. The place was crowded and noisy. But it is the closest campground to Troy and the most convenient. It was much nicer during our second visit. It is out of season and place was pretty much empty. There were still the permanent residents, but very few kids. So the place was very quiet. We were at the end of the row so we had a lot of privacy. We had a beautiful tree in full color on it site. We had a very pleasant stay here.

A quiet moment checking out Face Book at “home” in the trailer.

And Pepper after a few hours at the groomers.

ALBANY AREA

Albany is the capital of New York. In 1609 the Dutch fur traders arrived and established a trading center and fort. The first permanent settlement was founded in 1624. The city was named in honor of the Duke of York and Albany. We did not see the capital building on this visit as we have already visited it on past trips here. But we did come into the city and visited the Institute of History and Art.

ALBANY INSTITUE OF HISTORY & ART

Albany Institute of History & Art was a fun place. It has paintings and sculptures from 400 years ago.

There was a temporary exhibit called “Kid Stuff”, Great Toys from Our Childhood. From the 50’s and 60’s. It was wonderful and fun. I went on a trip down memory lane. At each exhibit there was a sample toy that you could play with. I played with Slinky, Etch A Sketch, Magic 8 Ball, and Silly Putty. Remember Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Mr. Potato Head, Cootie and of course Barbie?

VILLAGE OF TROY

Troy is an industrial city along the Hudson River. It is also the home of Sam Wilson, the man who inspired the national symbol of “Uncle Sam” since the war of 1812.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY

This cemetery is where Uncle Sam’s gravesite is. Samuel Wilson was born in 1766 and died in 1854 at the age of 88. The cemetery is up on a hill and overlooks the Hudson River. There are some fantastic views of the river and Troy from this hill.

Soldiers graves

COHOES FALLS

The word Cohoes is believed to have come from either the Native American word Ca-ha-hoose or Coho – meaning “falling or shipwrecked canoe. We made a short stop here to view the falls and the power plant.

Usually the falls are dry. This is due to Hurricane Irene

GRAPEVINE FARMS, Cobleskill, NY

This is a country store in Cobleskill, NY. Established in 2002, this 1850’s farmhouse was converted into a shopping experience. There are 3 floors of themed rooms filled with merchandise such as Yankee Candles, Colonial candles, Very Bradley designs and other merchandise. Other rooms had folk art crafts and fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas themed home décor. This is my kind of place and it was magical. The grounds include a greenhouse and a wine cellar. Also in the house was Farmhouse Bistro, where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch before going on to nearby Howe Caverns.

HOWE CAVERNS, Howes Cave, NY

These Caverns are 6 million years in the making. At one time the area was purchased by a quarry and eventually the mining caused a good part of the caverns to cave in. The caverns were sold again and in 1926 the caverns were open to the public.

At the entrance you descend in an elevator 156 below the surface. The tour is 80 minutes long and you are on a brick walkway that follows the underground river that eventually drains into a small lake. The cave is a very wet cave, but there are not many stalactites or stalagmites or other interesting formations. You see a lot of boulders and areas where the boulders have fallen. At the Lake of Venus you get on a boat and cross it to the end where it has been dammed so that the river does not continue to flow and drain the lake. On the return trip you are taken to an area called the Bridal Alter. This is the site where more than 500 weddings have taken place. Then you negotiate through a 500 foot winding passage called the Winding Way; where you have to walk single file through a very tight passage.

During Hurricane Irene, the caves had to be closed for about 3 days because the underground river rose considerably and flooded the caverns. Much of the brick walkway had to be replaced. In fact we have seen considerable damage caused by Irene in this area. There was a great loss of property and homes. Our young guide did not lose his home, but he lost everything in his home to mud and water. He talked about the loss and damage to the town often during the tour. Another great loss was the crops on the area’s farms. The topsoil along with the crops was washed away and this is a permanent loss to these farms.

STOCKBRIDGE, Massachusetts

The border of Massachusetts is a short drive from Troy. We made a trip to Stockbridge to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum. Stockbridge is a Berkshire town and was established as a Native American mission in 1734. Today it is a New England village with quaint shops. After visiting nearby Norman Rockwell Museum, we returned to this village and had a delicious lunch at the historical Red Lion Hotel. After lunch we checked out some of the shops.

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

The Norman Rockwell Museum is the home of the world’s largest collection of original Norman Rockwell art. In one room displayed all his Saturday Evening Post covers from the first to the last. On the grounds was his studio which was moved from its original location. Also on the grounds was a temporary exhibit of medal sculptures of robots, or scarecrows. The museum was very interesting and enjoyable.