Skip to main content

A first snow drive

Image
By
The Saturday after Thanksgiving took a trip in Southern Albany County to check out the recent snowfall and possible photo opportunities.

Route:
NY 85 West, NY 140 West, NY 443 West, NY 85 West, NY 143 East, NY 32 North, US 9W North, I-787 North, I-90 West

Notes:
Although I wasn't able to find anything that sparked my interest photography wise, I was looking for a winter scene for the Christmas cards I send out every year, I did enjoy the rural highlands of Southern Albany County. NY 85 after it climbs the Helderburg Escarpment is rather flat. And after a fresh snow fall of about 3", the isolated rural crossroads make you feel miles from downtown Albany, when you are only about 10-12 miles at most.

Southern Albany County is very different from the rest of the county, it's a counterweight to the urban and suburban scenes to the North. NY 85 leads you through a cross-section of the county. An urban freeway from its start at I-90, it is lined by many first neighborhoods, which were once considered suburbs in itself. Next suburban Albany in Slingerlands. By the time you begin your climb up the mountains, a whole different world awaits you.

Sorry for the diversion, but back to the journey. NY 443 does the same as it goes through the suburb of Delmar and out towards the country. Now back on NY 85, I reminded myself how I need to check out some of the county roads in these parts. The rolling rural terrain looked very inviting.

There was one photo opportunity that I did pass, in Westerlo there was a fine old home. The windows and shutters draped in pine wreathes, and candles already glowing from inside the 8 paneled windows. A great site; however, the owner of the home was still decorating the exterior and that would be awkward to ask if I could take a photo of his home for an X-mas card. It's alright though, I recently got a roll of film back from another trip to Oriental, NC which has a nice sunset scene of the harbor and the bridge there.

Results:
Although I didn't get the photos I was hoping for, I did travel down some new highways. I completed NY 140, added mileage to NY 443, NY 143, and NY 32.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's one good thing about the Albany area, you can generally get to someplace completely different in 15-20 minutes. If I go just a little bit east of here, I can get into some very rural areas, but the hustle and bustle of Albany and its suburbs is just as close.
8:54 PM
Georgia Road Geek said…
Nice blogsite. Welcome to the world of "roadgeek blogging". :)
10:05 PM
Anonymous said…
Beautiful Appalachian plateau scene, yes. Rocky Mountains, no. I've seen enough of the Rockies to tell you that much. The eastern mountains aren't as big, but at least they aren't barren and seemingly devoid of life like out there.
6:53 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

By
The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high
2 comments
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

By
The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of
Post a Comment
Read more