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

Morgan Territory Road

By
Morgan Territory Road is an approximately 14.7-mile-long roadway mostly located in the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County, California.  The roadway is named after settler Jerimah Morgan who established a ranch in the Diablo Range in 1857.  Morgan Territory Road was one of several facilities constructed during the Gold Rush era to serve the ranch holdings.   The East Bay Regional Park District would acquire 930 acres of Morgan Territory in 1975 in an effort to establish a preserve east of Mount Diablo. The preserve has since been expanded to 5,324 acres. The preserve functionally stunts the development along roadway allowing it to remain surprisingly primitive in a major urban area. Part 1; the history of Morgan Territory Road During the period of early period of American Statehood much of the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County was sparsely developed.   Jerimah Morgan acquired 2,000 acres of land east of Mount Diablo in 1856 and established a ranch in 1857. Morgan Territory Road is
2 comments
Read more

The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge (Madera County)

By
The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge is an early era arch concrete structure found alongside modern Madera County Road 200.  The structure was modeled as a smaller scale of the 1905 Pollasky Bridge (still in ruins at the San Joaquin River) and was one of many early twentieth century improvements to what was then known as the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The 1915-era bridge was replaced with a modernized concrete span during 1947 but was never demolished.  The original concrete structure can be still found sitting in the brush north of the 2023 Fine Gold Creek Bridge.     Part 1; the history of the 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge lies near the site of the former mining community of Fine Gold.   Mining claims were staked at Fine Gold during the Mariposa War during 1850. The community was never very large but became a stopping point on the stage road between the original Fresno County seat at Millerton and Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst). The stage road eventually bypas
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Sonoma Road

By
  Old Sonoma Road is an approximately five-mile highway located in the Mayacamas Mountains of western Napa County.  The roadway is part of the original stage road which connected Napa Valley west to Mission San Francisco Solano as part of El Camino Real.  Much of Old Sonoma Road was bypassed by the start of the twentieth century by way of Sonoma Highway.  A portion of Old Sonoma Road over the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge (pictured as the blog cover) was adopted as part of Legislative Route Number 8 upon voter approval of the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act.  The 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge served as a segment of California State Route 37 and California State Route 12 from 1934 through 1954.  Part 1; the history of Old Sonoma Road Old Sonoma Road has origins tied to the formation of Mission San Francisco Solano and the Spanish iteration of El Camino Real.  Mission San Francisco Solano was founded as the last and most northern Spanish Mission of Alta California on July 4, 1823.  The new M
Post a Comment
Read more