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A first snow drive

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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.
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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
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