Road Trip: New England
Day 2: Monday, April 25, 2022 - Albany, NY
Day's statistics:
Weather: Low 70s, mostly sunny and breezy
Steps: Steve 8,514; Linda 8,732
Drove: 200 miles
Breakfast was a very light continental: bagels, toast, cereal, donuts, coffee, and juice.
We packed the car, checked out, and headed out to visit the city.
Our first stop of the day was at - the capital!
On approach to the capitol, we saw this - which is NPR station WAMC's Performing Arts Center.
We found the capitol, and tried to find some reasonably priced parking nearby. We eventually did, and parked in the lot
adjacent to the State Museum.
We got out and spied what we later learned was called the Egg Bowl - it's supposed to be a performing arts center.
There is an underground passageway from the capital to the state museum. When I say "passageway", think more of a long,
mall. There were coffee shops, a food court, and a couple stores. To one side was the entrance to the Corning Tower.
We stopped at the Corning Tower on the way back, so that will be covered a little further below.
After passing security, there were some old, enlargened post cards highlighting towns across NY. Here are some shots that
have some sort of connection to one or both of us for one reason or another.
We were early for our scheduled tour - about 20 minutes. There was no one at the tour desk when we arrived, so we just waited. Eventually
the docent, Xuli, arrived, and along with another couple, we got started. A third couple joined a few minutes after we started.
This is a portrait of George Clinton, the first Governor of NY; and at 21 years, the longest serving "chief executive
in the state's history." And in 1804, became the first elected vice president of the United States.
This Ulysess S. Grant memorial was near the tour guide's desk.
And these links were adjacent to the tour guide's desk as well.
A portrait of George Washington.
Some architecture.
A winged lion overlooking the entryway.
A painting of somewhere on Long Island (can't seem to locate the name...).
Some of the courtyard space - that used to be open - skylighting, including some close-up showing the features in some
of the glass.
The Senate chamber, from the gallery.
Close-up of the Senate president's podium with an original clock in the corner.
An even closer-up of the stained glass above the Senate president's chair.
The Senate tray ceiling.
Some of the lighting.
Stained glass windows.
A close-up of the clock shown in the image above.
Carvings above a couple exit doors.
Obviously these massive fireplaces were once used to heat the room. Today, due to the fantastic acoustics in the room,
the fireplace - at more than six feet tall - are used as "conference alcoves".
A little bit of the bottom of a stained glass window, as well as some stonework. Note that the last few bricks on
the left are not carved - that is because the work isn't done yet.
This beautiful floor used to be covered when this hallway was once a row of offices.
A stitch of the outside of part of the capitol: a courtyard-like area between the Senate chamber and House chamber.
A stitch of the House chamber.
This is actually painted Paper Mache.
A conference table in the corner of the house chamber, an original clock, and some stained gkass and trim work.
The House tray ceiling, and a chandelier.
House stained glass windows.
The House staircase.
A close-up of the window of the staircase - some of the glass is / looks painted, and some etched, as well as an even closer
zoom of the window to show some detail.
A carving in a corner.
A covered "courtyard".
Another staircase.
The million dollar staircase. It's called that because... well, it cost that much.
This tiny section of railing was left as-is, to show the condition of the railing before the rest was restored.
We didn't get a chance to see inside the Governor's office. But we did get to see the Governor's reception through a door,
but it wasn't really anything worth posting.
We were told that throughout the capitol, there nearly 200 faces carved into the stonework. About 77 of them were
identified, and the other 100+ are considered "friends of the capitol" (they are believed to be either friends or relatives
of the artisians, or just random facsimiles of faces). Here are some of the most well-known ones (Washington and
Jefferson were actually facing each other) - and you can see one of these "extra faces" to the left of Washington.
The state seal in the floor in the center of the capitol.
A stitch of the ceiling of one a Memorial room in the capitol.
Some of the artwork in the corners.
There was a hallway with some paintings of scenes from around NY - similar to the postcards in the underground.
This one is called "Paradise Woods", and it is of Southhold, Long Island, by Whitney M. Hubbard.
One of the last stops on our tour was in a dark hallway. Our guide pointed us to a tiny - and I mean tiny - carving of a
small devil-like figure buried in the scrollwork. Here is the spot (it is to the left of the crack, and just above the
dark mark on the scroll), as well as a zoom-in on the figure.
Our tour was complete and then we remember - GET OUR STAMP! Which we did...
And because of this near slight, I added a daily 9:30 alarm to remind us to get our stamp.
Front of the capital from State Street.
These were captured when we were on our way out of the capital.
We were told there are 17 steps to get into the back of the building, and 77 to get into the front. That is 17 and 77.
1777. Neat.
And this church across the street from the capitol.
We departed the State House and headed back underground, through the mall. We stopped in the gift shop.
Closer to the Museum end was the access to the Corning Tower.
This 42 floor buidling is one of the tallest in the city.
Out some of the windows there was a roof section making pictures a little bit of a challenge, while other windows looked
straight down to below.
Unfortunately, the windows are relatively REALLY close together, making decent panaramic / stitch photos difficult.
Here are some of the shots out the windows.
The capitol.
The Governor's Mansion, and a horizon picture with the mansion in the lower left foreground with the roof of the State
Museum in the lower right, and some work being done on Lincoln Park.
A stitch. The roundish white building is the egg / performing arts center. The red roofed building is the capitol. And
the light grey square roofed building in the foreground on the right is the 17,000 seat MVP Arena.
We were told that the grey mountains in the far distance to the right, were actually Vermont.
Another angle of the egg.
A church (duh, right?!!?). The Cathereral of the Immaculate Conception.
The horizon "above" the capitol (not visible), looking out over the roof ledge.
While this is "just a parking garage", what I thought was funny is that most of the vehicles look the same.
Some buildings, including three churches in a three block area.
Some more buildings, facing another direction, with another church.
The administraion building of the State University of New York (SUNY). There are 30 colleges in the SUNY system.
You don't get to see interstate exchanges from above very often. The Hudson River is just beyond it.
We left the Corning Tower, and the underground mall. We crossed the street toward the State Museum. We
originally planned on visiting the state museum, but it was closed because it was Monday.
We turned right and headed toward our car. Across the street, to the right of the parking lot looking at it,
was a small park. In this small park was a dedication to wounded veterans.
A sculpture across the street from the park.
In addition to the capitol stamp, we try to get shot glasses too. Some are actually for the capitol, or the capital, but more
so, they are just for the state. We picked up this shot glass during our visit in 20-something. But we were just visiting
for Mind Games, and not the capitol. But we still got this glass. Now we can attribute the glass to the capitol.
After the capitol tour, we were heading toward the American Italian Heritgage Museum. The museum was only open on limited
days, and this was one of them - and it is only open noon to 2:00.
So we had a small window to work with.
We were heading out when.... the car showed it was overheating.
We pulled over and called our local dealer* about the issue and he told us there was another dealer in Clifton Park that
might be able to help. The Clifton Park dealer was WAY to busy to help (it was a Monday and there were quite a few
overnight drop offs because, well, it was Monday so all the issues over the weekend were on schedule for Monday). We
WERE given a small amount of coolant in a container "just in case".
Our schedule and plan were now off quite a bit, so we stopped at someplace random for lunch. Our choise was
The Rusty Nail.
Linda had the chicken Casaer wrap, with cole slaw, chips, and a pickle.
Steve had the fish and chips, which had a side of cole slaw. There were a lot of chips... (though these chips were a little
different than Linda's chips)
About and hour and a half later, we were back on the road. It wasn't but a mile or two down the road when the car started
overheating again. We pulled into a cul-de-sac to let it cool. We tried again and it overheated again. We sat a little
longer and tried again. All good. We were underway again.
The car was fine after it sits overnight. For some reason, if the engine was still warm [enough], it would
overheat after restarting. A cooling cycle - or two, as we did here in NY - usually solved the trick.
* In the paragraph above there was an '*' about the local dealer. If you don't care about the issue with the car, just skip
this paragraph.
For eight days before we left - from April 13 to the 20 - the car was at the dealer to address an overheating issue.
It was believed to be a thermostat problem, but the water pump was replaced as well. The car was at the dealer for so long
as they wanted to make sure the system was flushed and all the air was out of it.
To make a long story short, it seems that if the car is turned off hot, and then cools - but not all the way (such as a stop
for a meal [think an hour or so], or at the supermarket), when the car is restarted, it almost immediately overheats. A sit
on the side of the road for - literally - five minutes usually cures it.
The conclusion was drawn because each morning the car is fine. That is, until the car is stopped for something "quick".
Our target destination was Barre, VT, just outside Montpelier.
The GPS indicated it was a three-ish hour drive via the "highway".
We were in no rush, and decided to take a casual cruise on Routes 7, 4, and 100, through the mountains and towns of
Eastern New York and Southwest Vermont. It was about a half-hour longer, but that was just fine with us.
Along the way, we captured some pics of the scenery.
Near Stillwater, NY - about a half-hour north of Albany. A train going over the Hudson River, and just the river.
Some mountains.
At one point we crossed the Vermont state line.
In Killington, VT. In the second image, there is a river on the other side of the guardrail.
Stockbridge, VT.
Randolph, VT.
There may or may not have been some opportunities to turn off the cruise control, and put the car in neutral... Yea,
but what does that mean? Coasting. Down steep hills. And we may or may not have hit some really fast speeds.
Enjoyably so... 😁
We finally had to stop for gas.
We had stopped on our out, at the very beginning, in Delaware just before 295.
We drove all the way to Fair Haven, VT (an hour and a half before Montpelier) - 419.7 miles and we only got 14.2 gallons,
for an average of 29.57 MPG.
We eventually arrived at our hotel, the
Hollow Inn and Motel.
This generally consisted of a "big house", with motel rooms to one side. I went to the front door, and it was locked. There was a
phone next to the door. And a note next to said phone that read something like "The phone doesn't work, please call ###-####." In
case you don't see the error in this, I'll lead you to it. It was a phone number. For travelers to call. To talk to a manager to check-in.
Travelers that are possibly many, MANY miles from their home. And they have to call... what area code, exactly?!!?
I walked around the corner and fortunately there was a boy sitting in a chair and I asked him what the area code was. He said
he did not know, but could get someone that might. A woman then appeared, it seemed on queue. She was the manager. I told
her about wanting to check in. And the lack of an area code on the note. "I never thought of it, I thought everyone would
know." (See my comment above about travelers.)
We learned that they no longer offered breakfast, due to COVID restrictions. We were told there was a convenience stop that
sold breakfast sandwiches and coffee just down the road.
After checking in, it was time for a dinner snack. Since we had a larger lunch, and a little later,
we were going a little lighter. We had stopped at "Market Fresh".
We stuck with the wine (of course) - a Merlot from Neddo Family Vinyards, bread, and mozzarella with tomatoes.
OK, so... it wasn't mozzarella with tomatoes. Not. Even. Close. Looks a lot like it, but it turned out to be garlic with
peppers. And it was spicy. And by spicy I mean "SPICY". While I like garlic - WE like garlic - having this much, straight,
with almost nothing else, it was, frankly, a little too much. We ate most of it, but then just gave up.
Relaxed a little, washed up, and went to sleep.
Fun fact: the New York capital is one of only 10 or so capitols that does NOT have a dome.