A trip to Upstate NY

Our trip to Upstate New York

We seem to fumble in our plans, weather wise. We left Indianapolis when it hit 73 and arrived in Albany at 59. During our several days in Upstate NY and Western Mass we managed to end up with 3-6 inches of snow.

The flights were good and TSA was not an issue. We carried all our luggage for a week on board. Two small carry on cases...soft sided. Maybe this was the beginning of our preparation for Asia where we are taking a years supply of stuff in our checked luggage (2 50lb bags each). The heaviest part of our luggage is the vitamins, minerals, fish oil, baby aspirin and the like. It weight a ton. To that we have added hair dye for liz, some skin conditioner, spf 55 sun lotion, computers, and the like. I have given up on taking my boat. I cannot see a way to get it there. I guess if I get involved I will purchase whatever they use in Kuala Lumpur.

We started our trip in Albany, met with an old friend Arvind (we had visited his wife two weeks earlier in Racine). It was good to connect again.

Since we were not expected in Rochester until late afternoon, the next morning we decided to visit the NY State Capitol. The government plaza in Albany is impressive, although we were under the plaza as the day was chilly. We made arrangements for the tour and then visited the State museum. One exhibit was a wall of photos sent in by NY residents. We then visited an archeological exhibit regarding the City of Albany. I learned the meaning of KillDevil (it relates to rum) which made me wonder about Kill Devil Hills on the outerbanks of North Carolina. We then visited an extensive exhibit on the mountains of New York, the logging industry of the 19th and 20th century. In one exhibit we learned that loggers would eat a dozen fried eggs, a loaf of bread and a half pound of rasher. Even with this diet the logger would end the winter season 20 to 50 lbs lighter.

We were then off to the State Capitol for our tour. The building is huge. We were met by a docent (a retired ny history teacher) who knew much about the building, and a lot about President Lincoln and his burial. Did you know there was a plot to hold is body for ransom to force the release of a master forger. For that reason, is now buried under 12 ft of concrete.

The State Senate Chamber is a magnificent room. Leather chairs, piles of paper (15,000 bills are introduced each session). No electronic voting here. Gold foil adorns the leather covered walls. Although there are microphones at each desk, they are not needed. We visited the lobbyist waiting room (just off the chamber). There are over 5000 registered lobbyists in NY. We then walked down the million dollar stairway (Since the building would cost over 1.2 billion to replace almost any staircase could cost a million. 77 figures are carved into the facade of the staircase, and over 1000 more unnamed figures were added by the stone carvers.

The house chamber is much more functional, smaller desks to seat the greeted number of delegates. It is not as ornate. Electronic voting is allowed and used.

We then went into the executive part of the building. This required us to pass through another set of metal detectors and was run by a different set of security officers (I think the state police). The walls in this section of the bulding are lined with the official portraits of past governors (Switzer, Patterson, and another have not been made or or not displayed. The press room currently has the portrait of Al Smith. The room also has a hidden door built to allow FDR access without showing his wheelchair to the public.

Our time in Albany was coming to a close. We needed to be off to Rochester (a four hour drive on the NY Thruway). This reinforced to me the huge size of the State of New York. Upstate is a long distance from "the city". Our Visit to Rochester The purpose of this visit was to see Colin and Jenny (our son and daughter-in-law). We got there late Friday afternoon, and met them for dinner at a nice Italian themed restaurant.

The next morning after breakfast we explored some areas outside of Rochester, visiting a Maple Sugar and Alpaca farm. It was sugaring season and we saw a demonstration of the making of maple sugar. The sap starts at 1% sugar and is reduced to 75% sugar. I was not aware that the different grades of maple sugar (color based) are due to the presence of bacteria in the sap prior to its reduction to maple sugar. The later in the season the darker the sugar. It is hard hot work. It appears people stitch together a number of jobs.

We then went to “walk” Lucy, Colin and Jenny’s lab. She take long walks twice a day, and is a very friendly playful beast. After hanging around the house, we went to dinner at a German bar, pub, restaurant in west Rochester, followed by desert at a wine and chocolate pairing restaurant.

The next morning it was a bagel breakfast before we departed for Amherst (to visit Val and Andy). On to Amherst Mass. It was a 5 hour drive to Amherst, MA, back through Albany and into Mass. It was a beautiful drive across the Berkshire Mountains (with snow still on the ground), arriving in Amherst late in the afternoon.

Andy and Val hosted Peter and Valerie(jenny’s grandparents) and Liz and I for a wonderful dinner and conversation. Fresh salmon, salad, winter squash and a delightful cheesecake (an old family recipe) were served.

On Monday we visited Northampton, the home of Calvin Cooledge’s presidential library. This presidential library is in keeping with “Silent Cal’s” minimalist world view. It consists of one room on the second floor of the town library. Unfortunately we were unable to enter (only open after 3PM on weekdays) but viewed the exhibit through the windows. One item was the American High Plains Indian headdress in a glass case.

Going Home We made detour to the Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA. We previously visited this museum and were astounded by the collection of Renoir’s. Unfortunately, the exhibit was on loan to a Spanish art museum, but we did see an excellent exhibit of portraits.
After several hours viewing the exhibits it was on to Albany airport to return to Indianapolis.

In the Indianapolis parking lot we discovered we had lost our parking ticket. I expected the routine to be similar to Raleigh-Durham airport where the drive the lots with an automated camera system. If you lose your ticket, the licence plate number is all you need, and they can calculate your bill. In Indianapolis, the ticket agent needs to see your airline itinerary, fills out a form, and has you sign it. Total time, about 10 minutes.