NY, NE, NB, PE, & NS Day 10

Day 10 - Friday, October 21, 2011 - Drive to Albany, NY; Meet Eduardo at the Rensselaer AmTrak Station;

We woke up to a beautiful day in Maine. It was cool and crisp, 54° and 65% humidity as we left the Comfort Inn at 8:15.

We paid our first toll on I-95 and started our return trek back to Albany, NY. The Maine Turnpike is a well maintained 6 lanes going south to Portsmouth.

Our first stop for the day was on the Maine / New Hampshire border at the NH state owned liquor store which is highly venerated by tourists. We saw the Canadian tour bus that was at our hotel last night; people were carrying multiple bags and even wheeling out shopping carts of “products”.

Gennie talked to the clerk at the gift store who told her this was the 6th bus they had had this morning. The prices are competitive here on the East Coast and there is no tax. But compared to Colorado prices, they are still higher.

We got off the I-95 and went west on the I-495 to avoid the metro area of Boston. We passed Lowell, MA one of the important industrial centers in the 19th Century. We could see the red brick mills and factories with their tall smoke stacks; many are now apartments and trendy shops.

After miles on the interstate, we decided to leave I-495 and take the Mohawk Trail (Route 2) west. We crossed the Nashua (not Iowa) River and stopped to take a few photos of the swans and the beautiful trees.

We made a quick stop at the Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center of Leominister, MA, the birthplace of the American Legend. At 10:45 we got gas at Fitchburg ($3.49/gal) and continued west through Templeton. On this section of the Johnny Appleseed Trail the leaves are just beginning to show off their fall colors.

Our next stop was to take photos of Lake Rohunta west of Athol and then a stop at the French King Bridge over the Miller River. We had lunch in Greenfield at Goodies Restaurant at 12:15.

We took a short deviation at Shelburne Falls to see the glacial potholes formed by the receding ice and the Deerfield River. Salmon Falls is the site of the famous treaty of the Mohawk and Penobscot tribes. The treaty guaranteed perpetual peace within one day’s walk for hunting and fishing.

There was a detour on Route 2 West and we spent at least 90 minutes exploring more of Massachusetts than most people ever see. The route took us south on 112 and then northwest on 116 through the Berkshires, part of the Northern Appalachian Mountains.

At the end of the world’s longest detour, we stopped in Adams to wash the car. We continued back on Route 2 into New York and then through Troy to our Quality Inn hotel on the other side of the Hudson in Latham.

We had just enough time to check in, unload our bags, and then drive to the small town of Rensselaer to the AmTrak Station to pick up our son, Eduardo. He had flown to Newark, NJ from Austin, TX and taken the train from Penn Station to meet us here for the Rensselaer Homecoming Weekend.

After talking and resting a bit, we went to The Lager House for New York Pizza. We got back to the room at 8:00 and finished the journal and photos.

It was another long day, but the sun and beautiful fall colors made it all worth the drive.

Note: The HDR photos on the right are high-dynamic-range images achieved by taking three shots with different EV (F-Stops) and then merging the three to show the image in greater intensity.

Accommodations: Quality Inn, Latham, NY

These photos are striking. I will contact you personally for hints on how I can try these. Hope it is not too difficult.

HDR shots are fantastic!!

Beautiful photographs.

Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

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Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.

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