Road Trip #9, Part 3 – Fall Colors? What Fall Colors?

After leaving the Skyline Drive and the mountains of Virginia we took a route leading us to Cooperstown, NY, and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I had been there years ago and Barb had never been, so our visit to the Hall of Fame was awesome.  Of course we saw the plaques of all of our favorite Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, notwithstanding those of our other favorite players from over the years.  Here are a couple of memories.

After two days in Cooperstown, we moved on to Copake, NY and a one week visit with our longtime friends, Ken and Carol.  We stayed at the KOA in Copake where the theme for the weekend was The Wizard of Oz topped off with a Saturday morning Hot Air Balloon fest.  The owner of the CG gave us a premier campsite right across the street from the balloon launch zone when she found out I was a photographer.

While in Copake we took a day’s ride to Poughkeepsie, NY.  I have a Revolutionary War ancestor, Casper Casparus Westervelt, who served as a private in the NY Militia in the 1700’s and is buried there.  We spent the day in the Dutchess county courthouses in Poughkeepsie unsuccessfully trying to locate the grave yard and came away with a copy of his will and the deed to his property.

Upstate New York has such picturesque farms.

We had a fantastic visit with Ken and Carol but we were about a month too early for the change in colors in Copake.  Maybe we shoulda gone to Maine.  We heard that their trees had color.  Anyway it was time to move on to the next leg of our journey, so on September 24^th we headed for Rhode Island, a small state in which we had previously spent a small amount of time.

Week 49 – 31. Out of Control

It seems that wherever you go you see buildings, railroad cars and public parks and places defaced with graffiti or tagging.  Some of this is gang related where the gangs mark their “turf”, some of it is expressions of art and done by very talented people and some of it is just plain vandalism.  Regardless of the reasons, you’ve got to agree with me that this has really gotten “Out of Control”.  I guess I’m guilty of a drive by shooting of these two tenements or apartment buildings along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York.

And then these Tropicana railroad cars are a mobile display of graffiti.

Week 38 – 34. Passageways

Here’s another New York City inspired presentation.  I’m getting my moneys worth out of our visit to New York for Barbs 50th class reunion.

As we drove the streets of New York City it occurred to me that the streets of New York are like “Passageways” through the canyons created by the tall skyscrapers and high-rises.

 

Week 34 – A3. I Saw It on Vacation

While Barb and I were in New York for her high school class reunion, we reserved a day to do some sightseeing in New York City.  Fortunately our rental car had a sun roof which made it easy to take some pictures of the famous New York skyscrapers.  Here’s my version of “I Saw It on Vacation”.

Somewhere I missed a sign and wound up on the entrance ramp to the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey.  This turned out to be a good wrong turn as we found a super overlook across the Hudson River and a fantastic shot of the Manhattan skyline stretching from the Verrazano Bridge to midtown and including the new #1 World Trade Center building.

As we drove through the city that never sleeps, we were amazed at the variety of geometrical shapes of the new buildings and the blend of the old and new as seen in this view.

The Empire State Building.

The Flatiron Building.

And the new #1 World Trade Center.  “I Saw It on Vacation” and now I’ve shared it with you.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Week 33 – A4. My Hometown

This is another theme that I have been planning on since last August when we kicked off the 52 week challenge.  I knew that we would be going up to New York for Barb’s 50th high school reunion and that there would be time to get a few snaps in “My Hometown”.  So – with no further ado, here we go:

Population 37,500 in the 2010 census.

My dad bought this house in the mid 1940’s and I grew up here.  Since he sold the house in 1974, the new owners have put on at least 3 additions.

My elementary school.  My mom and I both attended school here, she in the 1920’s and I attended in the late 40’s and early 50’s.  We even had a couple of the same teachers.

My church.  When Barb and I were married here in 1968, there were about 500 members.  Now the membership has shrunk to about 40.  How sad.

Sal & Vin’s Barber Shop.  Note that it was established in 1952.  This business hasn’t changed in appearance in 62 years.  Still looks like it did back in the day when I got my hair cut there.

And there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed “My Hometown” in pictures.  This visit sure brought back a lot to reminisce about.

 

Week 32 – 2. A Song Title

I felt pretty groovy today just like Simon and Garfunkel did when they sang the “59th Street Bridge Song”.  Here is a picture of that famous bridge, aka the Queensboro Bridge and now the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge.  New Yorkers still know it as the 59th Street Bridge.  Now I’m groovin’ because I have completed another theme – “A Song Title”.

Week 31 – 21. In The Clouds

Since we started this 52 week project I’ve been waiting to satisfy this theme with something like “oh, that looks like a ….” “In The Clouds”.  This wasn’t to be, so I have resorted to an earlier idea of mine and several other bloggers.  Yesterday we flew from Tampa to Long Island, NY for Barb’s 50th high school class reunion in Oceanside, NY.  The weather in Tampa was sunny with puffy clouds as seen in this cell phone shot as we taxied out to the runway.  My thoughts were that we would soon be “In The Clouds”. 

As we got airborne and were passing over the Howard Frankland Bridge crossing the upper end of Tampa Bay between Tampa and St Petersburg I took another shot of the  puffy clouds we would be flying in or more correctly, over.

Our flight was uneventful and we flew above puffy clouds, but always able to see the ground 39,000 beet below us until about the half way point.  Then we crossed a frontal boundary and were flying over a sold bank of clouds.  When we started making our approach to Islip, LI, NY we had to pass through this cloud bank and we were really “In The Clouds”.