Winhall Brook Corps of Engineer Park, Vermont

Binoculars Along Bike/Hike Trail

Well, here's something new...two pair of binoculars complete with removable lens caps, set out along the trail.  They were actually pretty nice.  We didn't see any wild things with them, darn.

Wait, maybe there is something wild there...

We are camped at the Winhall Brook COE Park in Vermont.  There is a really nice and level bike/hike trail (old railroad bed) and we were happy to take advantage of it.  The West River runs alongside the path. 

West River

Mushrooms

Look for the tiny eft (lizard) in the picture, there were tons of them here

Pretty strange mushrooms.  Maybe some old hippies know about them??

The park had elec/water hook-ups, and the  campground was nice.  A central dump station was provided.  Cost was $20 a night after a 50% discount with the Senior Pass.  We stayed 3 nights.  

Out and about the area we found this just across the parking lot from where we had lunch:

AAron Taft Homestead, Great Grandson William Howard Taft who was the 27th Pres.

Our First Try at a Selfie

 I have no idea why my caps' St Louis is backwards or how that could happen.  I held the cell, she had to push the button.  Okay, no more selfies!

We got hungry.  We came across a sort of Co-Op restaurant/post office/community meeting place near Townshend.  

Reuben on Multi Grain, that is only half
of it because we shared 1 order. 

The lunch place

Three tables inside, more outside

Mail Room

 

Clarina Howard Nichols

This plaque tells of Mrs Nichols, born 1810, who became an early advocate of women's property rights, temperance and suffrage.  First woman to address the Vermont Legislature, and lectured throughout New England and Midwest.  During the Civil War, she directed a home for orphaned black children in Wash D.C.  She died in 1885.

On down the road, we visited the Ball Mountain dam.  

Looking Up-River

Pretty day, pretty girl

In The Distance, Ski-Runs

Reputedly a Geocache somewhere near this old bridge.  No luck.
According to the write up there are some 27 of these in the county
they are built of rock and probably very old. 

Another unusual geocache.
We did find this one though.  On end of stick, hung over a branch.

Finally, we come to the reason we will never, ever return to this park.  There was a narrow bridge that sits at a 90 degree angle to the road.  We had to cross it with our 40 foot long motorhome.  Of course we had to take the Jeep off, you can't back up with the toad behind.  

These are some stills taken from our dash camera that don't tell the story very well.  I literally had about 2" on each side of my mirrors.  I had to 'jack' around twice to get straight enough to go across.  Gut wrenching for both driver and the guide. 

Bridge on Right, rock wall on left

Scary

Wt Limit 16 Tons.  We're near 15

Easy now...

Nope, back up again, straighter!

Once across, go up around dump station to get going left

 

At Our Camp Site, finally!

 
 If you want to, click link below to see Eloise guide me across the bridge Youtube video across bridge 16 mins.

Heading for L.G. Hanscom AFB, MA (Near Boston)

Albany, NY

Can You Guess What This Building Is??

We made a drive up from our camp in Cobleskill, NY especially to see the capitol in Albany, NY.  That was our plan.  As my good friend Rusty would say, that plan went Skagway!  We admit to not doing much (any) pre-planning for our visit.  Instead we thought we could just learn by doing.  Unlike most other capitols we've visited, not much signage was evident.  We drove quite a while around and around.  Saw squalor.  Saw beautiful buildings.  Got tired of looking for a place to park that wasn't too far from where we thought the capitol should be, but that was becoming futile.  Finally found a pay-parking lot with an attendant.  For $8 we could park as long as we wanted.  Well, that's big city for ya.  Just happy to find a place, we started up the hill.  And up.  And up.  When we got to the top of the hill, we asked a passerby where might we find the capitol?  He looked a little strange at us, and then pointed to the building you see above.  Huh.  No dome.  Nice looking building, but no dome!  Domes should be on capitols.  

Well, hurrah for us.  We've arrived.  Located the proper door (a rotating door, swish, swish) and at the security station we started to empty our pockets into the bins.  The guard stopped Eloise right away.  Said "You can't take that whistle inside, take it back to your vehicle, then come back."  Well, our car is at a lot who knows how far away, not even too sure we can find it again...  She also has a 1" (really) Swiss Army Knife, and yes, that can't go thru either, and I've got a pocket knife that I meant to leave in the car from the get-go.  Country hicks.  Eloise was okay with tossing the whistle and knife, but I'm really attached to my pocket knife that daughter Kim gave me.  It's serrated, and I like it lots. 

We decide that we'd get something to eat, then take turns holding the 'illegal weapons' while the other takes the tour.  We were directed to the roach coaches lined up along the street in front, or if we wanted, we could go to the lower level of the plaza and get something there.  That's what we did.  And found that there was an observation deck in that building on the 45th or so level.  That's where we took these pictures:

Corner of the capitol upper left

View down river

The "Egg" in foreground, capitol top center

We never found out what these huge holes were for

Governor Cuomo's residence past the church parking lot

Back down on ground level, we headed over to have a look at the 'Egg'.  Albany's convention center.  Here's some info we gleaned:  Gov Nelson Rockefeller wanted the building to have an unusual design that would contrast with all the horizontal and vertical lines of the other buildings.  The Egg is without precedent.  Though it appears to sit on the main platform the stem that holds the Egg actually goes down six stories deep into the earth.

Construction began in 1966, completed 12 years later.  The Egg keeps its shape via a heavily reinforced concrete beam that was poured along with the rest of the shell.  This beam helps transmit the Egg's weight onto the supporting pedestal and gives the structure a durability that belies its nickname.

Moving along, the following picts show how much in the dark ages we two hicks are.  Instead of parking meters, you go to these kiosks (solar powered) and enter your vehicle license number.  There's place for coins, or credit card.  We watched somebody using it, but it still was a bafflement!

This machine was alone on each block. 

Instructions for how to pay by your license plate

 

We think this guy must have been just as baffled as us

Univ of the State of New York

Univ of NY

 Lots of really beautiful buildings.  This one is the NY University building, both new and old structures.

Our feet were getting tired about 5 pm.  We were able to find our car, the parking attendant had disappeared.  Also hungry.  We headed out of town to be close to where we had found a square dance for that evening.  Got chow and made it to the dance in plenty of time.  It was an A-2 dance and the Caller was Todd somebody.  Folks there knew Dick and Carol our RVing and dancing friends from Mesa.  Had 3 squares and a really good time.  Headed back around 40 miles to our campground. It was named Hide-a-Way Campground near to Cobleskill, NY.  An Escapees discount park, $15 a nite.  These guys were there.  Love roasted marshmallows:

Hide-A-Way Campground, Cobleskill, NY

 From here we not only went to Albany, but also the really close by Howe Caverns.  Afraid we are really spoiled by the Karchner Caverns near Benson, AZ they are impossible to beat.  These Howe Caverns were very busy on the Sunday we were there.  We had to wait in a long line to get our tickets, then wait in an even longer line to get entrance to the 90 minute guided tour.  It was 52 degrees, 75% humidity in the cave. 

Seniors $22

Entrance to the complex

There are around 30 to a group

A touchable stalagtite

River at right

 One interesting thing about this cave, that no other cave we've been in has had, is a boat ride thru the cave!  They are propelled by the guide who pulls on iron prongs in the walls, and also by using poles to push the boat along.  No motors.  The boats do not turn around, rather the guide moves to the other end, and everyone shifts around to face the opposite way.  The ride is only for a portion of the cavern, the rest is walking.

Waiting to load onto the boats

Areas Front and Aft for the Poler

 Before going to the Hide-A-Way, we camped in a Corp of Engineers campground Ives Run, near Tioga, PA.  We had really nice full hook-ups here, at 50% rate for the Golden Age cardholders, $20 a nite.  A neighbor told us that a trip to the Corning, NY glass factory could be interesting and not very far.   

Well, we decided to pinch pennies here and not pay the entrance fee. Our neighbors didn't tell us how much to expect.  There were interesting displays, and somebody was blowing glass at one of the stations we weren't allowed into.  Lots of pricey things in the lobby/gift shop:

Sales Floor

This sculpture was a stand-out:

 I suppose most of our time in the shop was staring at the whats-it.  Fascinating perpetual motion balls going nutz in the maze:

Looking down from the floor above

Balls would drop onto the blue square and bounce into the cage at upper rt.

Of course geocaching was on our agenda, and snagged several in and around the town of Corning.  As we walked to another cache we came across this mural.  It is actually simply a brick wall, nothing else, no windows.  The artist really did a great job, it looks 3-D.  The cars were not part of the mural, they were on the street.

No portals windows or doors exist here

Prior to getting to the Ives Run campground, we spent 2 nites at Chapman State Park, PA.  That park was a muddy messy site that cost us $31 a nite and had only electric.  Its reservoir had been totally drained and they were dredging the bottom to make it deeper. 

Dredging reservoir bottom

Boat Dock, the Dam is Upper Right

 Of all our stays on this trip, Chapman SP was the worst!