Snowy Adirondacks On Route 73

On Thanksgiving morning I loaded up all six pooches and a box full of groceries and pointed my little red car northward to the farm. Our regular little rest stop along the Ausable River was inaccessible because of the snow which the plows had piled along the roadside. So I simply kept driving. The scenery, however, was glorious, with steep mountainsides rising up right next to the road:

These photos, mind you, were taken when we were already high up in the Adirondacks, so those big bumps are not "mountains" but just the tops of mountains:

Every time I'd stop to take a pictures, six concerned canine faces would appear and steam up the windows. Well, actually it was only four faces because Winky and Wally can't reach that high - or perhaps are just too old to try:

The newly fallen snow helped reveal the details of the mountains' surfaces:

Forgive me for using this trite old phrase, but I couldn't think of a better one - It was a veritable winter wonderland:

The skies looked alternately slate gray and purplish blue, quite threatening actually. Doesn't this picture seem to show a giant mouth about to bite the earth? See, there's its uvula! But no more precipitation was forecast and I'd come too far to turn back anyway::

But then some sun and blue sky arrived, making everything seem more cheery:

It was all spectacular, but I'd still found no place to let the dogs out for a break. I kept watching for such an opportunity while admiring the scenery:

Chapel Pond, just across the road from Giant Mountain, looked especially serene and lovely:

And then the road dropped sharply down into the Keene Valley:

The Keene Valley is a broad flat area which affords magnificent views of the surrounding mountains:

Remember that barn I investigated on the last trip? Here it is again in its winter finery. But still no place to let the dogs out. I kept driving and looking: