Driving Home To Albany, From The Farm to The Cascade Lakes

Monday morning dawned and I locked up the farm apartment and loaded all the dogs into the car for the long drive home. I began by heading down the dirt road which bisects my farm and was startled when I saw a birch tree which looked like a skeleton. No, wait a minute - that really is a skeleton! Someone had hung a deer skeleton from a tree alongside the road. I have no idea why:

I passed by a flock of wild turkeys in a farm field with a country church in the distance:

I stopped briefly at the St. Regis boat launch site in Santa Clara just to admire the beauty and let the dogs out briefly:

And the dogs did have fun:

Then I loaded them all back up into my little red car so we could continue on our way:

When we reached the Cascade Lakes, we were all ready for a real rest stop. The nearby mountaintops were shrouded in misty clouds:

We were all alone there so I ventured farther into the woods than I had previously, crossing a wooden bridge and aiming toward a waterfall I could see on a mountainside:

The youngsters ran ahead with with great joy and excitement:

Seamus was slower, but managed to keep up:

Old Wally and Winky, however, could not keep up and I returned to the parking area. Heck, with views like this, how could I be dissatisfied?:

In spite of the warm weather, a bit of snow remained on the steep mountainsides as clouds drifted past:

But I was anxious to get home and the dogs had just had a good rest stop. So once again, I loaded them all back up into the car, said goodbye to the Cascade Lakes and continued on my way home: