Cascade Lakes With Hurricane Sandy On The Way

I'd driven up to the farm on Sunday and met with the fence contractor on Monday morning. But Hurricane Sandy was roaring up the east coast that very day and I had to make a decision whether to stay up at the farm and ride it out - or drive quickly home to Albany where the hurricane was predicted to be much stronger. I chose the latter and began hightailing it for home with all the dogs in the car. I stopped at the Cascade Chain of lakes along Route 73 just as the winds were beginning to pick up:

There was no one else there, so I let the dogs out for a run and a romp as the fog rolled in:

Seamus roamed widely, happy to stretch his extra long legs:

Little Madeline trotted across the grass, bracing herself against the ever increasing winds:

Winky did likewise, but his denser, more tangled coat and barrel shaped body seemed to make him extra wind resistant:

I called the dogs down into an area with more trees and less wind:

Daphne, ever the adventurer, braved the gusty winds to explore a retaining wall:

But Madeline and Clover were happy to be in a more sheltered spot. No, I don't know why Clover appears to be leaning like that. It wasn't because of the winds:

You've probably noticed the ever increasing fog which was shrouding the area. We had our windy rest stop beneath its cover and I wondered if it would soon envelop the area or if the winds would drive it away. We never stayed long enough to find out:

This little park along the Cascade Chain of lakes is always beautiful, but it took on a bit of a haunted, excited look with the promise of a hurricane on the way:

I got all the dogs except the two old timers down to the sheltered spot where they could explore in peace without fighting the winds:

And then we all began making our way back to the car so we could finish our dash back to Albany. In the end, Hurricane Sandy left both the Albany area and the north country pretty much unscathed. But we'd had a good trip up to the farm and back, I'd seen the new fencing and all was well: