A Lovely Adirondack Winter Rest Stop

I hadn't been up to the farm in a month and was anxious to get up there again, all the more so because our winter had been so extremely mild. With another fairly mild weekend in the forecast, I loaded all six dogs and a bag of groceries into the car and headed north. I took Route 28 through the Adirondacks for a change of pace and discovered that it really was winter in the mountains. I couldn't find any place to give the dogs a rest stop. But then I found a snow plow turnaround which looked like it'd fit the bill quite nicely:

I was able to park far enough off the road to feel safe, so I let the dogs out to stretch their legs, play and empty their bladders. Little Clover delighted in dancing across the piles which the snow plows had left:

Seamus sniffed the whole area thoroughly for terrorists or evildoers but found nothing to warrant suspicion. Satisfied, he joined the other dogs enjoying their rest stop:

The piles of snow were daunting mountains to crooked-legged old Winky. He wanted to climb them but, in the end, decided to stick to the level, plowed surfaces:

My bright red car was far enough off the road that no passersby noticed it. Besides, the snow banks were high and the traffic was extremely sparse:

The scenery all around was spectacular, with snow-frosted Spruces creating a Christmas card look:

As soon as I'd loaded all the dogs back into the car we continued northwest on Route 28 toward the farm:

There were Adirondack mountains in whatever direction I looked:

I stopped along a beautiful little lake, all frozen over and framed by small mountains:

The dogs had to stay in the car as this was just a stop for taking a photo. But they'd just had a rest stop and we had many miles to go before we'd reach the farm. But I'll post more tomorrow:

Route 28 Along the Hudson River And North

Just after passing through the town of North Creek NY, Route 28 began taking us along the shores of the Hudson River. The Hudson River up in the Adirondacks is quite different from the polluted, dammed (some would say "damned") waterway known to New Yorkers in the south of the state. The Hudson River up here is a pristine, rushing waterway passing through Adirondack wilderness lands:

There were many places to pull off of the road and view the scenery close up, so of course I did just that:

You can see in this photo how close the highway skirts the riverbank:

All along the road were canoe liveries and white water rafting companies. It was apparent that this stretch of river is a popular recreation site for adventurous tourists and locals:

And it certainly was beautiful:

A stone monument read, "In memory of the river men and foresters who made the the Hudson River Drive from forest to factory, 1850 - 1950. This river was the scene of many log drives:

We then continued on our way, heading north on Route 30 and passing this beautiful old barn:

A Mountain Chapel on the shores of Lake Durant which we passed along the way:

We continued north on Route 30, an attractive, scenic highway. On a Sunday morning there was very little traffic:

The Adirondack scenery was indeed superb. This was so far a most enjoyable trip. I'll post more tomorrow:

Driving Up To The Farm In Early October

I took a new route up to the farm on my last visit, beginning by exiting the Northway at Route 8, exit 25, and driving to Route 28. It was a rainy day with low clouds drifting through the autumn leaves in the mountains but I found no place to stop and let the dogs out until I reached the North Creek Town Park right next to Gore Mountain Ski Center. It was early on a Sunday morning, so we had it all to ourselves:

I drove down to the end of the road and parked near a brushy, unmowed section. All six dogs spilled out of the car and we all went exploring:

Daphne and Clover began by running circles, their usual routine. Oh, to have such limitless energy!:

Wally was very slow and I had to call him continuously because his eyesight is so poor. He follows us mostly by sound:

Winky, being the crabby curmudgeon and independent character he is, took a turn up a dirt road and I had to go retrieve him lest I lose track of him:

An attractive Adirondack stream bubbled its way along the length of the park and I guessed that it must have been North Creek, after which the town had been named. You can just see it in this photo:

As I walked through the weeds I stopped abruptly at what at first looked like gold coins strewn across the ground. They turned out to be bright orange, disc shaped fungi:

I've looked on the internet hoping to identify this interesting mushroom which ranged from about 3/4" to 3" in diameter. I read that they are called Orange Peel fungus, or Aleuria aurantia:

It was a nice break from the car and a pleasure to stretch our legs, but we were on our way to the farm. I collected all the dogs back into the car, counted noses several times to be absolutely SURE I hadn't forgotten one of them and resumed our drive northwest on Route 28 through the Adirondacks: