A County Roads Driving Tour

Having purchased some groceries at the little IGA in Brashers Falls, I set out on my back roads driving tour with Daphne and Clover, my two Papillon puppies. I'd thought there were no roads nearby which I hadn't yet toured, but on a closer inspection of my map I saw several county roads which would be new to me. Defying the gathering twilight, I set out to see the countryside. Most houses were sturdy old farm houses with barns. This one caught my eye because it looked so much like my own:

I saw many horses in fields, perhaps more horses than cattle. In this photo, there's a white horse kind of hidden by the snow to the left of the brown horse. And if you enlarge the picture, you may just be able to make out more equines in the back field near the tree line to the right of the fence line. This apparently is real horsey country:

This older blue farm house would look at home on the Nebraska, North Dakota or Iowa prairies. Once again I noted the big fields and big skies in the area:

A home more in the Adirondack style. The area is where the Adirondacks become the northern plains, so one sees some reminders of both:

A cute little log cabin, perhaps someone's retirement home:

And another northern plains farmstead beneath the big sky:

This inviting old farm house with its enclosed porch had recently been renovated. I'm seeing more and more face-lifts on old homes in the area, some of them quite extensive. I wonder if the area is undergoing gentrification. Even if so, it's too remote and rural to become suburbanized in my lifetime:

A sturdy old house and barn, absolutely typical of the area:

This one had lots of ducks and geese in the barnyard. You can tell that the sun was beginning to set and any cloud could darken the landscape even more:

I didn't see many churches, but those I did see were mostly older and traditional old line Protestant denominations, at least in the country. One sees more modern church buildings of more faiths and with better maintenance in the cities:

A sturdy brick house in fine shape with, of course, a barn out back:

This large old farm house and barns looked to have been purchased by someone with lots of money who loves horses. My reason for thinking that was the freshly painted and updated barns with the brand new, gleaming white fences:

The Beautiful Little Town Of Brasher Falls

I was on a back roads tour with Daphne and Clover, the two Papillon puppies. But given that it was late afternoon on a chilly Saturday, I thought I'd better begin by stopping in the town of Brasher Falls to buy some groceries. The regional high school for the St. Lawrence area is in tiny Brasher Falls and as I posted before, their sports teams are called "The Larries." Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon" monologues have a team with the same name, used for humor. I can't help but wonder if the local people here find it humorous. NPR is certainly popular up that way. I produced no proof in my last post, so thought that this time I'd include a photo of the high school's sign. Click to enlarge and you'll see it:

And then I noticed that it's also on the front of the building. Again, simply click to enlarge:

Across from the high school was this very elegant house. Brasher Falls is one of the nicest small towns I've ever seen, clean and apparently rather prosperous:

Erin's Isle is a popular restaurant which has always had cars overflowing its large parking lot. It's popularity with the locals inspired me to want to eat there some day. But on this day it appeared to be closed. Perhaps it was closed for Thanksgiving weekend?:

I arrived at the tiny IGA grocery store. It was newly opened and provides the local rural area with nearly everything a big grocery store would have. Previously, I suppose that people had to make the long drive into Massena or Potsdam:

As I walked into the IGA, I snapped a photo of the downtown business district. Yep, this is all of it:

I've previously called this the octagon house, but looking at this picture, I'm thinking that it perhaps has only six sides. What do you think?:

This charming little ornamented house:

And a green sort-of-Victorian style house. If this was in Albany, it'd be mighty expensive. But real estate is cheaper up there in the north country:

A very prosperous looking brick church:

Beginning A Driving Tour Of Local Rural Roads

I'd arrived at the farm and gotten settled in my little apartment with all six of my dogs. I'd taken a walking tour of the grounds. The sun would soon be setting so I decided to take a driving tour of some more country roads. But first I'd let the dogs outside for a break. All was going well until Daphne saw this Amish buggy passing by on the county road. She ran toward it barking. I hollered several times and she came back to me. But then the buggy turned onto the dirt road and Clover ran toward it barking. I had to do more hollering, managing to offer what I hoped was a friendly, apologetic wave to the occupants. Clover also returned to me before causing any trouble:

I then put all the dogs inside my apartment except for the two puppies which I took with me on the back roads tour. I began by driving north on the county road. One of my closest neighbors is apparently a new arrival who has been fixing up the house and barn, erecting fencing and filling the fields with livestock:

Daphne and Clover were fascinated and very excited to watch the scenery passing by the window - and all the more so when there was livestock to be seen. This is my favorite picture from the trip. Be sure to click on it to get an enlarged view:

As I have previously, I noticed that both the farm fields and the sky are immense up there:

And old fashioned farms are still very much alive and functioning:

Farm equipment is often left out in the field, ready to be used another day:

It was getting late in the afternoon and the skies would periodically fill with clouds. I never knew if I'd have enough light to finish my driving tour, but I just kept going and snapping photos:

A friendly home with wagon wheels at the entrance:

Pumpkins on the front porch:

A Romp And A Potty Break

The dogs and I were headed home from the farm by way of back roads through the Adirondacks. We'd arrived at Franklin Falls Pond, a beautiful lake, and seeing no one around anywhere, I stopped to let the dogs out for a romp and a potty break:

We walked right down to the shoreline, where some of the dogs slurped up water and other dogs ran into the woods:

Seamus and Clover, my most water loving dogs, headed immediately for the lake:

The view out over Franklin Falls Pond was magnificent:

Clover is becoming a mature and confident girl, unafraid to strike out on her (as long as the rest of us don't get too far away):

Suddenly I heard the sound of a motorcycle buzz up to the parking lot and pull in. I began to collect the dogs and get them back to the car, but by the time we reached the parking area, several more cycles and quads had pulled up to the shoreline. All the dogs ran over to say "Howdy" and were greeted with smiles from the guys on the motorcycles:

So I loaded the pooches back into the car and resumed our journey home. But when the road took us to the other end of the lake, I couldn't help but stop one more time:

I'd say I wished I"d had a canoe, but not with all those dogs. Seamus would tip us over and we'd all be swimming. So I was simply grateful for the scenery, the aromas of piney woods and the serenity of the Adirondack wilderness:

This time I kept the dogs in the car, so they were watching me intently:

One more photograph and I was on my way again:

The Last Leg Of The Journey Home

I was on my way home from the farm with my carload of dogs. We'd again taken the back roads tour through the northeastern Adirondacks but this time done so successfully and with spectacular scenery the entire way:

When I hit Route 9N, I turned south toward the towns of Keene and Keene Valley to connect with Route 73, my usual route. There was very little traffic that day even on those popular roads and when I got to Marcy Field, the former air field, I stopped for pictures. I could hardly have asked for better scenery to photograph:

Marcy Field is home to a large farmers' market on Sundays during the summer. It has a parking lot from which hikers begin their ascents up into the high peaks. Sometimes there's a shuttle bus which departs from Marcy Field, but according to a sign it's been discontinued. I was quite happy to have that scenic gem all to myself and to shoot some pictures:

Keene Valley is entirely surrounded by mountains, some of them rugged high peaks and others, like this one, more gentle and inviting:

The high peaks are, however, close at hand. They may look distant in this photo, but are only a few minutes drive from Marcy Field:

And just before entering the highway for the high speed final leg of the journey back to Albany, I once again stopped to let the dogs play along the shores of the Ausable River:

As we enjoyed our final rest stop on this, the last leg of our journey home through the Adirondacks, I decided to get a brief video of the beautiful Ausable River. We had it all to ourselves, with no people in sight anywhere. The Adirondacks is truly a remarkable, spectacularly beautiful place, a treasure for New Yorkers:

At Last, A Bit Of Civilization!

I drove for many miles without seeing any building, any other vehicle or any other person. But at long last, my car tires hit blacktop and I began to see Adirondack camps along a lake. Still no people or vehicles, though:

This beautiful farm house had a yard filled with wild lupines which, by the way, were in bloom through much of the Adirondacks:

It was nice to see some signs of civilization, but still the population was sparse and, in fact, I only saw one person all the time I was on those back roads. And still there were plenty of wilderness areas to ogle:

This is the sort of old barn whose photo I'd love to put in a calendar some day. I love old barns:

And this old farm house with its yard full of Lupines went with the barn. It was unoccupied and had piles of junk on the porch, possibly a victim of foreclosure. But it was absolutely, gorgeously picturesque - an example of old fashioned summertime in the Adirondacks:

And in spite of finding some homes and tiny settlements, the Adirondack wilderness was everywhere present. I was mighty glad I'd dared to attempt this back road journey:

I'll end with a brief video of the dogs and I walking along a forest path. They stayed together better this time than they did last time: