New York - Day 29

Interlake RV Park, Rheinbeck
Tuesday, 29 May 2018

today's route

I drove more than 80 miles before we got out of the Adirondacks.  After so many years of being away from mountains, I felt at home again.  Of course there are evergreens everywhere and, now that spring has finally come, the understory is packed too, so it's easy to understand that old saying of not being able to see the forest for the trees.

Wild lilacs are blooming, rhododendrons are blooming.  There are small parking areas all along the road for hiking trails.  Adirondack Park is managed by New York state and is the largest publicly protected area in the Lower 48.  I'll bet it covers at least 1/4 of the land in the state.

I've been seeing Blue Jays again.  Maybe I've been seeing them and not paying attention, but I don't remember seeing them for a couple of months.

Once I got south of Albany, I hit the Taconic Parkway.  I kept thinking of Nero Wolfe's Archie Goodwin, who several times drove this parkway.  It is a parkway, too, with beautiful trees all around and no advertising.  It was apparently convertible weather, I say because I saw at least 3 with their tops down driving on the parkway.

As we left the parkway to go into Rheinbeck, we passed a restaurant with a sign showing a very large fork, and the name of the place was Another Fork in the Road.

In Rheinbeck, I stopped to walk the dogs and find a grocery store.  I couldn't help noticing that today was trash pick-up day, and the containers said, "Welsh Sanitation Service - Your Friendly Garbologist."  My first time for that word.  Somebody's got a sense of humor.

I'm back in the Hudson River Valley, this time on the east side of the river.  Trees trees everywhere.  More chipmunks.  Small towns connected by US and state routes, named with no creativity whatsoever: US 9, US 9E, US 9W, St. Rt. 9G, St. Rt. 9D, St. Rt. 9J.  You really have to know what road you want to keep from getting on the wrong one.  And though they may be designated highways, they're really just 2-lane streets connecting places that aren't very far apart.  With lots of trees in between.  Verdant.