Saturday, April 6, 2013

Lets Get Outta Dodge!

Hey kids!!!!  Lookey what we have here! 
It's spring break
We've been cooped up all winter
Its the first beautiful day of the season and
Daddy is out of town working all weekend. 

What we have here is the perfect opportunity to GET OUTTA DODGE!

Lets do this on the cheap....yes, fun can be done with none....money that is.

Lets drive far enough away today that the landscape, the houses, the water names are different....lets go to Albany!!!!

LETS BLOW THIS POPSICLE STAND

Get in the car you two!  I'll lock the front door, jump behind the steering wheel and make some dust on the way out of the driveway! 



I'm gonna hold the steering wheel with one hand and point my camera out the window with the other and hope I catch something. 

Lets make a pit stop in Utica....they've got a really cool train station! {and clean bathrooms}

 


Here Punk, take the camera and snap a few!



Okay now!  finish up your snacks....One more pic..... 
Cheesiest smiles, now!
ALBANY is calling!





insert soft elevator rumba music while a train roars past outside the station.....

 




ONWARD!!!!!

Camera back in hand because here comes the Beach Nu...... 
What the????!!!!



Where in the world did the Beech Nut sign go????!!!!! 

Aw geez!  I've been wanting to show you two that landmark.















What's that you say, Punk?  You wanna see more trains when we get to Albany?

Well sure!  We can do whatever we want today....not in Dodge are we?




What did you just say?  This is only the second CP engine you've ever see in your seven years on this planet?  Well shoot!

Everything looks different here....they have rivers {Mohawk and Hudson} instead of lakes.

On our way, we see that cities and towns are placed carefully at river bends and in valleys.  Every town we see has a big ol' run-down factory at its center surrounded by skinny, steep pitched, worn out houses; each one trying to crowd the others out and be the closest.  The rivers are not for recreation; they are shipping routes used for sustaining these tiny communities....how positively industrial!

There are a few small farms here and there, each with a broken down barn bordered by tiny fields...

I think the word "hardscrabble" is a good word to describe this place.

Well I know you guys are too young to notice this but mommy sure does feel entirely different in this place....I kind of like it. 

Maybe because I feel like I've stepped back in time or because the mountains make me feel a bit lonelier than our own gentle rolling landscape at home.  Albany is definitely old...but she's beautiful!


 
 
 
Well before we head back, lets make one last stop at Washington Park and get our wiggles out...
 
 
 
 
Toss some stones in the pond while you're at it
 


 
Climb that hill, soak up that good sunshine









In fact, soak it all in.  Monday is almost here.  Back to school, back to routine, back to laundry, back to early bedtimes and homework....back to Dodge.



thanks for reading
  jenny rosie