Travel With The Thayers: #19 Albany, NY

#19 Albany, NY

Schenectady and Albany almost touch each other. We drove into Albany to take a cruise on the Hudson River.

The Dutch Apple Tour boat cruised for an hour and a half on the Hudson River. It departs from Albany. Peter our guide shared many interesting facts about life along the river.

Just for fun! Jay taking Derrille’s pic!

Loved this sign on the bridge!

The USS Slater, classified as a Cannon class destroyer escort, occupies the slip next to the Dutch Apple Tours. You can tour the floating museum. We passed.

The Albany Yacht Club actually sits on the Rensselaer side of the river. Both Albany and Rensselaer were settled by the Dutch and were thriving ports at one time. These houses are down from the Yacht Club.

At one time a chemical plant sat here and put its waste into the ground. This tent is now a clean-up site trying to reclaim the land.

Scrap metal is big business! It is sent to Venezuela where recycling creates new metal for use. The white piles of rock salt from Chili melt the ice in the winter. This pile is the supply for the coming winter.

Speaking of ice, the Hudson River freezes about 2-3 feet down in the winter. In earlier times ice was big business! People went out on the ice with horses that pulled a saw to cut the ice in specific blocks. Workers than pulled it out of the river and stored it wrapped in hay until needed in the summer.

Peter remembers a time on the river when this coal-fired power plant had four chimneys belching huge clouds of black smoke into the blue sky. Today only natural gas is used.

This boat works built the Dutch Apple and stores it in the winter. He went on about how big boats are lifted from the water with this huge rolling lift. We spend hours watching this process in Chula Vista at the boat works next to our RV Park.

Albany refineries no longer process the crude oil, but they do receive it and ship it out. If I have that story right!

Eagles frequent this part of the harbor, and one came out and sate on the old dock. Then it offered us a wonderful aerial display.

Large cargo ships stop along the river to load and unload cargo. This one has a submersible on the back.

Tugs of all kinds assist the River traffic.

This U-Haul storage center story tells of a Christmas prank when someone painted over the “s” in self, making this elf Storage.

This railroad bridge remains one of the few still in operation. This part between the towers swings open to allow river traffic to pass.

The Union Railroad called this beautiful building home for many years. Now it houses the people who keep track of all the universities in New York.

Albany downtown from the river

Out past the city you find the beautiful mansions that belonged to the elite of a booming Albany.

This newer house not only was built as an octagon, but sits on stilts to help when the river rises….and it does.

The peaked turret roof can open, so the originally owner could star gaze.

The original house exists among all the remodeling. However the same family has occupied it for centuries.

How would you like to mow this lawn? In 7 years of employment on the Dutch Apple, Peter has never seen a lawn mower. Then on one trip a visitor said she lived across the street and they mow at night with lights. Really?

After our water tour we took a short drive through downtown Albany.

Unfortunately the capital park came up too quick and at the end of the street. We were on a very busy street and unsure about which way to go. This is all I got of this beautiful building.