Albany Shots

So here's a roundup of the best of our limited Albany trip pics. The voyage included a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where we learned that the Baseball Hall of Fame is not somewhere best visited with an uppity three-year-old. The trip out there, through the lovely upstate New York countryside, is one of my favorite drives, though. great pic here of many of the family: couter-clockwise from right, Aidan, Becca, Tina, Teige, Genevieve, Maeve, Me with Jack, Rose, and Nora (pic by Sean).

Another wonderful asset of the Albany area is the tremendous New York State Museum, which just gets better with age. When I worked at the Empire State Plaza I would spend hours at this museum, which is completely free and has added so many wonderful exhibits since I was there last, which has to be a decade ago. Among these is a restored vintage carousel, located upstais, which the kids loved riding.

Jack LOVED LOVED LOVED being one of "the big kids" and his guy cousins were so sweet and good to him. He felt like such a big shot. Here's a great shot of Tiarnan, Jack and Aidan and you can see how cool Jack thinks he is, riding a fake horsey with the big boys.

A docent in the Adirondack section had some animal parts to examine and the kids all wanted to get moose-antler shots. Sarah Palin, eat your heart out. No seriously, please eat your heart out. Literally.

Finally, one of the most splendid feature of the Albany area is John Boyd Thacher State Park, built atop the Helderberg Escarpment, and enormous, sedimentary limestone cliff, long used by Iroquios, rich in fossils of ancient sea life, and being such a lofty edifice, home to some eye-popping natural splendor. The Indian Ladder Trail runs along the base of the cliffs below and takes in three waterfalls and various limestown caves. I got up at 6 am and hiked through a lot of the park one morning and got these shots. The last two have been given the HDR treatment, as well as I am able with my totally crappy point and shoot camera, but they most resemble how those colors looked to me in real life.

Alas, at last it was time to go home. Nanny and Pop drove us to JFK down in New York and we Jet Blue-d it back to LA on a very, very long flight. It must be said, Jack was a positive angel on both flights (and thanks to Jet Blue for carrying Cartoon Network on their in-flight programming). I love this picture of Jack with his "Baby," blankie and big headset.