BuildingMyBento

A RTW voyage includes a visit to Albany, NY.

...I'm going to mull over that for a while.

MojaveFlyer

Dang, is that my problem? I thought it was that the seats were getting smaller, harder, and just more crowded aircraft.

ShortHairFrancis this is just a stunning TR, you are one awesome flyer dude!

Short hair Francis

Bahah SeamasterLux, guess that is just the sheer craziness of SHF lol


Oopsy, mtkeller, I just based on what is published out there, US - Aussie are definitely not my routes that's for sure.


Ha, BuildingMyBento, its just part of the roadtrip, on the way.
It's definitely not planned as Albany as the main attraction


MojaveFlyer, It's not your problem if you are on the other side of the curtain, means more flat-bed seating ^
Thank you, been flying the last couple day, will try to get the next part later in the day

Short hair Francis

Part 17 – 7 States Road-Trip in 3.5 Days, Upstate NY and Burlington, VT


As I still had one outstanding RJ Y JFK – AMM – BKK – RGN remaining due to expire by Jun 21; this was to be used on June 16 as my way to get home, so what should I do in the meanwhile between Thursday the 13th until Sunday the 16th then, I coordinated with jfkeze, he took the Friday off and we drafted up a 3.5 day road trip spanning 7 States NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, RI, CT.

Luckily jfkeze was waiting at arrivals for me, time to pick up that rental car at LGA.
Back at Hertz, my pre-assigned car reeked of cigarette smell, so decided to give the hertz gold choice lot a try.

Apparently Hertz Gold Choice cars now come with Fool’s Gold aka. bird $hit on them, really
Photo courtesy of jfkeze


With practically no choice and I mean no choice at all, we settled on a Dodge Avenger, by this time it was 6:15pm and the t-storm front was coming in soon, better start heading up to Albany.

I’m going to outright copy eightblack here and let’s call this car Pepi, and man was Pepi brutal on this trip.

2 Minutes out from the Hertz lot and we already saw New York’s Boldest


Was a miracle of a thursday night since It took just about 50 Minutes to get out of New York City and considering I had to traverse down Queen’s Blvd, over the Williamsburg Bridge or whatever they named it now, FDR drive, Cross Bronx Expressway, and finally over the George Washington Bridge.

Well maybe I was also trying to pass New York Cabbies on New York City streets might have something to do with it as well.

Sadly things all changed once I got on the Garden State Parkway, there is offensive driving and defensive driving, thankfully Canadian winters teach a good valuable lesson on defensive side.

As you might have guess, the cold front was finally coming through while I was finally gaining some speed once we crossed the NY/NJ state border near Sloatsberg on Interstate 87, below were the weather warning for the area.

Ya that offensive driving I wrote earlier, currently disabled. Now, it’s driving like you are in a snow storm mode which meant going 45 mp/h in a 65 mp/h zone with high beams and flashing hazards on, that took place for the next hour or so.

By 8:30pm, SHF finally takes a break at the Plattekill travel plaza, well I ain’t driving without food and caffeine, Happy Stomach means Happy SHF
Sadly the stores including the info desk were starting to close for the night, and it was a sad list to start with “Roy Rogers, Nathan's, Starbucks, Brioche Doree, a Travel Mart”
Nathan’s were done and Starbucks was close to it, ugh, guess a travel mart sandwich and eggs would suffice for dinner here and there
Sorry to New York info desk, we kinda reached over the fence to grab a NY State map off the desk lol

Back on the road by 9pm and we finally got to our hotel around 10:30pm, Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway, not a moment too soon though, I was starting to fall asleep on the wheel with construction work on I-90 through Albany, think of 2 narrow lanes switched over to the opposite side of the road with Jersey barriers, ouch


Courtyard Marriott Albany Thruway




With no snacks or drinks, we decided to pick up supplies for the road trip ahead.
Jfkeze commented Welcome home SHF, Niagara vs. Upstate New York, close enough

*Wasn’t me, I wasn’t the handicapped who decided he wanted 3 parking spots at 11pm in Albany, welcome home indeed

A quick pick up of supplies then back to room for some needed sleep, well until we found a nice guest

*Apparently it’s an improper cleaned downs blanket and not bed bugs

With a long long day for me anyway, we decided on an 8:30am wake up time for tomorrow…

A wake up at 8:30am, and with no breakfast, we were gone from the Courtyard by 9:10am.
Stormy weather cleared out and it brought in a cool low 70s sunny weather.

SUNY Albany as it was directly across from the hotel


New York State Capitol







Part 17 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

More of Albany











USS Slater, WW2 era Destroyer Escort




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Short hair Francis

Please don’t chuck me off the building


And as jfkeze would love to say again, welcome home buddy to Upstate New York


And after 2 hours of touring Albany, we made our way back toward Interstate 87 and up towards Lake Placid. But first a burger and coffee is needed to start our sluggish morning.

And by noon, we made our way inside Adirondack park after Pepi’s continual struggle in climbing hills, yes I’m originally from the West Coast, we call these hills

*And let’s just say Pepi was drinking like she just turned 19 in Canada or 21 in the US, good god

Jfkeze made a recommendation to take the cut-off into Lake George Village

Lake George








Seems the village want to copy the Bronx here lol


I wished I had an ice cream right now


And after another 1 hour or so, we made the cut-off from Interstate 87 to US Route 9, and I want to choke this car even more, Pepi is now drinking like a sailor the day prior to Pearl Harbor and can barely make 60 mp/h up the hills

By 2pm, we finally made it but were a ways behind our schedule so all we did we was quick 1 hour tour of Lake Placid

Lake Placid





Part 17 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

And finally the actual Lake Placid




By now, its 3:10pm, and we had to run to catch the 4pm sailing of the Charlotte-Essex ferries 44 miles away, sailing were every 30 minutes.

44 miles in 50 minutes isn’t a problem only except when they are in hilly 2 lane mountain roads, and add on top a single lane dual direction for 2 mile stretch due to construction, time to really push Pepi to overdrive. And that meant driving anywhere between 75-95 mp/h on these road, anything except driving off the mountain basically.

And well sometime miracle does come through, made it to the Charlotte-Essex ferry at 3:54pm to cross Lake Champlain, not a minute too soon.









Part 17 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Ugh Pepi, can you please not go through 80 dollar a tank in like half a day please


The boat takes about 20 minutes to cross and optimal break time for the driver.



Last Car in


Charlotte-Essex Ferry









It was now 4:30pm as we got off the ferry and we had to make 1 try to Waterbury for the tour, sadly we didn’t make the tour at 5pm. Let said Vermont didn’t invent a word called passing lanes for its country road, over 30+ miles of nothing but double yellow, ugh

With that set, we went back to Burlington where jfkeze wanted to visit a microbrewery, the Magic Hat.

Who knew Vermont had horrible traffic problems


Magic Hat Brewery







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Short hair Francis

Man, I’m starting to get old, my age is barely on that paper


And as of my day couldn’t get any worse, horrible car, no passing lane, missing out on Ben & Jerry, now I’ve broken a case of 12 jfkeze paid for, Eek.. may this day end already.

Finally we made our way to Burlington for some much needed dinner.

Burlington, Vermont













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Short hair Francis

I understand why Ben & Jerry is here but Lululemon?



We finally settled on Ken’s Pizza for dinner, line were a bit weird and all but not horrible








I went with the Lasagna and jfkeze with the chicken parm, drinks, I think that is a given who is having what

And by 9:10pm, we were done dinner and ready to go to the hotel for the night in Stowe, Vermont, where is that?

Got to love travelling around the summer solstice


The final drive took around a hour, great it’s 10pm and we are going from Stowe, Vermont via New Hampshire, Maine to Boston, MA, starting bright and early tomorrow.

The Northern Lights Lodge, not bad for 99 bucks







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Short hair Francis

Next Part
Part 18 – We Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Freedom and Ice Cream

opushomes

You took the bus in Chile when driving is really easy. Sort of like between Buffalo and Rochester with polite non-death wish drivers. The road to the top of the Andes is one of best driving roads around and much better than one will find in Ecuador or Bolivia. The thrill is dealing with the trucks crawling up and down the very serious curves and snow shed/tunnels on the smooth pavment.

Why did you put up with "Pepi" when it is very simple to drive to the nearest Hertz and state what a piece of crap it was? One only needs to demand a replacement for a gas guzzling untuned vehicle and they will give you a replacement after filling out a new contract appended to the old. I'm glald that you did get rid of the odorous first car.

Short hair Francis

Sometimes driving after a short red-eye flight is ill-advised plus a new country and don't speak the lango franca don;t work.

Problem about "Pepi" was we were doing 13 hrs driving for 3 straight day, we didn't have any time to replace the car even if we wanted to.

Short hair Francis

Part 18 – We Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Freedom and Ice Cream


With our laissez-faire style of travel leading to huge screw-ups yesterday, I didn’t name them all in the last part. Jfkeze and I decided to buckle down and travel like how we always do, timing, attraction, and precision with a drafted-up gameplan.

To enable our travel today, we were going from Stowe, VT to Boston, MA with stops at the Waterbury, VT, Montpelier, VT, Hanover, NH, Concord, NH, and Kennebunkport, MA. And with that, we started our day with a 7am wake-up, with 8am departure.

99 dollar includes breakfast, wasn’t a horrible one either




As the Ben & Jerry plant in Waterbury didn’t start its 1st tour until 10am, we decided to go to the smallest US capitol first, Montpelier.

But with a stop for some fresh cider donuts 1st thing in the morning





Hey, someone copied my keychain, I’d rather be flying


What the, Pardon, Est-ce que tu parles francais???


Montpelier, Vermont







Had enough time to squeeze in a weekend market




And on the way back, seeing how the entire state was saying Green Mountain Coffee, we also gave that a try prior to the Ice Cream factory.



And not a moment too soon, we’re back in Waterbury for the Ben & Jerry Factory




Part 18 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Tour first started off with a 4 minute history video, follow by a visit at the plant (factory psychically not running on weekends) and a tasting room totaling 25 minutes






Flavor Room





They weren’t kidding about trying new flavors, lucky we didn’t make yesterday’s tour



Part 18 Continues Below