5/10: Walk Down Memory Lane & Tulipfest in Albany

Some photos of my walk with Lina, my dear friend since we were in 4 year old kindergarten together, her daughter, Caroline, and adorable two-month old grandson, Henley, as we walked along the Ottawa River our last day in Ottawa. Across the river from Ottawa in eastern Ontario is the town of Gatineau in western Quebec. 

You may have read of last week's devastating floods in the Ottawa and Gatineau region. We could see the damage first hand as we walked along the river and looked across to the Quebec side.

It was bittersweet leaving Ottawa as we had such a great time visiting with all my brothers, their partners and my childhood friends and there's never any angst or issues on our short visits! We are so lucky Paul and his lovely wife Gloria always make us feel so very welcome on each of our visits back home.

The drive south the next day to Albany, 250 miles away, took us through the entire length of Adirondack Park, the largest publicly protected area in the mainland US.

Tiny and so, so picturesque Lake George Village, nestled at the foot of the Adirondacks, was a perfect place to stop for lunch and see the lake and its cruise boats. These were the first photos I took for the blog with my new phone.

What better place to find Adirondack chairs than in the Adirondack village.

Bella's World Famous Restaurant on the main street fit the bill perfectly for lunch. The area must cater to Canadians tourists as the main street was Canada St. and the parallel streets were Ottawa and Montreal streets!

Nina: I'm sure the sweets in this shop couldn't be as sweet as you!

One of the main reasons Steven wanted to return to Albany after about a 50-year absence was to visit his maternal grandparents' home on Western Ave. He remarked that he and his younger sister, Barbara, visited regularly from their home in Gloversville, NY, about a 1 1/2 hour drive away.

His grandparents owned the whole house but rented out the upstairs accessible by the door on the right.

Steven said the backyard was so tiny, he used to play ball in the parking lot across the street. The parking lot was still there all these years later.

I, too, had a family connection to  Albany as my great aunt on my father's side had moved there from New Brunswick to be a nun.

A five minute drive away from the house was Washington Park, an 81-acre park created during the 1870s-1880s from a design by the same people famous for Central Park in New York City. Steven never knew of the park's existence until we were looking for things to do in Albany even though it was so close to his grandparents' home.

We lucked out being in Albany on May 10th because the park was hosting its annual Tulipfest for Mother's Day weekend. The displays of tulips was the largest we'd ever seen and were spectacular.

Marilyn Lily-Shaped Tulips:

Seeing this photo reminds me of seeing one my mother took of me about 60 years ago in a bed of tulips in Ottawa. At least this time, I wasn't sitting among them!

There were almost as many camera buffs as there were flowers, all admiring the flowers as much as we did!

 

Delnashaugh Daffodils:

The elaborate fountain in the center of the gardens was erected by Henry King in honor of his father Rufus King in 1893.

  

Neither of us have ever seen fringed tulips before.

With a name like Ice Cream Double Late (or is that Latte?) Tulip, these almost look good enough to eat!

Unfortunately, many of the park's magnificent trees have come under attack by emerald ash borers as have so many in Colorado.

 The park's Mall:

In 1912, the large marble monument at the end of the Mall was dedicated to the memory of the Civil War veterans who had once participated in drills in Washington Square.

The other side of the Memorial:

Steven laughingly saying "Look, ma, no hands!" at the huge park's playground. I had wanted to look at the playground because I am in the middle of helping to design another playground in our neighborhood that will be built by residents on August 12th rain or shine.

This was just one part of the playground.

A number of  trees were blooming and just looked gorgeous although that's hard to tell in the photos because it was overcast that day.

The park bandshell built in 1928:

Retracing our steps to the car, we noticed some very unusual trees, to say the least.

We couldn't resist taking a few more minutes to gaze at the flower beds.

Cool Crystal Fringed Tulips:

Flaming Parrot Tulips:

We finally tore ourselves away from Washington Park and drove to the State Capitol, another place Steven had also never visited as a child even though it too was such a short hop from his grandparents' home.

A while back Steven and I decided to visit as many of our state capitols as we can without going crazy about it. We've seen a good number of them over the years so our 'goal' is to see more when it works out while traveling stateside.

The capitol's very impressive stone Great Western Staircase was accessible from the top floor to the bottom.

It was interesting to read that the women's suffragette movement started in Seneca Falls, NY, a century ago.

 

Across from the capitol was the large Nelson D. Rockefeller Plaza, more commonly known as the Empire State Plaza.

One of the more unusual structures there was the performing arts center, The Egg:

On the opposite side of it were four identical office buildings in a row known as Agency Building 1, 2, etc. I wonder who was charged with naming them!

 

Views of the Plaza with the mesmerizing moving sculpture in the foreground and Cultural Education Center behind it:

The plaza's Corning Tower was so tall I couldn't capture it entirely.

George Sugarman's 'Trio' sculpture:

There were about twenty memorials on the plaza but we only stopped to see a couple of them. As you can probably read, this was dedicated to NY's fallen firefighters.

We concluded our trip to the Capitol area with seeing the very unassuming NY State Vietnam's Memorial located in its own small plaza between office buildings. These panels listed New Yorkers who died in the war.

The Memorial plaza was only comprised of the pool and stone benches.

 Next up: playing tourist in NYC with our oldest, Nina.

Posted from NYC on May 12th, 2017.