Out of Albany, In a Lonely Place

   Please bear with me, as we have been very busy having fun in Montreal this week, and I haven't had a lot of (remaining) energy to write in the evenings. I have been making notes, and as we continue to travel, and the schedule of things-to-do eases, I will try to catch up, putting text and photos together for blog entries. The title this time refers to a LONGtime joke between Sue and I, involving misheard lyrics to a 1987 song by the Psychedelic Furs, called "No Release" (the words are actually "Out of all belief..."

   We started off Monday morning towards Canada with my Honda Fit packed pretty tightly. As most folks know, the bikes always go in our car, and with the added hitch-mounted bubble carrier on the back, we manage to take along everything we need, even when having to consider bringing food for Sue's sorry Celiac spouse! We had a late afternonn check-in scheduled at our Airbnb in Albany, NY, so we weren't in too much of a hurry, and we even planned to take a bike ride around the city before heading to our accommodations.
   I've always enjoyed the drive through North Jersey, paralleling the Hudson River along the Catskills and Adirondacks. The directions are very simple, too - east on Interstate 78 to 287 north and up 87 to the border!

   Albany isn't an overpoweringly large city on its own, but with the nearby cities of Troy and Rensselaer, plus Schenectady just 16 miles to the northwest, there was a surprising network of highways here, looping over and under each other and crisscrossing the Hudson. We negotiated it well enough and made our way to the trailhead of the Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail, which was built on the right-of-way of the Delaware and Hudson Railway.
   The plan was to ride with Sue first up through the city on the bike lane along Route 32 and connect with the Empire State Trail, which would have nice views of the waterfront and of the Albany skyline. We had been to the city years ago with our sons, but we were still impressed by the SUNY Building, which was once the headquarters of the Delaware and Hudson Railway:

   Being familiar with the structure, we knew to look out for the unique weather vane of Hudson's ship the Halve Maen (Half Moon), atop the main tower:

   Pedaling along the river was pleasant, and we saw many deer in the Corning and Riverfront preserves. Although I heard its call, I was not fortunate to catch the bald eagle that Sue spied up through the trees.We rode about six miles together, then doubled back shortly after reaching the village of Colonie. So that she wouldn't have to wait at the car more than necessary, I left Sue when we reached downtown to finish on her own. I sped off for about an hour of riding further west on the rail trail - see our overall route below marked at the start/finish by the red dot, roughly in the middle of our U-shaped path. As always, you can enlarge images by clicking on them.

   The Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail was a really nicely done asphalt path, with plenty of railroad infrastructure still intact, including several through-girder bridges crossing over the busier avenues and highways, and an impressive iron truss bridge carrying the trail over Normans Kill. I was also happy to be able to add two more photos to the collection of railroad stations I've visited throughout the U.S. (now totalling 730):

Slingerlands

Voorheesville (not all stations are preserverd or restored

   The trail was slightly uphill on its nearly 9-mile run out to Voorheesville, which meant I was really able to let loose the speed on the way back, and it honestly felt like it took only half as much time that direction. I often find that familiarity with the second leg of an out-and-back course seems to be shorter. When I returned to the car, a hasty repacking of the bikes and the surrounding baggage had us soon on our way into the city.

   While our apartment downtown might not have been among the best in which we've stayed over the years, it was comfortable enough, and afterall this was just an overnight stay. We also had plans to go out to dinner at a Red Robin (they have a great reputation for a gluten-free menu and a staff with awareness to diet restraints), so our time in the room was going to be very limited. After a decent night's sleep and a quick breakfast, and we were off to Canada!
   Along the route we caught a couple of glimpses of Lake Champlain, which we would visit later in this trip, and stopped for a brief lunch at the border. Sue had brought along a few items from our garden, and knowing that they wouldn't be allowed into Canada, she shared them with folks in the nearby mini-mart. The cashier was thankful and said this happened more times than you might think!
   I should have trusted the directions I had written out, but I was thrown by the site of Montreal's skyline in the distance and thought I had made a mistake with the route I had in my notes. Too late to make a correction, we ended up in traffic caused by the Route 25 tunnel heading under the St. Lawrence River and across the island north of the downtown area.
   Yes, the drive took maybe an hour longer than it had to, but again, we had no real schedule to keep. The most annoying consequence was Sue having no desire to get back in the car to do a bit of grocery shopping, after we unpacked at our homebase in the Port-Viau community of Laval. We decided to make do with what we had and rest up for a full day of sightseeing, etc. the next day.

More soon...