A Summer Weekend in Albany, NY
Thursday, March 01, 2007
During these winter months, I am going through my scrapbook to remember some trips we have taken over the summer. On the last summer weekend of 2005 (Labor Day weekend), we visited our capital city of Albany. The rich history appeals to my history-loving kids (and their parents), but we only had two days to cram in as much of the city as we could. Our itinerary had to appeal to all members of the family, and all activities had to be in general proximity to each other so that we wasted as little time in traffic as possible. Our ultimate choices were: The Dutch Reformed Church, the U.S.S. Slater, the New York State Museum, the Hudson Planetarium, and the New York State Public Library. (We had toured the Capital building on a previous visit years ago, so we skipped it this time. I will boast that the tour guide was very impressed that our family could answer every trivia question he asked!).
So we left home very early Sunday morning in order to make it to Sunday services at the First Church in Albany, on North Pearl Street, formerly the Dutch Reformed). You can read about our visit to the church at New York Traveler.net.
After this, we went aboard the U.S.S. Slater Destroyer-Escort ship for a tour. This is the only D-E ship still afloat. The tour was great! Check out New York Traveler.net for information and photos.
After this, we puttered around the city a little. Since it was Labor Day weekend, we discovered to our dismay that the Hudson Planetarium was closed. I was disappointed because that was my choice on our itinerary.
We drove past the Capitol building...
Isn't the state museum wonderful? We go down for a day every few years and always have a great time. My dad has a mineral specimen he discovered in Fulton County in the gem collection, although another person to whom he sent it for identification is credited.
Congrats on your kids' knowledge! I admire home schoolers a bunch!
Wow, threec, I didn't know your dad was famous geologist! ;) It must be wonderful to live so close to such special museum.
Thanks for your comment, Kim. Yes, I agree, NY did something fine when it made this museum. It was fun.
There are some really great places to visit in the eastern part of the state. I had visited Howe's Caverns as a kid, and I sure hope to take my kids there someday (bad thing is it would be close to $100 for my family to get in). There's a lot of history, too, like Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point... boy I hope we get to these places! I'll surely let you know! :)
OhOhOh! Check out Secret Caverns, too...cool place! :-)
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/cave/
Hi again!
Thanks for the information concerning the state museum!
Unfortunately, because of time, and the wishes of my teachers, we have opted to have a special tour of the Troy area to learn about the Industrial Revolution (which is part of their curriculum) and will be visiting the arsenal.
The weather is not on our side. We won't be able to do so much because your winter was so harsh.
I have also recently posted about Charles Willson Peale and the exhumation of the mastodon.
Hope to see you at my site!
Oh, my one daughter is NUTS about Peale. She is building a huge website that has a good deal of his work. I hope you enjoy your educational visit!!
I'm reading this after it was linked from you Top 10 list. I work at the state library and it's always fun to see the area where I spend so much time through fresh eyes.
The 9/11 exhibit is actually a permanent one. It's very moving and very popular, and I think there's a traveling exhibition that went to other museums. NYSM was one of the very few cultural institutions that looked ahead and recognized the need to preserve artifacts from the towers for the historical record.
I should add that it's funny--people come from out of town to visit the museum, and I rarely even peek in. I think I've been through it maybe three times in the time I've worked there, and popped in to look at a few temporary exhibits.
Thanks for coming, Laurie! It's neat that you work at the state library. My daughter, The Historian, desperately wants to go there sometime.
Thanks for the info about the Museum. Hope you get to see more of it!
