Day 6 - Lake George to Fort Ticonderoga

Our day started with a drive up from Albany past Lake George. It is a beautiful lake dotted with hundreds of little islands. It was somewhat disappointing as almost every inch of the shore is privately owned and it is very hard to even find a place to stop so you can look at the lake. In the olden days lakes and rivers were the highways so this lake and Ticonderoga - to the north played significant roles in the military history of this region.

These are falls on the short river (four miles long) that is formed by the water that flows out of Lake George towards the north. Lake George is 250 feet higher than Lake Champlain, so the river can not be navigated. These beautiful falls are in the community of Ticonderoga.

We are just a little bit ahead of the full fall color change but it is still pretty. We hope over the next couple of weeks to see much more of the fall foliage.

This tree is a good example of the color breaking out but not yet fully done.

Day 6 - Fort Ticonderoga

It is interesting how small important forts really are. Fort Ticonderoga, originally called Fort Carillon by the French, who built here first to keep the British out of today's Canada) was never intended to house more than 400 troops. At times upwards of 12,000 were stationed here - so they were outside the fort. The British eventually captured it during the French and Indian War and the Green Mountain Boys captured it for the Colonies just 3 weeks after Lexington and Concord. The British captured it back in their attempt to drive down from Montreal to NYC and cut the colonies in half but the Continental Army eventually got it back. By then it was in ruins as the British blew it up whan the last abandoned it. It stayed in disrepair until the owners of the land here began to restore it. It is located on a peninsula at the southern tip of Lake Champlain.

Mortars look like large kettles. These fired 13 inch projectiles. Cannons could fire a smaller shell for over a mile. These would fire for a shorter distance but were larger and could fire over obstacles. These were used by the French in the French and Indian War.

This picture was taken from the north wall looking south into the parade grounds. The buildings in the back are the buildings that housed the enlisted soldiers. They slept 3 to a bed in bunk beds. The French gave you two sets of clothes. You would wear on set for a week and change to the other. Officers were housed in a building to the left of the picture. The powder magazine that the British blew up to destroy the fort before the Americans took it over was located between the two buildings in this picture.

Guides were dressed in period costumes. This officer took us on a tour of the fort. The guides are very knowledgeable and amusing.

This guide was dressed in enlisted soldier clothes as American troups would have dressed. He gave several demonstrations. One was on diseases and talked about how to avoid dying from smallpox. You watched your friends die but waited for one who appeared to be recovering. While he still had active sores on his skin, you would break them open with a knife and get the puss on your knife. Then you would stab you are lightly several time to pass the weak germs into your body. The suggestion was if ill avoid the doctors as they were worse than the illness in those days. Long rifles - during the revolutionary war they estimate for every 300 bullets fired one person would be killed. The bayonets were far more deadly. By comparison they estimate in WWI it was 13,000 shots to kill one person, WWII it took 26,000 rounds to kill a person and in VietNam it took something like 300,000 shots per kill. I know that sounds crazy but that is what the guide quoted. BTW - it took him just over 14 seconds to load and fire this rifle. All in all this was a great place to visit.

Day 6 - Hadley, NY

Asahel Gray - Barbara 4th GG father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. I don't know where he fought but being in the Albany Militia I am sure it was around here. The Gray cemetery is right along state route 9N just south of town. In this cemetery are many other graves of relatives of Barbara.

The father of Asahel Gray was Enoch Gray and he owned a large track along the Hudson River in Hadley. Much of his land is now located on the Bend of the River Golf Club. We thought about claiming the course as our by right of ancestry but didn't have enough time to pursue this in court. "Barbara's" course is quite pretty.

(Would have had more posted tonight but the internet won't let me download any more - so you will have to wait until tomorow.) Sorry!

Trip - Day 5 To Albany and RAIN

You know in California we don't really experience a lot of rain. Over a 36 hour period New York was hit by a tropical storm that never made it to a huricane but nevertheless brought a little rain north. Albany (where we are now) got hit with 5.36 inches of rain. Yesterday by 5:30 AM they had already eclipsed the day record or rain (2+ inches between midnight and 6). We were going to go north and do some sightseeing first but chose to come south to Albany as the south cleared up first. We really had no problems though there were places that were flooded out earlier in the day.
Spent most of the day in the State Library doing you know what. So not much to really report. From now on it is sightseeing! Today to Fort Ticonderoga and into Hadley (where Mom's and my family lived) and hoping to see more fall colors. Chilly this AM down to 45 with a high of 60. Quite a change from near 80 with 96% humidity back on Tuesday. Until later...

Another day in Ballston Spa and Glens Falls

Rain, rain, rain. We woke up to rain and it rained steadily for the rest of the day. Most of the day was spent inside the Hall of Records in Ballston Spa finding more genealogy. Hey that is why we came here. We had planned to do some cemetery hopping but not in a downpour.
OK - I did take one picture today out in the rain. This house was across the street from the Hall of records and is an excellent example of what homes look like in this neck of the woods. Sorry about the trash can but it was raining and I was shooting this from inside the car.
This evening we went to a nice family owned restaurant in near where the Eckenfleders live. The chef was trained at the CIA and you could tell as the food looked every bit as good as it tasted. This has been an enjoyable stop on our trip.

Trip Day 3 - to Ballston Spa and on to Glens Falls

One of the first things a westerner needs to learn when they come to the Eastern United States is that there are trees everywhere. In fact the only places you don't see trees is where man has cut them down to build towns, farm, etc. The fall colors are still a week or more away. Some of the trees have begun to change but not many. The predominate color right now is yellow if a tree isn't green. Barbara and I both would love to see the reds, etc. but not yet.
We took State Route 9 for aways today winding between little towns - they are always the best in upstate New York and the other rural areas we have visited in the past.
But about 2/3s of the day was spent traveling on a toll freeway up to Albany where we could switch to a free highway. Traveled this way up to Ballstown Spa where we both have ancestors. The county has a county historian and the office is in the county courthouse and has a tremendous collection of information. In fact left only because they kicked us out. Had so much fun we skipped lunch. (Yes, really.) I took 211 photo images of pages of information for Barb and I.
Then we left to spend the next two nights with Jill Poulson's parents in Glens Falls. Jill use to be in our ward and as it turns out is related to Barbara 2 different ways. Her folks were gracious enough to allow us to bunk in there house for two nights and save us a ton of money. I even went hometeaching with Bro Eckenfelder (Jill's dad) and gave the lesson.

OK, the only pictures today were about breakfast. Yes, breakfast. We went to the CIA for breakfast. No not that CIA but the Culinary Institute of Americe. It is an exclusive pace for people to train to be first class chefs. We were too late for dinner last night so we went for breakfast. You know me and eggs so I went for the French Toast (soaked in a custard flavored in cinnamon. Lucious but way to filling - I actually couldn't eat but a little more than one slice. This is what my plate looked like.
This is one of the halls of the Culinary Institute. It is almost $30,000 a year for tuition for either a two or four year course. We walked the halls of ground floor of this building and were able to look in windows and see lectures and food preparaton activities. Great place to visit and the food was good.

One more picture

I don't know if it was just a coincidence that so many Jewish people were here at the FDR museum but I am sure one of the displays they wanted to see is pictured here. It is a copy of the Torah that was given to Roosevelt for his efforts in ending WWII - this Torah had to be altered so it could be given to a non-believer so the took out a small portion of it so it was considered imperfect.