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Another in a Series of Endless Vacations: Cabin Camping in the Alleghenies The time period: August 26 to September 3, 2007. The trip: Portsmouth to Albany to southwest NY state to the Finger Lakes to Ithaca and back to Portsmouth. The purposes: Artist Residency at Allegany State Park, nature appreciation, road trip, cultural explorations, and singing on WVBR’s “Bound for Glory” radio show. This time, I decided to group my photos thematically. They aren’t necessarily in chronological order this way, but may make more sense in the long run. Also, since the “alt” text isn’t visible for everyone, I’m putting captions and comments below each picture. |
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 Quaker Lake, Allegany State Park, on the NY/PA border. |
 Rustic state park cabin, complete with bats and mice! |
 Beaver lodge in the middle of a roadside pond. |
 Setting up for the evening show at the amphitheatre. |
 Soon, these seats will be filled with happy campers. |
 The second venue was at the administration building. |
 Much of the area is part of the Seneca Nation lands. |
 Salamanca, NY, was formerly a major railroad town. |
 But now, it’s a rather worn town with a few factories. |
 This is the other end of the one on the left. |
 These wires look suspiciously like telegraph wires. |
 Train tracks that just peter out among the weeds. |
 A trashed tricycle, rusting under a ruined RR bridge. |
 This map shows how extensive the rail lines once were. |
 Unrelated train cars outside the railroad museum. |
 You can climb inside and look at rusting cool stuff. |
 Like these old hangers in a paint-peeling car. |
 Jeff is dubious as to the value of my explorations. |
 Now this is interesting stuff – old plumbing. |
 Oh, come on! This is great! Check out the fat seat. |
 What a lovely, space-conserving corner sink. |
 A crusty, rusting, foot-pedal flushing train car toilet. |
 The nearby Amish country was completely different. |
 Draft horses, red barns, broad fields, lots of birds. |
 Hay, quilts, buggies, vegetable stands, silos. |
 Billion Dollar Highway?! Doesn’t look it! |
 The corn is tall and healthy in Amish country. |
 Especially compared to this little short-sticks! |
 Not a New England style of barn building. |
 Teasel and goldenrod; lots of wildflowers grow here. |
 The Allegheny River was dammed for flood control. |
 This is the Kinzua Dam, built in the mid-1960s. |
 Possibly E. Randolph, NY. I think this is a mill. |
 Corning, NY, home of Corning Glass. |
 Like I said, the famous Corning Glass. |
 The old entrance gate was saved, standing by itself. |
 Dale Chihuly sculpture in the museum entrance. |
 Every piece of sculpture in the place is glass. Amazing! |
 Tiny glass figurines, 18th century. |
 Look closely. It’s a chess set with a religious theme. |
 Town clock in Wellsville, NY. |
 Bar and grill in Corning, NY. |
 Faded advertising in Salamanca, NY. |
 This is obviously the “signage” section of my essay. |
 Clutter of road signs in Amish country. |
 Palace Theatre all lit up, Corning, NY. |
 Not much else to do in Geneseo, NY. |
 All that’s left of the Riviera Theatre, Geneseo, NY. |
 Just the marquee and this closed-up box office. |
 Final stop – sound check at Bound for Glory. |
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All in all, this vacation was pretty good. There was a lot of stuff out there in western NY that was pretty blown-out, pretty beat-up, pretty down-at-heel, but it was still very interesting – in fact, maybe more so, because it will surely all be gone soon. In a way, it was like stepping into a time machine to see some of these places. Just the kind of thing I like!
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