Albany- Wedneday, July 4, 2012

Because we’ve been doing so much on earlier days, we found ourselves with an extra day that Julie had not planned to fill.  We realized that we were very close to Albany, and decided to go into the capital today.   After finding a place to park, we walked past the State Capitol building and the NY State Department of Education.  (Julie said “Boo” to them the way she had when we drove by the Governor’s Mansion.)  We walked down Rockefeller Plaza, where they were preparing for concerts and fireworks tonight.  

Our first stop was the New York State Museum.  Scott had visited here before when he took a class on Native Americans several years ago, and he was looking forward to visiting it with the family.  Emma got a little spooked at the beginning, where an archeology of Albany exhibit had several skulls on display.  We saw displays on the natural history of New York and the development of New York City.  The museum has a nice exhibit on Native Americans in New York that Scott had gotten an in depth tour of before.  The display starts with Ice Age mastodon and goes through a longhouse in a Mohawk village.  The girls were a little shocked at the lack of clothes that the women had as they were farming in the cornfield.  There was a large display on the attacks on 9-11, including a fire truck that had been destroyed in the attack and several twisted girders from the World Trade Center.  Nearby was a memorial to the rescue dogs who had contributed to the search and rescue there.   (Scott’s cousin, John Brian, had worked with one of these dogs).    The girls rode a carousel that was built in North Tonawanda and had been part of the park at Olcott. 

After lunch at the museum, we tried to find our way through the Concourse under Rockefeller Plaza.  Since it was the holiday, the shops were all closed there.  When we got to near the Capitol, we were told we couldn’t exit there, and had to backtrack a bit to get out.  The only other people we saw down there were either state police, security, or tourists like us trying to get out.  

 We made our way down towards the riverside where we had reservations for an Aquaduck tour of the city.  We rode a similar vehicle on a tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, two years ago.   The tour took us around Albany, through several historic neighborhoods, and eventually out to the Hudson River.  We had to take a small detour because Rockefeller Plaza was blocked off, but we had seen the area up close earlier that morning.   Everyone was given a duck call as we boarded, and we had to quack at people who waved at us.  The girls kept busy looking for landmarks in a bingo game that they got from the guide. 

It may be the Fourth of July but it is also Wednesday, and that means new comics.   We got back to the car at about 4:40, and had just a short time to get to a comic book store before it closed.  We made it with just a few minutes to spare, and the staff helped Scott find the books he wanted quickly using a laser pointer.

There was a huge crowd that was beginning to gather on Rockefeller Plaza, by the capitol.  They were expecting upwards of 40,000 people for the fireworks there.  Julie doesn’t like fireworks, though, unless they’re Disney fireworks, so we went elsewhere.  We thought we’d celebrate Independence Day in the most American way possible—shopping at the mall.   We went to the large Crossgates Mall and started with Taco Bell and Subway in the food court.  Then, just as we started shopping, the stores began to close, it being about 6:00 PM on the holiday.  Anna was devastated.    Hollister was closing their gate just as she was walking up to it.  The evening was still young, though, so we went to the movies.  Julie and Anna saw Snow White and the Huntsman, while Scott and Emma went to The Amazing Spider-man.   Julie and Anna both gave their movie a thumbs-up, but Scott gave his a sideways thumb.  Emma said her thumb was diagonal (but mostly up) because there were a few parts with the Lizard when she had to close her eyes.