Albany , New York

   We didn’t make it very far into New England but we still saw some beautiful hillsides of fall colors. We stopped in Albany , which is the capitol of New York , so that we could visit the state museum. State museums are always interesting and are a good place to get an overview of the state history and geology. New York’s is exceptional and it’s also completely free!
 More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/AlbanyNewYork?authkey=Gv1sRgCKav8vikjYr0DQ#

Mystic Seaport , Connecticut

  Both of us get seasick so we can’t even imagine the life of a sailor , whaler or fisherman  out on the open sea for days or months at a time. Until the 1860s an immigrant coming from Europe to the US could be on board a ship for one to three months. When steamships started crossing the Atlantic the trip shortened to a little over one week. This was such an improvement that the old wooden sailing boats were soon scuttled or turned into fire wood. Mystic Seaport’s goal is to save some of these ships and the history that goes along with them. Besides a large collection of ships they’ve also moved and renovated more than 60 historic buildings to make a 19th century seafaring village.

 More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/MysticSeaport?authkey=Gv1sRgCKb42e3mg-mCmgE#

Edison National Historic Park , N.J.

    This is a piece of elephant skin. Edison didn’t want his researchers to be held up waiting for exotic materials to be delivered so he kept a fully stocked warehouse with everything imaginable on the shelves. The laboratory complex included a physics lab, a chemistry lab, a metallurgy lab, a pattern shop, and chemical storage buildings. Keeping all of this up and running was expensive but right next door were Edison’s factory buildings where many of the townspeople were employed making batteries , phonographs,light bulbs and even furniture.

 More pictures here -http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/Edison?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmFqJLKg-zVSg#