We drove up the parkway on the far west side of the river all the way from New Jersey only to cross over to the east side at Tarrytown. Choosing that route allowed us to miss the worst of the heavy traffic. Once you get north of the city, the countryside spreads out into lots of small communities. The seven photos are of the country estates of the wealthy, including the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It’s often called Hyde Park because it’s near that town.

Sunnyside

I lived in Albuquerque for three years in the 1960’s and have returned to the state on several recent visits. I have limited this article to Santa Fe to reduce the number of photos needed to cover the entire state.

Although it has sprawled out into the suburbs like most cities in recent years, the buildings around the original city square have remained remarkably the same. The Governor’s Palace and the La Fonda Hotel still face each other on opposite sides of the plaza. The Palace dates back hundreds of years; the hotel dates from the 1920’s.

The city sits in a plain below the Sangre de Christo Mountains (12,000 ft.), a chain of the Rocky Mountains, but still is 7,000 ft. above sea level. Winter is the ski season, but summer is the season for the huge Indian Art Market and the Opera. The Indian Market celebrate its 100th year in August. The opera is located several miles north of town in a large amphitheater and runs through July and August. The nights are so cold that you need to take a blanket even in July. Several new museums are in a complex southeast of the downtown area, but most of the tourist attraction are close in.

I have toured the Richmond area from Fredericksburg to St. Petersburg looking at 18th & 19th Century residential homes many times. In Richmond itself that includes downtown, West Richmond, and Monument Ave. These include plantation homes along the James River, but not Williamsburg, that is a 1920’s reconstruction by the Rockefeller Foundation. I have another album just of Williamsburg. I also have visited Abingdon, Alexandria, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Orange Co. in Virginia. In Maryland, I visited Annapolis and Chesterton. I lived on the Severn River north of Annapolis before the state capital became too crowded to be enjoyable.