Visiting Albany and Meeting the Twins

At this time of year, there are certain things that I miss about the Northeast.  The crisp, nippy air; the smell of cider, cinnamon, warm just baked pumpkin and apple pies.  I visited Albany for the first two days of my trip and the last two days, with my trip to New York City sandwiched in the middle.  I stayed with Linda and Louie for the first leg of the trip.

And, first things first . . . a piece of homemade apple pie!

One thing that I've been missing is cider donuts!  Last year I asked around at some bakery departments, and all I got was a blank look, and a remark, "Oh, you must be from up North?"  So on the morning of my first day, Linda and I took a ride out to Altamont Orchards.

Oh, my!  Sooooooo good and fresh from the oven!

After savoring the donut, we headed over to pay a visit to Andrea and to meet the week old twins.  This is Gabriella . . . so sweet!

 And here I am with Lucas.  So alert!

After hanging with the Lucas Gabriella Kids for a while, Linda dropped me off at Chipotle to meet up with Gavin over lunch.  It was good to see my dinner / movie / concert buddy!  Been way too long!   Hoping to get Gavin back down to St. Pete for a visit!

 And since I haven't had tacos in a while, what else?

Then later in the afternoon Linda and I stopped over to visit Uncle Al, my Godfather.  He celebrated his 89th Birthday this past Monday!

For dinner I met Dr Ray at Moscatiello's.  It was fun to catch up in person and chow down on some delicious Italian food!

My veal marsala with a side of angel hair pasta with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes.

And what's a meal without dessert?  I mean, c'mon!

On Friday morning we headed down to New York City.  I had originally planned on taking the train, but Linda and Louie wanted to see Ruby before they headed back down to Florida.

I had really wanted to see the colors of the autumn leaves.  As pretty as they are, I still got that old sinking feeling of the premonition of what was to come . . . cold, gray, dreary and lots of that white stuff!

After spending a wonderful five days with Ruby and Joy and Joe, I took the train back up to Albany.  I snapped these photos from the train window.

What a scenic ride!

Okay, so now we jumped ahead to leg 3 of my journey, back to Albany.  Louie and Linda picked me up at the train station and we headed right over to Ray's and Iz's for dinner.  Andrea and Taras joined us with the new twins.

 The older twins!

Iz made rigitoni.  I haven't had it in a long time!
And meatballs, sausage and pork.

Dad Taras holding Lucas.  Lucas must have had a rough day!

 Aunt Linda and Gabriella.

I wonder how this flamingo got all the way up here from Florida?  You never know what color you will see in the local autumns!  I spent the last two days of my trip with Ray and Iz.

 The tree in a neighbor's yard.

A colorful 'Welcome!'

In the morning on Wednesday, Iz and I headed up to Lollipops in Latham to browse around the baby store.  Then had a lite lunch at Brueggers.  My panini with pumpkin coffee.

On Wednesday afternoon we visited with Aunt Gloria and Uncle Tony.  What a fun time we had!

And on Wednesday night I visited Jeffrey and Sean.  I enjoyed seeing their new home in Center Square.  After chatting for a while, we headed up to Lark Street for dinner at DeJohn's.  It was nice catching up after not seeing each other for over three years!

I ordered greens and beans, and crab cakes.  I could have died and gone to heaven after the G&B.

On Thursday, my last day, Ray and Iz took me to breakfast at Grandma's Pie Shop.  I love that place!  It has always been one of our family favorites!

My breakfast!  It was sooooo good.  I hung out with Ray and Iz until it was time to head over to the airport.  Two full planes, a headache, a little turbulence, and waiting a half hour in the wrong place for the economy parking shuttle.  Other than that . . . the trip was wonderful!  I have lots of new memories!

Next post:  Hanging with Ruby (and Joy, and some with Joe too!)