Malone, New York

After 15 years, we finally made it up to far northern New York, where LuAnn's parents grew up.  We are close to Montreal and Lake Champlain, so this is about as far as you can go in the state of New York.

No wonder the children move away from here because there is only subsistence farming, mining and logging for survival.  There is some tourism but not enough to employ a lot of people.

We stayed in an 1820 home last night.  It was nice but it showed its age.  The floors in our 1880 home are much more substantial.  It had beautiful surroundings though, right on a high edge of the Salmon River.

I asked LuAnn what she learned on this trip so far and she quickly answered, "the deep Catholicism in my family, witnessed by the commonality of the headstones in the cemetery."  Malone Cemetery is probably the prettiest little cemetery I've ever seen, with a big stone cross in the center, and rows of plots with trees in a circle, spoking out from the cross, the center piece.

We are eating our way across New York and need to slow down.  There is too much good food up here and LuAnn knows ever little diner you can think of and if she doesn't, it is too easy for me to find one.

The dairies left seem to be doing pretty well and the crops look good, but late.  We saw some corn so little I can't imagine it making good silage.  Now is primetime for sweet corn, vegetables, potatoes and fruit here.  It is all of excellent quality and we've seen some good ideas for farms and farm markets.

It's a unique trip and the weather is cool but we are having cool time.

Ed and LuAnn