Back to our routine here.  The dogs got their usual park run this morning and have four days of sleep to catch up on.  I’ve got my big screen TV and leftover chocolates.  So it’s almost nice to be home.  If only I didn’t have to work tonight.

A very productive day yesterday.  But it was still frustrating having the sun fade at 6pm and having to put away the list and remaining maps. I was tempted to stay another night and shoot some more stuff in the morning before heading home.  But for once, I did the sensible thing.

Let’s start the show with this one in Owego – at Owego Soft Serve.  I assume this world’s cutest ice cream truck is driving around locally:

Just down the road still in Owego — an unidentified mini golf course which must be owned by Metro’s Restaurant next door.  The course itself looks new — fresh brickwork and greens.  I don’t know the history of the sign but I assume it’s been repurposed either from a previous business here or brought from somewhere else.  Love the neon trio of club, ball and hole:

This fun plastic sign is from Candor.  According to the owner, it was originally the Brush & Palette Tavern:

A decently intact Imperial 400 Motel in Cortland.  More about the chain here:
http://so-cal-arch-history.com/archives/category/palmer-and-krisel
Flickr group here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/imperial400motels/

I was anxious to reshoot this place since the last time I shot it in 2007, it was pretty much at night:
http://www.agilitynut.com/07/12/coffeemania.jpg
But today was painting day.  So I’ll revisit Cortland yet again another time.  This was believed to be a gas station originally.  A Texaco possibly initially.  A Hess later on.  But it’s been Coffee Mania for many years now.  They are sprucing up here — yellow and purple paint to match the company’s logo.

Not enough doggie pix on this trip for some of you.  So here’s one of Grippie and one of her peculiar, adorable habits.  Before settling in for a good long snooze, she does that puppy/kitten thing of blankie sucking, combined with paw kneading and eye rolling.

In Cortland in the afternoon, we finally got real sun — not the overcast murky stuff — and pretty clouds.  True, this is not one of the building eras that I normally shoot — but this one looked so good illuminated.  And even more heroic without adjacent buildings which must’ve been there originally:

Also in Cortland:  an unexpected used car lot sputnik.  I put a close-up of it over at Flickr last night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/5098859918/
(see caption at that photo for a link to more signs of this same style)

I’ve always loved this sign in Vestal.  The swimmer, bubbles, lettering — all embossed:

In Endicott — a mid-century, flower power-ish sign on a metal slipcover — superimposed over what looks like a 1940s storefront:

Painted plywood mowing woman — never noticed her before — maybe she’s new?

Still hanging in there — in Endwell:

On to Binghamton – a little strip of stores.  Ellis Bros. still open & the sign lit (even here during the day).  Phil’s Gift Shop is vacant though.
 

Both of these stores are deep enough to have entrances and signs on two other streets.  Here’s the west side of Ellis.  Perfect vitrolite tile and a reworked neon sign:

And here’s the south side of former Phil’s.  Check out the variety of display windows here.  Makes you try to imagine what every street in America used to look like with all those glorious window displays.  When people really DID walk around downtown and window shop.

This one caught my eye downtown — and then I realized — nut shop!  Followers of my blog know that I have a thing for nuts.  Had to pull over….

and seeing that door mat… I couldn’t pull it back fast enough since I had my suspicions.  Most nut shops were originally Planters Peanuts shops — and sure enough, this was one! 

Opened 1923 or so and still had the original peanut roasting machine inside.  It’s still in use but unfortunately no more Mr. Peanut riding it.  Great display cases and old-time atmosphere.  I got my usual:  a half pound of Bridge Mix.  It’s fantastic and I’m especially happy that there are no Whoppers in there.  For more former Planters shops, see this page at my site:
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/nuts.html

Last stop of the trip was in Deposit where the light began fading.  So we’ll end this photo round there.  Pretty much as this trip’s blog posts began back in Peekskill — with a vitrolite storefront:

and a couple fun signs:

Thanks for tagging along and entertaining me with your comments.  I hope you enjoyed the brisk air and fall foliage and glimpses of things in the Empire State.   Back with another mini trip soon.  Hopefully, in just a month or so.  The “What’s New” page at the site has a list for the where & when:
http://www.agilitynut.com/whatsnew.html

The dogs & I are safely home.  I’ll post the final blog post in the morning.  I’ve got the batch of photos all set to go but not enough umph to write right now.

Some general wrap-up talk.  I didn’t keep track of gas cost or miles for this trip.  But I can report no tickets if you’re keeping score.  Which is especially a good thing since tickets “count” in New York state for me (DMV points and insurance).  According to both of them from my clean record, I always obey the speed limit (ha!) and never do crazy/illegal maneuvers.

It’s 20 degrees warmer in NYC than it was in the Catskills.  NY state is way bigger than I thought it was.  After these two mini trips, I STILL have at least a couple more days worth of stuff on my list to shoot.  Maybe I can sneak off at Thanksgiving weekend and wrap up if I don’t have to work.

Meet y’all back here in the morning.  Nothing like the bed at home….zzzzz.

OK, so technically, it’s called the Southern Tier I think.  But anyway, I’m referring to that little corner of NY state that touches PA just before it becomes OH.  As west as you can get.  Since south would be NYC.   Anyhow.  Lots of highways, few destinations, few stumble-intos.  So a very low volume, slow news day here.  Somewhat crappy weather.  But not so nearly annoying since I was mostly behind the wheel.

The dogs got cemeteries and fields here and there.  They’re all excited when they see water but it’s far too cold for that.  I’m sure they think I’m a big meanie for not pulling over.  I believe I’ve seen Nik glaring at me from the back “this trip sucks”.

So let’s go to the photos.  Not many.  And I’m posting in a frenzy since it’s already morning.  I petered out early last night.  Looks like another grey day out there but I’ve got a ton of stops before I hit the highway for home.

From Jamestown.  A twirling plastic Pepsi sign.  No longer twirling.  Never seen one like it.   There’s a pool place below now — so I’m just glad this sign is there at all.

I’ve been shooting a lot of former Minute Man (later Kwik Fills) gas stations on this trip.  It seems this building style was mostly used in this corner of NY & PA.  I’ve got a bunch at my site but here’s an example of what they look like – one from Rochester:
http://www.agilitynut.com/10/9/minman.jpg

Never have I seen one so drastically made-over though!  In Jamestown:

A cute/nice hand-painted sign from West Valley, NY.  Not so cute/nice what happens to the cows though:

Also in West Valley — “Real Stuff Gallery & Gifts”” — with neat sculptures:

Gosh, this sign in Springville sure looks like a repurposed Dog N Suds drive-in sign:
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/dsuds.html
although the plastic panels sure look original.  I don’t know if there ever were DNS restaurants in NY.  So I have no explanation….

And last one for the day — from the Chuck Wagon in Olean.  Had to be inspired by Wendover Will:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/2400185298/

Gotta get rolling.  Next post will be tomorrow morning since I’ll be driving home tonight and will be absolutely beat when I get there.

Hopefully boogie makes you think of racing through someplace not “boogers”.  Though with my lingering congestion…

Got lots of good sun today.  Though the first several hours though were more like a cloudy translucent film between us and Mr. Sun.  And then evening came much too quick.  Out of decent light at 6pm.  Miss those long summer days where I can shoot til 8.  But then again, I’ll get more sleep this way.

Dogs got tons of exercise today.   In addition to their usual quick runs, we stopped at Buffalo’s Central Station renovation where it seems they’re building a park or at least a big green vista.  Leave it to the dogs and I to break it in properly with racing about.  Later in the day, we checked out Buffalo’s big dog park at La Salle Park right on Lake Erie.  Probably not a lot of fun in winter with the cold wind but must be great for summer relief.  My guys ran in the big dog section until some big dogs started ganging up on Nik for his ball.  Back to the little dog area where Grem ran with a Springer twice her size until he got tired and she started bullying him for more running.  Fixie spends her dog park time making new people friends, hopping from lap to lap.  Grip stays close to me — since she knows these dog park dogs are usually inexperienced socializers:  pushy, often aggressive, and just plain dumb.

So that covers the weather and the dogs — on with the photos!   The day began in Niagara Falls.  Here are a couple of the lesser, non-lit signs that remain.  Here’s one that’s had a few makeovers. I have no idea of the original name:

Probably no bit of Parisian-ness left at this place now:

Still in Niagara Falls.  I believe this was a Howard Johnson’s based on the orange roof tiles and the apparently missing steeple.  But then again, the building shape just doesnt’s seem right.  It’s almost like a merging of their gate lodge and restaurant buildings.  Or maybe I’m just tired and forgetting some layout.  Regardless, I was amused by the trading post makeover.  And the tourists at the right.  Koreans maybe?  They were all giddy over the helicopter ride taking place on the left of the frame.  I did the right thing and took a photo of the three of them together with their best camera.

Moving on to Buffalo.  OK, so this may look like ghostie Halloween decorations to you — but to a van full of terriers — this is 50 white rats on a lawn.  Insert sound effects of screaming and barking and humiliating pandemonium while Mom’s off shooting a building across the street.

This was today’s kick to the gut.  One of my fave Buffalo gas stations — now abandoned and denuded and probably doomed.  Here’s a scuzzy photo from 2005 for comparison:
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/10/ken2.jpg
Originally (1930s I believe), the wedding cake topper which is/was all glass and shone like a beacon.  Heavy sigh.

I went to one of those architectural salvage places hoping to get a glimpse of the old Tunmore Oldsmobile sign which I was told quite awhile back had been moved here.  Apparently, no longer there that I could see — but there was this wonderful sign instead.  No one to ask re: this one or the Tunmore sign since all locked up on a Sunday.  Apparently from a quick Google poke, Streng was another local Oldsmobile dealer which closed in 1998.  Oldsmobile was fond of rocket imagery in their ads and signs. But I haven’t seen another sign like this one though:

Voelker’s Bowling Center features these two “can’t-miss-it” rooftop signs —

and this smaller but much more interesting sign – unfortunately stuck behind nearly opaque plexiglass.  The other side was worse.  Certainly, this was fun animated neon originally with a rolling ball & flying pins:

 

OK – let’s go off on a tangent, shall we?  Parkside Candies.  If you haven’t been.  Go.  I’ve been before, many times.  But somehow, I missed this great sign back in the parking lot.  If you don’t already recognize it, that’s opal glass.  Translucent letters lit with bulbs from inside the sign.  Most of these signs, and they are really rare, have some breakage — which I find charming really since it draws attention to its construction and fragility.  I’m always on the prowl for these so if you discover any more of these, email me.  Immediately.

Here’s the building — and some interior shots.  For a close-up of the exterior sign, you’ll have to go over to my Flickr photos from tonight.

Ice cream as well — though I’ve never tried it:

And I was happy to plunk down $18-something to show my support.  As usual.  Them thar’s a big box o’ truffles.  And there’s probably only a slim chance that any of them will make it back to Brooklyn:

Moving on… to West Seneca.  Now, I can’t attest to the goodness of this place since I’m a vegetarian and all.  But if I were the meat-eating type, I’d probably give Schwabl’s a shot.  Since 1837 — and they’re obviously taking good care of that sign and keeping it on day and night.  Some nice gory meat photos at Flickr — but no good nighttime shots of the sign.  Come on folks!
http://schwabls.com/

On the reservation, the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation that is, Indian imagery is cool not racist.  These giant guys urge you to fill up your tank.  And so I did.

Meet you all back here tomorrow night — send more sun.

The dogs and I are sneaking off for a few days.  Might be three or four days depending on the weather and my productivity.  This mini trip is an attempt to finish the previous NY trip where I had to ditch the entire Buffalo to NYC southern path when time ran out.  Two interfering circumstances on this little trip:

#1:  We’re in a “mixed weather pattern” — having just had a brush with a Nor’easter.  I’ve been studying the forecast all week.  Expected sun today but got clouds and sprinkles.  Dammit.  As soon as I finished some stops around Albany and hit the interstate for a few hours, naturally, the sun came out.  Didn’t get to my destination (just west of Buffalo) until late afternoon — so I didn’t get to capitalize photo-wise on the weather but it was very pretty, fall foliage and all, and the dogs enjoyed the spa-like dozing.  With occasional outbursts from the two yung-uns who didn’t get nearly enough exercise today.

#2:  I’ve got a nasty cold.  I never get sick.  Never ever.  But I had the misfortune of sitting in a super cold corner at work a couple nights ago and that was that.  A saner person would be home in bed instead of fighting traffic and cranking through lists.  The dogs hate it when I cough — they usually jump sky high with shock and fear.   But they’re getting over it now.  Despite only three hours sleep, I think I might be pulling through this thing.  My throat is sore and I’m loaded with congestion but the fever is over.

Enough whining!  Let’s get to the photos so that I might get a reasonable night’s sleep tonight.  Five hours would be great!  Peekskill was on the way to one stop so I did a quickie pass through town.  Though I’ve been through many times before, I missed a few things.  Including this nice trio:

The big guy on the right appears to be a 1940s-ish department store.  Guy in the middle a deco-ish bank with neat lettering.  And a far left is a Woolworth-y building & sign but GREEN.  That really throws me.  Kresge & Woolworth were always red.  And this didn’t appear to be repainted.  Not this side or the identical sign at the back of the building.  Anybody know the deal?

Also in Peekskill — a couple of nice vitrolite-faced bldgs.  This one with those nice stainless steel freestanding letters — and unusual display windows:

This one also incredible display windows and some terrazzo:

I’ve been wanting to shoot this guy in Albany for awhile now.  Went to the Huck Finn Warehouse hoping to get a close-up but there’s absolutely no way to shoot him from over there.  You’re stuck pulling over on the shoulder of I-787 and hoping a trooper doesn’t catch you.  There was a huge grassy field between the shoulder and Huck that I was really tempted to walk through to get closer – but thought better of it.  I’ve no idea how old this sign is but it’s BIG (note stairs on the right for scale):

A couple mid-century buildings across the street from each other in Schenectady:

More brick & stone — and colored brick glass:

And lastly, let’s not forget my traveling buds.  Tis the season:

I didn’t mess with posing much for this scene.  WAY to dangerous with busy traffic on the road behind these guys.  Took three photos and had them hop immediately back in the van (Sparkle’s tire at left).

The serious seniors (Fix & Grip):

The challenging youth (‘Nik & Grem):

Big day in Buffalo and beyond tomorrow.  Sun would really be nice.

Time to finish up this trip.  Back home, back to work.  Time to really hunker down and get to work on 6,000+ photos waiting to be inserted into the website.

The sun was out about 35% of the day — about the best it was the whole trip.  I hear it was sunny back in NYC the entire time.  The big news:  no smudgie on the lens today – thank goodness!  The day began in Auburn — here are a couple photos from there.  John Stevens is gone — don’t know what the business was but there’s a coffee bar there now.  Nice little Art Deco fins:

About 50 feet down the block is this sign.  No longer a bar there — building is vacant:

Okay, okay — I know you’ve been waiting for the junk food shots.  Had to show my support for the recently reopened Donuts Delite in Rochester:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/5015836430/

Fixie knows something good is in this box:

With a long drive ahead, I stocked up.  Two of these actually made it home with me.  From left to right, clockwise:  raspberry (with raspberry gumdrop on top), peanut butter & jelly, banana cream, and sour cream.  The PBJ was sensational.  Jelly inside lumpy like real preserves, pb icing, pb cup on top with Reese’s pb pieces, peanuts.  The sour cream was heavy — in a soothing way — a meal in itself.  Banana cream was so-so (I forgot that I don’t like powdered sugar).  Raspberry was good but that white icing was a bit too sweet for me.  They had much more traditional donuts as well but I usually go for the exotics.  Surprisingly, I didn’t see the apple cider donuts which are big everywhere at this time of year.  Even the gas station c-stores seem to have lots of them on hand.

Some more stuff from Rochester.   The Dancing Wings Butterfly Gardens, part of the Strong Museum of Play, is about five years old.   It is meant to resemble a butterfly in flight:
http://www.museumofplay.org/about_us/press/dancingwings.html

Here’s a classic, mid-century modern “butterfly roof”:

I don’t know what business was here before (gears?) — but very nice tilework was left behind.  The building is now “available” but part of it is inhabited by a post office.  Hopefully, this artwork will survive:

Finally, some doggie pix.  These guys had a great trip.  Lots of water and fields everywhere we went.  The water was pretty cold which would have Grem & Nik shivering mightily for about 20 minutes after swims.  Fix & Grip rarely went in past their knees.  If you’re new to these blogs — that’s Gripper on top of the dog crate (pantry) and left to right Sputnik, Gremlin & Fix.

The crew is waiting patiently for the okay to hop out into a few minutes of paradise and chaos:

You’ll have to use your imagination here to visualize Nik’s manic barking and swimming after ballies being thrown into the water.  Grem and Grip were mostly busy scoring chicken bones.  Fixie was off flirting with a fisherman nearby.

I’m a big fan of plumbing signs – particularly those with depictions of leaking faucets.  If you’re a member of the SCA, I did an article about them recently.  Some of the signs that I covered are here (not updated yet there is the Moyer sign which was restored a couple months ago):
http://agilitynut.com/sca/plumbing.html

If you’re unfamiliar with the SCA (Society for Commercial Archeology), it’s a great roadside organization that I’ve been a member of for more than 20 years.  I’ve also been writing the Signs columns for their publications for a few years now.  There’s a conference coming up next month in Arkansas that sounds like a lot of fun:
http://www.sca-roadside.org/

Anyhow, yes, plumbing signs.  This one came as a surprise to me.  I was here to see the painted sign in back (see below) — but no one has ever posted photos of this neon sign.  Perhaps it’s because of the crappy plexi paneling that protects it.  I ran into the owner and he says the sign is lit at night.  Next time I’m near Rochester at night, I’ll be sure to check it out.  The owner said it used to be animated but that’s forbidden by the city now.  He also said there was a different neon sign before this one — taller with sequential drips.

I’ve been shooting giant apples for years:
http://agilitynut.com/food/apples.html

but only found out about this one in Medina recently.  It was installed around 2000.  The “kids” were happy to pose for scale:

After all, it was dinner time, and mama had the bowls and can of food with her. That’s the Erie Canal in the background.

So, that’s it for this trip.  If you missed the Flickr photos (different ones from the ones posted here), you might want to check those out here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

I’ll probably do another little four-day trip in October  (some stuff in MA, CT that I didn’t get to this year).  And possibly an Xmas trip to finish up some of the NY stuff from this trip that didn’t happen.  The next biggie trip will be in the spring (TX, OK & more).  Dates & details & all the updates can be found over at the “What’s New” page at the site:
http://agilitynut.com/whatsnew.html

I hope you enjoyed tagging along with us and that you’re able to sneak off for some adventures yourself before the weather gets nasty. 

Stopping soon in Albany for the night — then heading home in the morning.  400 miles from Buffalo to home and I just can’t do it in one fell swoop right now.  Plus I need some sleep if I’m to be civil at all tomorrow night at work.  All is well — lots of fun photos for you.  Check back on Thursday for the final post.

So today — sunny blue skies!  The dogs had lots of rivers to swim in.  All was right with the world.  Lots of miles between stops at times which felt like a waste of good shooting time.  But I did enjoy the scenery.  Pine trees, dark blue rivers, clouds, and cool air.  Fall is here and too soon will come:  much dreaded winter.  Dreaded by me anyway.

An email deluge while I was out and about today.  Replied to most of them and it’s late already.  Picked out a selection of photos from today and then noticed from the very first one that I cropped:  a smudgey area at bottom center.  All day — every single photo.  I know I looked at the lens many times today and it looked fine even with my glasses on.  Now I know that method can’t be trusted. Dog drool?  Maybe it’s been that way for two days but I never noticed because of the grey.  It’s absolutely heartbreaking.  And means even more reshooting in my future.  Shall I just repeat this entire trip next year?  Ugh, I’m so depressed about it.  Tomorrow, I’ll be cleaning the lens like a fiend.  And when I get home, I’ll order 6 lens caps.  I lost the cap on the last big trip and never replaced it.

Okay then — bring on the smudgies (actually it looks like the first few are okay — but you’ll start noticing later):

A couple from Schenectady.  Always relieved to see this place still there:

This sign is quite the mish-mash:

From Howes Cave.  Spot be damned!  Right there a soupy area right below the “o”.  Anyway — the original owner’s son now runs the place.  He said the main reason that he can’t bear to sell the motel is that he knows the buyers would get rid of the sign.  A sign shop quoted him $5,000 to repaint the sign which he can’t afford.  He plans on doing it himself.  I asked about what might have been on the pointy thing on top.  There was some kind of a flashing mechanism.  Not sure what.  I didn’t ask if they ever heard from Holiday Inn about this sign:

Barking, drooling, spot-producing monsters!  Can I blame them for my agony?  Nah.  I’m sure it was me being sloppy with coffee or some such thing.  I’m really surprised that Fixie tolerated this.  Not like her to put up with physical nonsense.  I think they were both too tired to notice.  (As required by my own law, photo taken while driving.  The other two girls knocked out in the back.)

In Duanesburg — it was Moving Day at the Merli Ranch.  Merli Manufacturing that is.  Although not that big a move really.  A few hundred yards or so onto a proper foundation.  This is the former 9&20 Diner:
http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/former-9-20-diner-moves-to-museum/

foundation at left:

I didn’t stick around to watch the whole process.  The event was purely accidental on my part.  I was just driving by and there it was all loaded up.  I did meet Joe Merli.  And I watched the truck move back and forth for awhile.  Someone said there was going to be a crane involved.  A diner in the air would have made an exciting photo – sorry I had to miss it.  I did grab a shot of the train (engine car? what do I know of trains) that the diner will be named after.  They’re now within winking distance of each other on Merli’s property which will be used as a mini tourist village one day.

Moving on to Mayfield.  This neat geodesic dome could be yours!

From Syracuse.  Sign as canopy — or canopy as sign?  I just think the whole thing is very clever and colorful.  Although the guys working there just thought I was nuts and/or up to no good:

And last subject for the day — from Liverpool.  Not sure what gives better sense of scale so I’ll include them both.  Full sign:

and with Flamingo’s feathered friends:

OK — let’s hope for more sun tomorrow and a clean lens!  That’ll be Day 4 and final day of the trip.  Not sure if I’ll be blogging tomorrow night or making you wait.  Traditionally, I drive home and head off to work and publish the final trip post the day after.  But this is a much shorter drive home than usual.  I’ll probably just chime in a quick hi tomorrow night unless I’ve had coffee and feel ambitious.

This weather blows!  No, I don’t mean that it’s been windy.  It’s just grey, greyer than grey.  Eternal dusk.  And I’m bummed about it.  So much for the weather forecast of sun all weekend.  Okay, so it didn’t rain or snow — but it just as well might have since it means I’ll have to do a repeat trip of this one to get everything in proper sunlight.

To compound my misery, I was in very familiar territory today.  I used to come up to Saratoga Springs once or twice a year for agility trials.  Memories all over the place, round every corner.  I do miss the courses, some of the people, the obsessiveness, etc.  But right now, I don’t have teammate that’s enthusiastic enough to compete with.  Grippie was an incredible champion and loved the sport.  Nik and Grem have other obsessions (toys and critters, respectively).  Fixie has never been into sports — as someone said once “she’s a reader”.  So for now, I just “practice” once a week — which is fun — but seems kind of pointless at times.  And it isn’t such a bad thing as it means all that time and money go to the website and traveling, respectively.  (word for the day:  “respectively” – kind of obnoxious, no?)

Speaking of dogs, they got tons of running, sniffing, peeing, swimming, rolling time today since I was not exactly motivated today to squeeze in as many shots as possible before sundown.  After all, the entire day was sundown.  A few squirrels were chased.  A few squeaky toys no longer squeak.  Good times.  Respectively.

So, despite my melancholy and the lack of sun, I still have a big batch of photos for you.  Let’s get on with it —

Central Ave. in Albany used to have tons of neon signs.  I’ve seen quite a lot of them replaced with plastic box versions — and I’ve only been coming up here for about ten years or so.  Here’s one hanging on — but maybe not for long.  It looked like construction workers were “doing stuff” to the property:

This sweet drive-in has been closed for years now.  I remember when it was open.  I always hold my breath when I approach it — never sure if it will still be there:

The main reason I stuck around Albany a bit this morning was to finally shoot the restored Dare carousel at the State Museum.  A couple blogworthy things inside en route:  the Rocket Car built in 1929:

an Automat display:

If you want to read the items available, click on the photo:

Another rusty crusty with wire mesh like the Olympic sign from yesterday.  I guess this was a pre-plexiglass method of protecting neon?

A residential (I think) window display. Is this scene depicting anything in particular — cowboys, cowgirls, Indians…  Are these famous figures that I’m clueless about?

This sign from Watervliet – business still open:

In Troy.  Ever have that feeling that you were being watched?  Look up.  Way up.  Lounging on the precipice of death.  Like he owns the place.  Wishing nothing but pure evil on me and my van full of barking dogs.

A few more shots from Troy.  Just lovely despite the rust:

Rudy’s is having (or had) a going out of business sale.  I bet this sign could be had for the asking.  Unless Rudy has some personal affection for it.  Both sides had some crunched plastic — but still, plastic integrity here.  These signs were mass-produced with the different biz name at the bottom:

Maybe a different sign here originally judging from the metal roof support?  Still open:

A few of these brick column signs in Saratoga Springs and environs:

Late afternoon, the sun came out for about 10 minutes.  Hallelujah!  So I had to quick grab this one.  As you’ve probably noticed if you’re a fan of this blog or the site, I’m a compulsive cropper.  But I’ve left this one large because of the sunflowers and winding road scene:

And lastly, here’s one from Warrensburg.  The lodge is indeed a big white house.  Which is now for sale.  So this sign might be gone soon.  Like the fall leaves.  If I wasn’t so tired, I could probably come up with something more philosophical about it.  Something about the changing times and the passing of all these great roadside treasures.  I’ll let you fill in your own nostalgic, conclusive verse here.

Heading west tomorrow — send us some sun, will ya!

Did you miss us?  The dogs and I are taking a break from the routine and doing a little New York state four-day trip.  I have long neglected my own backyard thinking I can shoot stuff here in my home state any old time.  But that time never  seems to come and the dreary, blurry, ancient photos at my site are proof.  So this ambitious trip is an attempt to remedy that.  No map for this trip so I’ll just say it’s a giant loop north to Lake George-ish, then west all the way to Buffalo, and then down south-ish through Binghamton, etc.  My stack o’ maps looks like a week’s worth so time may run out by Buffalo.

I haven’t even begun working on getting the summer Midwest photos inserted at my site.  I came home to an avalanche of emails and other must-deal-with stuff.  I also made a valiant attempt to make updates to the site:  stuff that’s gone, repainted, remodeled. etc.  I have a list of at least a thousand things to update and only made it through a few hundred.  Maybe I can catch up this winter.

Back to today… According to the forecast all week, today was supposed to be stellar sunny.  But it was really mostly dreary grey.  Today’s Flickr photos won’t reflect that since I post only the prettiest & sunniest stuff there.  But the sampling of photos I share with you here are unfiltered weatherwise.   Here goes.

Stop #1 was in Yonkers for a couple things including this sign that’s been on my list for awhile.  I assume this was a restaurant but that’s just a guess.  Nothing there now that seems to be related.  Not website-worthy but delightful nonetheless:

The “Wedgwood Professional Center” in Hartsdale.  Painted Wedgwood pottery blue?  I know nothing about this place’s history but love the faux barn & cottagey building.  Also a fun weathervane-y windmill on top of the entrance gate.  A guy walking by with his dog said he thought the place was “spooky” looking.  I would say “cute” or “quirky” but don’t see “spooky” here, do you?

From Elmsford.  The neon was on during the day but it was more apparent in person:

A nice projecting clock at a furniture store in Poughkeepsie.  It was way up there — maybe 4th story or so:

I can only think of a few neon realtor signs from around the country.  This one in Saugerties is unfortunately penned in between trees so it doesn’t allow for pretty photos.

At a tire store in East Greenbush.  A Michelin Man and his dog.  Did he have a dog?  This is a wood carving so I assume it’s a one-of-a-kind statue.  Looks like someone backed into the poor dog.

Here’s one for you rusty-crusty fans.  I assume that metal mesh was put there to protect the neon ages ago.  I can’t imagine that this sign is still lit at all now.  There’s something inspiring about this sign’s resilience, no?

A two-fer — both signs at the same business.  Bulbs, plastic, neon — this one’s got it all!

A florist’s window on Central Ave.  I’m assuming this neon is modern — but maybe not.  Very nice either way:

So simple, so wonderful:

Meet you back here tomorrow for more!