6 New York Facts that are mostly NOT about Manhattan

1. The capital of the state is Albany.

2. New York City (made up of the five boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island) is the most populous city in the United States. Approximately 19,795,791 people live there -- over 40% of the state's total population.

3. New York City is the main gateway for legal immigration to the United States. In the 1800s, it was a major ocean port, and more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. More than 100,000,000 Americans are descended from these immigrants.

4. New York was the only colony that didn't vote for independence (because its delegates weren't authorized to vote).

5. Much of the state borders water, including Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, St Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. New York is the only state touching the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.

6. Most of the state is made up of meadows, forests, rivers, farms, mountains, and lakes. Adirondack State Park is the largest state park in the United States, and it's larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Olympic National parks combined (it's roughly the size of Vermont).

Ten Far West California Travel Observations

1. The whole city of Ferndale received Historical Markership for its Victorian houses. Sadly, an abundance of shops and houses were vacant or for sale.

2. We enjoyed our walk in the Ferndale Cemetery, viewing grave stones from the century before last. There was, though, this awkward Ebenezer Scrooge moment.

3. Ferndale has not one, but two, stores with Blacksmith Art (though both with the same ownership.) It was good to see an anvil outside of a Loony Toons cartoon.

 4. The Ivanhoe Hotel claims to be the furthest west hotel in the "continental United States." I hope the plaque was made before Alaska became a state, because since then, the correct phrase should be "the contiguous United States".

5. When I was a kid, we went camping at Standish Hickey State Park, part of the rotation with Henry Cowell and Donner Lake State Parks. But Standish Hickey was certainly the strangest name of the three.

6. Tiny Houses are all the rage these days, but this One Log House predates that rage (quite a coincidence that they built this next to a gift shop).

7. The Drive-Thru Tree is also located next to a gift shop. Our theory is that gift shops that are not located next to such peculiar objects do not survive. (Tourist traps continue to appeal to our inner 6-year-old.)

8. The Ferndale Pie Company does sell, to no one's surprise, pies. But they also made the genius move of selling pie crust scraps topped with cinnamon sugar. And the folks who run it are really nice.

9. There's something about the front desk of an inn being inside a general store that adds a Green Acres/Petticoat Junction feel to a place.(And if you long for that kind of thing, the store and motel seem to be for sale: Francis Creek Inn ) Mindy was not surprised to find a Pixley Street in Ferndale. 

10. This photo is either of a hippie in Willits with a cat resting on top of his backpack or a Sasquatch (Big Foot). From this photo, it's really difficult to tell which of the two it could be.

-- Dean and Mindy