And so I had to go up to Albany recently for work. The drive up took about 4 hours, and it was a pretty day with a blue fall sky peppered with cotton puff clouds, bright sun, some pockets of red/yellow/orange leaves and purple windflowers blooming everywhere. I managed to get myself out and about and took some pictures. Some of these I took while driving (stopped at a light), the others were taken at two different parks. Albany has lots of parks. Downtown is quaint - there are rows of townhouses (I think that's what they call them) and each is painted a different color from the rest in shades of green, blue, red and yellow. There's a ton of sidewalk shops, and sidewalk cafes. But drive a few blocks out and things disintegrate into factories or slums. Albany is quite a city of contrasts.