A few miles west of Lake Champlain we took a few pictures at the Ausable Chasm. The Ausable River flows east toward Lake Champlain and just above the chasm or gorge there is a small dam with 'pen stocks' or pipes that direct some of the flow to a power house where the water is used to turn turbines to generate electricity, the excess flow goes over the dam and supplies the falls shown below.
The dam is out of sight in this picture but you can see the pen stocks on the ground to the right, behind the power house which is at the bottom center of the picture.
Several miles to the west is Lake Placid, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. Just outside of the town is Whiteface Mountain which has an 8 mile road up the side of it designated as the Memorial Highway, in honor of World War I veterans. The highway is quite steep, quite rough and averaging an 8% grade, but offering nice views of the surrounding mountains. At the summit the mountain is 4,867 feet above sea level. Lake Placid is visible from the summit but the sky was overcast so the picture isn't real great.
Traveling several miles more to the southwest we came upon Long Lake and a small community by the same name. The lake is really pretty with the hills all around.
A few minutes later I looked back up the lake and saw a seaplane taxiing up to the beach.
As we got down into the Catskill's southwest of Woodstock we saw some unusual metal sculptures along side the road. We turned around and went back to take some pictures. The business is called Fabulous Furniture and the artist, Steve Heller does make furniture, but he also does unusual metal creations.
The first item I noticed was the 'Cro Magnum', a Dodge Magnum station wagon which has had 1960 Desoto fins and taillights added as well as a 1960 Cadillac rear bumper.
On the front is a 1957 Cadillac Bumper and 1958 Lincoln headlights.
Steve has created several 'vehicles' to compete in an artist's soap box derby and won numerous awards for them, here are a couple.
The Wrechosaurus, made up of various automotive parts, farm implement parts, riding lawnmower parts and of course lots and lots of wrenches.
This one he calls the Bubble Car, made from the front part of two Plymouth front fenders and the rear part of two Plymouth rear fenders.
Steve has also made several 'rocket' or 'space ship' type pieces utilizing mostly the rear fenders and fins off 1950's and 1960's cars. The two shown here are a 1956 Desoto in the foreground and a 1959 Oldsmobile in the background.
This item is made from a pair of 1956 Dodge rear fenders, a mag wheel and a 1960 Buick taillight.
Steve also built a car he calls the Marquis De Soto, based on a low mileage 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis. Steve removed all the body panels except the roof and the 4 doors. The rear fenders have been poached from a 1957 Desoto, the front fenders and lights from a 1958 Lincoln, 1955 Cadillac bumpers, a 1965 Buick Skylark hood, chrome from a 1957 Buick, and a grille built from two 1957 Corvette pieces. We didn't see this car but I found pictures of it on the internet.
