visiting the capital region on friday! (New York, Albany: co-op, neighborhoods, private school)

[groar]

as detailed in this thread, my husband and i are trying to find a place to live within 2-3 hours of central ct and we are pretty enamored of the capital area, especially troy.

i am mostly making this thread so i will see it later and remember to report back, but please feel free to make suggestions about places to check out! our interests are pretty well-covered in the other thread, but the basics:

- we are kinda countercultural people i guess. into urban farming and riding bikes and art and music, whatever. it seems like there is a great community in troy that is also into these things.
- i like to knit and spin so if anyone happens to be into that i'd love to hear what your favorite yarn shops are.
- we are vegan, so if you know of any good places for weirdies like us to eat lunch, name em!
- we want to either live somewhere really dense and urban where we can walk/bike to lots of things, or somewhere out of the city where we can have a bunch of land. of course finding a bunch of land in the city would be kind of amazing but not very likely. we're not really interested in places that are even slightly dense (like 50 feet or less to your neighbor) but not walkable.
- we are not very scared of bad neighborhoods although schools may be a concern down the line.

we will be around friday morning through early afternoon.

[hock41]

Troy: for neighborhood/sightseeing stick to the neighborhood around river street. There's a park there, nice little shops and resteraunts.

Albany: I urge you to check out the new york state museum and the empire state plaza that's connected to it. Its free so you don't have to worry about paying. From the meuseum you can go down delaware avenue where you will find All Good Bakers. A vegan breakfast and lunch place. Also take the time to look around the lark street and madison avenue neighborhood. Which are within walking distance to the plaza.

[sarchivist98]

Lots of knitters and spinners around here, but oddly, few yarn stores. Several branches of the Albany Public Library have weekly knitting/fiber clubs. The Honest Weight Food Co-Op, which is moving to much expanded headquarters in a few months, also has at least one weekly knitting group, so you should easily be able to find people more knowledgeable about knitting than I am if you move here. There's a list of yarn stores here, but sadly a few of them have closed since the list was put together. There are several annual sheep and wool festivals in nearby Vermont and a few counties south of Albany that hard core knitters and spinners tend to go to and stock up on supplies.

[groar]

yeah i know the sheep & wool festival in rhinebeck is only about an hour and a half away, and that's like.... woodstock for knitters? haha. it was just this last weekend too but this trip is for looking at potential places to live, not looking at yarn, so i resisted the temptation to schedule it for rhinebeck weekend!

maybe i should start a yarn store. hmmmm.

[Sally29]

Hi.. There is a wonderful yarn store in Saratoga Springs.. maybe that will meet your needs.. it is called Common Threads.. see link below..

Home

[groar]

thank you! i don't know if i'll have time to get up there on this trip (unless i need needles or something!) but that's definitely good to know about.

[Becca8377]

You should pop into my friend's jewlery store on River St in Troy - she makes some beautiful pieces!

Annick Designs - Fine Artisan Jewelry - Home

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by groar

as detailed in this thread, my husband and i are trying to find a place to live within 2-3 hours of central ct and we are pretty enamored of the capital area, especially troy.

i am mostly making this thread so i will see it later and remember to report back, but please feel free to make suggestions about places to check out! our interests are pretty well-covered in the other thread, but the basics:

- we are kinda countercultural people i guess. into urban farming and riding bikes and art and music, whatever. it seems like there is a great community in troy that is also into these things.
- i like to knit and spin so if anyone happens to be into that i'd love to hear what your favorite yarn shops are.
- we are vegan, so if you know of any good places for weirdies like us to eat lunch, name em!
- we want to either live somewhere really dense and urban where we can walk/bike to lots of things, or somewhere out of the city where we can have a bunch of land. of course finding a bunch of land in the city would be kind of amazing but not very likely. we're not really interested in places that are even slightly dense (like 50 feet or less to your neighbor) but not walkable.
- we are not very scared of bad neighborhoods although schools may be a concern down the line.

we will be around friday morning through early afternoon.

Since your'e considering a place to live and school may be an issue in the future, unless you can afford private school, you seriously may want to reconsider Troy. It does have GORGEOUS architecture, wonderful history, and the largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world. If you're into antiquing, the downtown is great for that.

Farming and bike riding can be challenging in city limits. I have family who live there and some don't have any yard whatsoever. The roads are full of cars including parked cars. I know many cities don't have many areas of on street parking. Pretty much all of Troy does. New York has a fabulous state park system with many places to bike ride. Albany also has some trails. I don't know of any in Troy, but there may be some. Lansingburgh would probably be safer to bike ride.

There are several festivals throughout the year including the Victorian Stroll which is really nice.

Troy is walkable, but what are you looking to walk to? There isn't a grocery store so you'd have to drive to that. There's a co-op in Albany - Honest Weight Co-op - that you would probably love! They have TONS of vegan items and have a newsletter. Many people there would also know about vegan area restaurants and like minded people such as those into urban farming. And I certainly wouldn't call you a weirdo for being vegan! Some might, but at the Co-op you will find people who have many similar interests.

For most things in life, you would need to travel outside of Troy. Like I said, there isn't a grocery store which is sad. There is an amazing farmer's market in the summer. I'm not sure if it's open year round. In years past, it was open beyond summer.

And remember, you can live nearby and visit often. I say this mostly because of the schools and you want a walkable area. If you're looking to walk to get groceries, you won't be able to do that unless you want to a serious walk to Latham or Watervliet. Actually, depending on where you are in Troy you could walk over the bridge to Watervliet and go to Price Chopper. There's a Price Chopper up in North Greenbush (or is it East Greenbush?) by Hudson Valley Community College which you could walk to if you lived up in that area. Lansingburgh has a Hannaford and you could walk there.

[hock41]

SS20TS - C'mon man, you're selling troy short.

There's nothing to walk to in Troy? What about the the music hall, the parks, anything at RPI, the little shops and resteraunts on river street, dinosaur bbq, brown's brewing company, the bookstore on river street, etc. There's lots of stuff to walk to.

And to your grocery store point, the farmers market is year round, it goes indoors in the winter (another place to walk to!) And price chopper/shoprite deliver groceries online. Also there's plenty of bodegas and shops you can go to to just pick up the essentials.

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by hock41

SS20TS - C'mon man, you're selling troy short.

There's nothing to walk to in Troy? What about the the music hall, the parks, anything at RPI, the little shops and resteraunts on river street, dinosaur bbq, brown's brewing company, the bookstore on river street, etc. There's lots of stuff to walk to.

And to your grocery store point, the farmers market is year round, it goes indoors in the winter (another place to walk to!) And price chopper/shoprite deliver groceries online. Also there's plenty of bodegas and shops you can go to to just pick up the essentials.

I've lived in Troy! I didn't feel safe walking in many areas especially after dark. The OP was specifically looking for vegan dining places. I don't know of any in Troy, but I'm not vegan so I gave some recommendations of places to look. I did say you could walk to downtown and there were things in downtown. I said there wasn't anything downtown to really use for everyday living like a grocery store. Not everyone is interested in shopping in a bodega especially when a box of cereal costs twice as much or more than Price Chopper.

And no I don't find most of the restaurants downtown to be fabulous. Certainly not worth walking to depending on how far one would have to walk. And in winter, walking is a pain in the arse. Sidewalks aren't maintained well at all. That's not an issue with just Troy. It's an issue most places with sidewalks and the weather.

I did say I wasn't sure if the farmer's market was year round. I know in the past, it had been, but that doesn't mean it would be this year. Also, what local produce can one get in January? There's not much. I know some places do store apples long term and winter squash. Being vegan, I'm guessing they're not interested in eggs, cheeses, dairy, and meat.

PS I'm not a man so don't c'mon man me!