I've been telling people that the State Museum is a great place to visit on any day but especially…read moreon a rainy day. This weekend, I finally took my own advice and toured the museum for the first time in years. The Sept. 11th exhibit is among the current features marking the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks. Since I was there to watch the Twin Towers fall in lower Manhattan, I found it difficult emotionally to walk through the exhibit though somehow it was also cathartic. There were interesting exhibits of New York birds, mammals and minerals. I also enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs exhibit and the so called, "Cohoes Mastodon," which was unearthed near the Cohoes Fall. I had so much fun riding the antique carousel with many families. The museum is even open on Sundays. Admission is free with suggested donations. The staff is wonderfully helpful. The attendees are nice and friendly, too.

This place is a lot of fun! It's a large museum where you can learn just about everything there is…read moreto know about New York State. We didn't expect to spend much time there, but we ended up staying for well over an hour because there was so much to explore. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated. If you're driving, keep in mind that the museum doesn't have its own parking lot, so you'll need to find street parking. Fortunately, it wasn't difficult to find a spot when we visited on a Sunday afternoon. Highly recommended!

On my first visit, I just saw a fantastic Blanche Lazzell exhibit here. The Institute is large…read moreenough to provide a comprehensive main exhibit, as well as a smaller one, plus other permanent installments. I like its size, not overwhelming enough to get visual overload, but large enough to provide an artful experience. Parking on the street or in a small lot at the back entrance, reasonable entry fee, beautiful galleries, welcoming staff - excellent venue in the state's capital city.

We visited this museum after visiting the NY State Museum. The gentleman at the reception was…read morepleasant and friendly. Entrance fee was reasonable. As someone who frequents museums wherever we go, I can only give this one three stars. I guess I was expecting more and better quality paintings especially that it's the state capital's art museum. Not to be nit picky but our museum (City of Portland, Maine) has much more interesting pieces. Still glad we went. Happy to support arts and culture.

Schuyler Mansion is just so beautiful!…read more These are the pre-Revolutionary war-digs of one of only two attendees for the State of New York to the first Continental (State) Congress: Colonial soldier, then renowned and brave General and New York politician, Philip John Schuyler and his family. The Schuyler family were influential early Dutch settlers. The buildings are brick and face East across the Hudson - looking towards New England. Inside are bountiful dining rooms and cozy living rooms as well as rooms for high society! The Schuylers were an influential and renowned and famous New York family who settled very early in and lived in Albany throughout the American Revolution 1776-1781 Walk around and read some plaques and signs and read about Colonial America. The views are perfect and the grounds always pristine. There are small fields. Walk around and take in the scenery, old walls, metal fences and more culture, architecture, framed art and fancy, delightful chandeliers and interiors than you will find at most other places. It's a history and photo spot. Review: 5 splendid

Very interesting tour. This house served many purposes in the community over the years! There are…read moresome interesting artifacts from the Schuyler Family.

The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area extends from North of New York City (the White…read morePlains, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow area) to North of Albany (the Saratoga Battlefield). It is filled with historic sites from the Revolutionary War and, indeed, from the colonial period before the war. It is also filled with mansions, most of them built after the Civil War, during America's first gilded age, by the super-rich. All of these attractions are interesting, some are fascinating and a few are stunning. Visit the website, www.hudsonrivervalley.com, for pull-down menus of must-see, recommended and special interest tourist attractions, including most of the historic sites and mansions and, in addition, some museums, art galleries and the like. Clicking on an attraction will lead to a detailed description. Although we often disagree with the website ratings (and you may disagree with the website ratings and our reviews as well), the site is both user-friendly and highly useful. That said, our disagreements with the website sometimes extend beyond its ratings to its selections. As examples, we would throw out Dia Beacon as an appalling waste of time and money and add the Rhinebeck Aerodrome as a fascinating and fun place to visit on weekends from early June through late October, for its airshows of antique aircraft. We'd also add the new walkway over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie. On a sunny day, it's a great experience, and it's also great because it's free. Most attractions are not free. Indeed, tourism may be the Hudson River Valley's largest industry. Someone has their hand out at almost all these attractions -- and on the toll roads and bridges that connect them. In addition, most of them have museum shops attached. Even where a visit is free, as at the United States Military Academy at West Point and the FDR Library & Museum in Hyde Park, a guided tour will cost you. The only exception we found is the tour of the New York State Capitol: like the walkway, it's free. Nevertheless, most of the attractions are well worth your time and money, with this caveat regarding the old mansions: after you've seen more than three, as we did, you may balk -- again, as we did -- at expending any more time and money to repeat, once again, an experience that may be intellectually interesting but definitely is emotionally similar. The exception is the Rockefeller mansion, which is stunning. Touring it will cost you two to five times as much as other mansions, but if you have time and money for only one rich bastard's home, it's the one to see. See also our reviews of attractions and businesses within the National Heritage Area: Adams Fairacre Farms, Poughkeepsie, NY Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, NY Arlington Wine & Liquor Store, Poughkeepsie, NY Aroi Thai, Rhinebeck, NY Dia Beacon, Beacon, NY FDR Presidential Library & Museum, Hyde Park, NY General Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, NY Gino's Pizza & Restaurant, Poughkeepsie, NY Hampton Inn & Suites, Poughkeepsie, NY Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate, Sleepy Hollow, NY Locust Grove, the Samuel F.B. Morse estate, Poughkeepsie, NY Morton's Steakhouse, White Plains, NY New York Capitol, Albany, NY New York State Museum, Albany, NY Olana, the Frederic Church estate, Hudson, NY Price Chopper, Poughkeepsie, NY Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, NY Rossi Rosticceria Deli, Poughkeepsie, NY Schade's Deli Restaurant, Highland Falls, NY Terrapin Restaurant, Rhinebeck, NY Union Church of Pocantico Hills, Sleepy Hollow, NY United States Military Academy, West Point, NY Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY Walkway Over The Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY

Ralf was our guide and it was very pleasurable he was very knowledgeable very upbeat and cheerful…read more He kept the tour moving and he answered all our questions intelligently. I was very pleased with the tour and I'm an ex Navy guy so that's saying something !

Only one remains afloat in America [Albany NY]…read more We learned so much from our docent, Caroline.. this is a guided tour inside the World War II destroyer escort. General admission was $10 each and lasted about an hour. There were 563 built during WWII and the USS Slater is the only destroyer escort left in the US. It has been restored to its original 1945 configuration. We were fortunate to learn about this national historic landmark. The first thing we learned was the history behind the name of the USS Slater (DE 766). The destroyer escort was named after Seaman Frank O. Slater. He was assigned to the USS San Francisco at Pearl Harbor and was killed when a Japanese torpedo bomber he had shot down crashed into his gun position. Instead of leaving his gun and trying to find a safe place for cover he stayed at his position continuously firing until the plane crashed his gun mount. The tour took us to the galley, officers and enlisted mess halls (btw, the officer mess hall doubled up as the operating room, there is a medicine cabinet by the wall), we viewed the chart room and the sonar room, captain's cabin, ship's office, signal bridge... we mounted ladders to get up and down between decks. These are steeper than stairs so it could be challenging for some. Overall, a very educational tour and I enjoyed it. A Destroyer Escort's main job is to defend naval task forces from Japanese submarines and Kamikaze air attacks in the Pacific. Review #3014

The staff here were pleasant, kind and helpful. We came for a Saturday night light show in the…read moreplanetarium. About 45 minutes long, a good time you can't beat it. A few jokes from the ticket-taker as well. Tip: try and grab the seats toward the back, to keep your neck more comfortable. We arrived ~15 minutes before start time and were able to peruse around the different displays and interactive exhibits. A place for all ages. This was a nice indoor activity to get out of the house and not be in the frigid cold.

Visited the planetarium to see James Hood's "Beautifica" on date night, the event itself was a…read morewonderful visual meditative experience! The building itself could definitely use some updating (the bathroom is kind of falling apart). The staff were super friendly! True to brand we showed up late and the show had already started, but staff were kind enough to sneak us into our seats without disrupting everyone else's experience. I look forward to going back here to see the rest of the museum!

Nice trails to walk through the woods and around the beaver pond. I like stopping at the pond and…read morewatching the turtles and waiting to see if the beavers will be out and around. The trail that goes down along the river is really nice - lots of benches to stop and watch the water and relax.

I haven't been to Five Rivers in more than 20 years and a lot has changed since then…read more For one, it's much larger than I remember. They are still using the old building for internal needs but have built an entirely new environmental center and it is beautiful. The center is spacious and includes several educational areas covering everything from culture within the region, native plant life, Bee habitat, Bird of prey and other wildlife, building Greening process, and photovolactic energy production. They also have a large learning center where a group of students could watch a video or partake in training during a field trip. There are multiple walking trails available where guests can get some exercise, enjoy wildlife, and nature. We could have easily spent half a day here but only had a few hours to explore one of the main trails. There's a lot of parking on site and staff are super friendly It didn't cost us anything to come out here and enjoy everything they have to offer. If you were in the area and are looking for something outdoorsy to do, I highly recommend paying them a visit.

Review for public areas, not the society itself. (The other review here seems to have been intended…read morefor the Schuyler Mansion, so I'll explicate a bit.) As historical societies / museums go, this is tiny but well-maintained. (I've seen lots of small museums over the years -- it's an affliction -- that didn't even bother to dust the collections, much less try to keep them fresh). The building itself is magnificent, a 19th century residence, but unfortunately there aren't full tours of the spaces, likely due to access and ADA requirements. So you are restricted to the front-and-back downstairs, which is also an occasional reception space (we've been to one, and it's nice for that, if you're looking for a small 50-150 person space). So there's basically two parts: the Uncle Sam room, and everything else. The Uncle Sam room is packed full of stuff about you-know-who, mostly souvenirs from over the ages, but it's very nicely arranged and well-curated. Definitely an interesting if brief stop in and of itself if you're a first-timer to Troy or just generally interested about that side of Troy/county history. Part 2 of the museum is whatever they have for a rotating exhibit. In limited space, both of the exhibits we've seen here have been quite well done and interesting, and while not consuming more than 20 minutes or so, is again worth a quick stop in a tour of lovely downtown Troy. Check their website, of course, to find out what the current exhibit is.

I had visited the Schuyler Mansipn many years ago but decided to stop by recently on a whim. I was…read moreable to join a tour that had just started(they are given on the hour). The house has been recently redone in honor of the hundredth anniversary of its being a museum though it was built in the mid-eighteenth century. It looks fabulous with new historically accurate wallpaper and furnishing fabrics and fully furnished rooms. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and helpful- she is.a PhD student in American History and Women's Studies. The gardens are also lovely and the gift shop and visitor center are excellent. It is definitely worth a detour if you are interested in American History and especially Alexander Hamilton!

The annual Festival of Trees is one of the nicest celebrations of the season! During the festival,…read more3,000+ visitors visit the this historic house to enjoy decorated displays of shimmering fir trees. All proceeds of the festival benefit the numerous programs and services provided by the SCHS. We came to see the many beautiful, clever, and thoughtful adorned trees decorated by local agencies, groups, and a few individuals. Each year we --children and adults --are delighted by the decorations. My grandson laughed at the upside down tree. Open through Sat. 12/27 but closed 12/24-26.

We really enjoyed The Festival of Trees here! I still miss the one they used to have at The Albany…read moreInstitute of Art. This was nice! It's the first time I've been here too. Even thought it's a small house they really packed a lot of trees in. A lot of them brought attention to good causes also.

It's odd going into an old mall to go to an aquarium, but this place was really cool. They setup…read morethe tanks by different areas of the world. Place was clean and not overly crowded. I'm really glad we went.

We made the 90 minute drive from Syracuse to check out the Via Aquarium in...Rotterdam? I didn't…read moreknow this existed until the day before we went, but I'm glad we found it! Repurposing an old mall's dead space into various shops and attractions seems to be the way of the future for malls like this and Via Aquarium is built into the bones of this mall in a really cool way. Instead of just sticking it inside of an old storefront, they really went all out by painting a huge mural outside the parking area for it as well as the long entry hallway into the mall that serves as the Aquarium entrance. Pricing was about what we expected, about $70 for 2 adults, 1 child, and the extra "manta ray feeding" we purchased. The Aquarium is clean and offers a lot of interesting exhibits that range from fish, reptiles, kids play areas, feeding areas, and a gift shop. If you are moving at a moderate pace, you could complete the museum in about 45-60 minutes, so don't plan on dedicating a whole day here. The highlights for us were the tunnels you walked through and underneath fish and sharks and the feeding of the manta rays. On the day we went, they had some arts and crafts for the littles along with a princess in full costume to greet the kids doing the craft (unicorn hat). While we wouldn't make it a regular visit, we'd make the trek again if we were in the mood for some aquatic ambience.