quarry trip

Recently I had to travel to a stone quarry in the Adirondacks. The purpose was to select the boulders for my DeLury Square project in Lower Manhattan.

The quarry is really cool. This was my second trip, so I didn't go for the whole tour this time. This time I had to select around 40 boulders, of varying sizes. Most are smaller seating stones, but a few are larger, and will be used to make a fountain. These had to be selected carefully to fit the space and aesthetics of the design. The largest is 13' high (although 3' of that will be buried), and weighs around 40 tons.

Here's the second-biggest stone... you can see the ledge behind where they are sliding off more stone. They actually do this whole operation with surprisingly little impact to the environment. Obviously there's the excavation, but they don't do any more than absolutely necessary, and they "use the whole deer" so to speak -- there is very little waste. Stormwater is closely managed, too... am I losing my audience? Anyway I think they do a pretty good job. And the stone is of the highest quality. If you're in the market for granite, be sure to check them out at www.champlainstone.com.





































The landscape up there is beyond amazing, of course. I really miss living in Ithaca.





































I wrote into the contract that the contractor had to pay for all travel and lodging expenses for this trip. The contractor didn't care what kind of car I rented, so naturally I chose the new Chevy Camaro. (For all you whistleblowers out there, it was actually about the same price to rent as a regular boring car).



















I was very impressed -- although that could be related to my typical driving experiences, which is either in the office's Civic or my own 8-year-old Accord. With the Camaro I was expecting a fast but jumpy sports car, not that comfortable or smooth on the highway. It was indeed fast (not going to offer details on how I know that), but also very comfortable. This would be an outstanding road trip car, as long as you don't have more than 2 people. There is a back seat, but it was apparently designed for people without legs.

As Ferris says, if you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up.

View from the driver's seat... note the tasteful retro gauges.



















Ellie and Nico got a look the next morning, before I returned it. They were very interested in a "real" sports car, although Nico was a little skeptical because it didn't have a rear spoiler.



















Cruisin', yeah...