Capital District

New York's Capital District is centered on the state capital of Albany.

Understand
The region covers the following counties
 * Albany County - The state's capital city and its suburbs in the east; still rural in its west
 * Montgomery County
 * Rensselaer County - Little suburban sprawl and much rural land and small towns in this direction as you head from Troy and Rensselaer to the Berkshires and Vermont
 * Saratoga County - Development in the Albany area has made this the fastest-growing county in the state; still, the northern regions remain largely untouched, especially within the Adirondack Park
 * Schenectady County - A city with a few suburbs and some country towns
 * Schoharie County — A rural county that features natural attractions, especially Howe Caverns
 * Washington County - Feels like a little piece of neighboring Vermont that is still part of New York

Cities



 * - The state capital, with many attendant sights and attractions.
 * - A grand old dowager of a resort town-turned-college/hipster town on the edge of the Adirondacks, this city comes alive when the thundering hooves of three-year-old thoroughbreds hit the track every August for a month of racing culminating in the Travers Stakes
 * - The stamp of General Electric, which still operates its landmark research facility near downtown, remains on the Capital District's second city, also home to Union College.
 * — A rejuvenated former spa town made semi-famous by its connection to the 'Fabulous Beekman Boys'.
 * - The combination of a well-preserved and restored downtown and tech startups feeding off of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has led to the nickname "Silicon Valley of the 19th century."
 * - A grand old dowager of a resort town-turned-college/hipster town on the edge of the Adirondacks, this city comes alive when the thundering hooves of three-year-old thoroughbreds hit the track every August for a month of racing culminating in the Travers Stakes
 * - The stamp of General Electric, which still operates its landmark research facility near downtown, remains on the Capital District's second city, also home to Union College.
 * — A rejuvenated former spa town made semi-famous by its connection to the 'Fabulous Beekman Boys'.
 * - The combination of a well-preserved and restored downtown and tech startups feeding off of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has led to the nickname "Silicon Valley of the 19th century."
 * - The stamp of General Electric, which still operates its landmark research facility near downtown, remains on the Capital District's second city, also home to Union College.
 * — A rejuvenated former spa town made semi-famous by its connection to the 'Fabulous Beekman Boys'.
 * - The combination of a well-preserved and restored downtown and tech startups feeding off of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has led to the nickname "Silicon Valley of the 19th century."
 * - The combination of a well-preserved and restored downtown and tech startups feeding off of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has led to the nickname "Silicon Valley of the 19th century."

See

 * Thacher State Park is a nearly 2,000-acre park about a 25 minute drive southwest of Albany. It's on the Helderberg Escarpment (an escarpment is a cliff or steep slope, and the Helderbergs are a group of mountains and hills west of Albany) and has some lovely trails, an Olympic-sized pool, playgrounds, lots of areas for picnics (including reservable outdoor pavilions) and great views of Albany and the Hudson-Mohawk valleys.