Christine and I traveled to Albany with a purpose in mind: to inspire others. We embarked on this journey to explore local points of interest, aiming to educate communities about how they can take day trips and discover little bits of magic along their routes. Our adventures mark the beginning of a travel blogging venture we’re calling Inspiring Journey. Through this blog, we hope to produce engaging content that not only shares our experiences but also highlights our perspective as neurodivergent individuals.
The mental health of our youth is taking a toll in the contemporary world where a growing number are reporting a lack of interest in life’s activities, leading to a numbing feeling of disconnection. This disengagement is spawning an alarming rise in feelings of isolation, depression, and aimlessness among young people. On the other hand, within the autism spectrum, we encounter a rich tapestry of unique interests and passions that sustain mental wellness. Autistic individuals display an inspiring aptitude to engage deeply with their special interests, making them not only happier but also more resilient to feelings of loneliness and despair. They utilize their minds actively, constantly learning and immersing themselves in their interests, which keeps them mentally active and engaged. It’s an approach that could significantly boost the mental health landscape in America. Encouraging all young people to cultivate and nurture special interests, engage in meaningful activities, and to undertake purpose-driven work could cultivate a sense of belonging and purpose that shields against mental health struggles. Harnessing the autistic lens of finding joy and engagement in unique interests could potentially revolutionize how we address youth mental health and engagement
By taking this initiative and we hope to empower everyone nationwide to get out of their own way by taking excursions and finding special interests that they may not know they have.
As we all know, the same it’s about the journey not the destination. We’re here to show you the examples of how the journey can sometimes be good enough without an end goal. Teaching us to enjoy little miracles in everyday lives. Enjoying the details of the journey we’ll teach all of us how to wake and smell the roses enjoying of being in the now. When we started our journey today, Dr. Christine said 79 more miles and I reminded her, let’s enjoy every mile as she laughed and replaced I taught you well and that is why you are my CEO.
One of my interest while driving to Albany is looking up Interesting cars with New York License Plates which I could tell if the letters may be from the Dealer which I’ve seen before on Ling Island for Statewide Sales or certain letters that is only for Upstate. While passed the Catskills Ski Resort line, there some bumper to bumper traffic on the southbound side of the I 87 known as the New York State Thruway. While we passed the sign of Kingston, I’ve seen lots of cars, essential vehicles and travelers from Upstate, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Long Island, Florida, Massachusetts, Quebec and Ontario since it’s February Break and the kids are off from school. I saw intresting license plates like KJE from Bethpage and LDY from Huntington. While we got to Catskills I saw very interesting mountains with rocks along the way. I also saw some interesting view of the hills of Catskills and the mountains by Massachusetts. Once we got close to the Capital, I’ve seen houses and trailer parks and the I 90 from Boston which southbound had some delays from the cars merge from I 90. I’ve seen the sign to Albany Montreal and Buffalo which I would love to go to Buffalo one day to see the Bills in action.
Once we made it to the Capital Region, I saw advertisement of Mister Rodgers, which we went to The Empire Plaza with every building of the Capital like the The Governor Nelson A Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, MVP Arena, we drove through the tunnel, The New York State Police, Office, The Department of Motor Vehicles, The Court Administration, the Swan Street Building, NYS ITS and drove around to get to the park of Rensselaer. Afterwards, we drove around to every government offices like the New York Department of Education, the New York State Capital Building and some parts of the one way blocks of Albany reminded us of New York City but less expensive. One of the colonial houses had an England Flag next to the USA Flag which I was happy because the British used take over the colony in the 1700s before the American Revolution. We drove to different parts of Albany like large parks and different of neighborhoods if Albany which I saw some houses that was gentrification. Afterwards, we went on the I 87 to Blue Compass RV Sales. I like that one exit when we got off which we got on the hill of the intersection with all of the cars going straight and the rest turned left when the light was green.
When we got to the RV Dealership, we first walked around the parking lot and saw an RV Trailer and took a tour of it which it was really unique with the interior and the kitchen with a social booth to hang out. Then I saw a red chevy pickup truck with New York License Plate with LEE which I call it Leeds for Leeds United. Afterwards, introduce the salesman the talk about planing on getting a Mercedes Sprinter that could carry 8 passengers with seatbelts. While Christine took care of business I got distracted and saw the showcase room which I always think its a playground of getting on every vehicle to imagine or pretend to go on an adventure. I tried that slide at the playground but it was meant for kids. I laughed when i landed on my back because I knew it didn’t fit me to ride the slide. We stopped by at the coffee station that has a coffee maker which I would love to go there to start my morning. While it was done, we walked around the parking lot and tryout every RV Van and trailer, the first row was most Mercedes Sprinter RVs and I found the exact one that we wanted. I also took a tour to imagine if we take the offer. Meanwhile, we took our separate view of different RVs and Buses and some of them had licesence plates which most of them were reissued K Plates for Excelsior Plates. It was originally supposed to be release in 2020 but it was too reflective which it was moved to 2022 while Upstate took most of the reissued plates while out of state sales took it for Southern New York Residents. Christine and I catch up on some of the RVs but I wanted go for one more loop around but we did to leave because we would have to get back down by sundown.
After a long afternoon going to Albany, we drove back south and stopped by at some small towns and farm stores. We saw a very interesting sunset and talked about every moment on the ride from point A to pint B. Our dream is that one day the News Team will have the opportunity to explore the State and eventually across the nation. It’s only the beginning of our new chapter in this existence. Working as a team is more effective than working alone. We are stronger as a team, and we can demonstrate that Neurodivergents can do anything they want as long as they have the will to explore the world.
