The Experts

My New Year’s Resolution: Visit Every County in New York

COVID has made out-of-state travel iffy, so join CRL travel writer Alexandra Baackes in exploring the best of the Empire State’s 62 counties.

BY ALEXANDRA BAACKES

Art Omi sculpture park in Columbia County

I ’m sure I wasn’t the only Upstate New Yorker happy to toast the end of 2020. Most of us were aware, though, that once the clock ticked past midnight, it wouldn’t necessarily be a magical “fresh start” or end to our troubles.

January, which has already slipped us by, is traditionally the busiest month of the year for travel bookings, because folks start focusing on their resolutions and prioritizing their biggest goals, and that often translates to travel. But I know of very few people who have begun booking European adventures or Caribbean cruises; there are just too many question marks surrounding 2021 still.

Stand-up paddleboarding in Saratoga County

If last year taught me anything, it was how much there is to discover in my own backyard (see my travel guide to the Finger Lakes in the last issue). In fact, it’s that ethos that has inspired my super-attainable, local-pride-fueled New Year’s travel resolution: to visit every county in New York.

The best resolutions are specific and measurable, so I’ve set up a few guidelines to focus on during my county-crushing adventure. While I won’t have to actually stay in a hotel or Airbnb for a night in each county to make my trip “official,” simply driving through county after county won’t cut it. This journey is all about making memories, which requires some exploring.

The Edge in New York County

It turns out that there are 62 counties in New York, and upon further inspection, with a map in hand and my own synapses firing, I calculated that I’ve already been to 23, or just over a third of them. Some of them I ticked off ages ago: Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties (during my youth), as well as New York, Kings, Bronx and Queens (thank you, college years). Others I’ve been lured to by family and friends include Monroe County (I have a sister in Rochester) and Onondaga (I attended a wedding in Syracuse). Additionally, outdoor concerts (remember those?) inspired plenty of county-hopping road trips in the past, with regular trips to Saratoga County for shows at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and one extremely memorable night in Nassau County for a Spice Girls reunion show. Good oldfashioned adventure is what brought me to most of the counties, though. Boating trips up in Lake George introduced me to Warren County, and the world-famous falls brought me to Niagara County.

Last year, with my world a little smaller, I really stepped up my Empire State exploration game. In Columbia County, I discovered intimate wineries and wandered the outdoor galleries of Art Omi. In Dutchess County, I stayed at Hotel Caravana, a chic, renovated Airstream outside a vintage drive-in theater, and in Orange County, I dined, waterside, at Hudson Taco before scoping out a few hip boutiques and colorful murals.

Grafton Peace Pagoda in Rensselaer County

A little further afield, I spent time in Suffolk County (camping and winedrinking), Chemung County (hiking at the Tanglewood Nature Center), Schuyler County (scoping out Watkins Glen), Steuben County (glassblowing) and Tompkins County (glamping in Ithaca).

This year’s wish list includes a ski trip in the Catskills (Greene County), visiting The Wild Center (Franklin County), breathing in some fresh air in Letchworth State Park (Livingston/Wyoming Counties), checking out the 700,000 sunflowers blooming at Frederick Farms in Clifton Springs (Ontario County) and investigating Griffis Sculpture Park in East Otto (in the mouthful that is Cattaraugus County).

If I’m doing the math right, I still have 39 counties to go to complete my list—but only five more issues of CAPITAL REGION LIVING this year to cover them. OK, so I’m not going to get to all of them, but I’ll pick some highlights, and well, if you’d like to take some side trips on your own, I won’t hold it against you. Grab your keys, a toothbrush, towel and some face masks–and let’s go!

Skin in the Game

Artistry of Face owner Kelly Heffernan shares tips for helping your skin thrive through this long, masked, upstate winter.

BY KELLY HEFFERNAN, MS, FNP-BC

What can people do at home this winter to combat dry, flaky or dull skin?

Just as the first flakes of snow arrive each winter, so too does dry, flaky skin on our face. As we move indoors to drier heat, our skin loses moisture, leaving us with flaky, dry, irritated skin. Important steps to healing dry skin include:

• Gently cleansing it with a hydrating face wash such as ZO hydrating cleanser.

• Applying hydrating products to the skin, such as PCA hyaluronic boosting serum, followed by a thick, hydrating moisturizer such as the ZO Renewal Crème or Skinceuticals Emollience.

• Not neglecting the hands and body, too!

Applying a thicker moisturizer such as EltaMD Moisture Rich Body Cream immediately after showering will help lock in moisture.

ZO Skin Health products

Now that we’re all wearing face masks so frequently, what can we do to combat that dreaded ‘maskne’?

With daily use of our face masks, we’re starting to struggle with acne breakouts referred to now as “maskne.” Whether it be from the friction against or occlusion of our skin, wearing a mask can cause blocked pores, trapping dirt and bacteria inside it. A simple skincare regimen such as a ZO Maskne kit is a lifesaver for acneic, irritated skin. The kit includes products to cleanse, exfoliate, reduce oil and sebum production and a benzoyl peroxide product used for spot treatments!

What treatments can people get that are safe and specifically target winter skin issues?

Whether suffering from dry skin or maskne, the most beneficial, customizable skincare treatment that Artistry of Face offers is the Hydrafacial. This procedure is like having three different facials all in one! The treatment involves a gentle exfoliation of skin—it clears congested pores and then infuses rich moisturizers and antioxidants to protect and quench your skin. Your skin will be plumped and glowing after your treatment.

What can we do now to prepare ourselves for the coming spring and summer months?

With bathing suit season just around the corner, now is the time to think about those stubborn pockets of fat that no number of sit-ups, planks or pushups will get rid of. Sometimes referred to as “muffin tops” or “love handles,” they can easily be treated with CoolSculpting. The abdomen, arms, legs and that little pouch under the chin are just some of the areas that can be targeted. It can take up to three months to see results, so this is the perfect time to freeze your fat away!

Kelly Heffernan is the owner of The Artistry of Face in Loudonville and a nurse practitioner with more than 25 years of medical experience. She specializes in the art of minimally invasive cosmetic procedures and is also a Clinical Educator, teaching doctors and nurses across the country the art of injections and the understanding of facial aging process.

Artistry of Face’s Hydrafacial system

How to Cure the COVID Winter Blues

Troy-based psychologist and entrepreneur Dr. Alex Marsal, PhD, offers his expert advice.

BY DR. ALEX MARSAL, PHD

If you’ve found it easier to get lost in an endless sea of blue these days, you’re not alone. According to a study conducted this past July by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 50 percent of US adults said that their mental health had been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those numbers will continue to rise, especially during this second wave and until enough people have been vaccinated to bring back some semblance of normalcy.

To help lighten your mental load this winter, CAPITAL REGION LIVING got in touch with Dr. Alex Marsal, PhD, a longtime Troy-area psychologist, who is also the co-founder and chief clinical/science officer at digital behavioral healthcare startup aptihealth (aptihealth.com), a platform that is helping patients get better access to behavioral health treatment (“behavioral health” is a catchall that includes mental health, addiction and other behavioral maladies). We asked Dr. Marsal what could be done to better our mental health during these most difficult of times—especially, in the new year, following one of the toughest-toswallow, socially isolated holiday seasons in recent history.

How We Got Here

When COVID started, there was an initial uptick in behavioral health issues, and then, as it lasted longer and longer, and people were sheltered in place, every behavioral issue went up—depression, anxiety, drinking, violence—across the board. This second wave is even worse, because we already went through it, which exhausted us. Even though we had some reprieve over the summer, now we don’t have the emotional tolerance we did the first time. You’ve also got the holidays, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and then COVID on top of that. There’s a natural tendency to feel let down in January, except this will last, in my opinion, until mid-to-late March, when the days get brighter and longer.

Track Your Symptoms

About 25 percent of US adults report that mental health problems get worse over the holidays. In terms of symptoms, if you’re feeling down and blue, unusually angry or less interested in things, having difficulty making decisions or concentrating or you’re very lonely, you’re probably starting to struggle with the holiday blues, SAD or ongoing depression. If you have any thoughts of suicide, that is automatically in the clinical depression bucket, and you should seek immediate help.

Find a Path to Happiness

Happiness is the difference between where you are or who you are and what you want to be or where you want to be. The greater the gap, the more unhappy you are. The smaller the gap, the happier you are. Under normal conditions, the holidays include the expectation of having fun, being happy, rejoicing and being together. But everybody’s reality doesn’t match that; in fact, most people’s realities don’t. It’s going to be interesting when people reflect back on 2020. I have no idea what they’re going to reflect on, because it was a tough year. I would recommend having realistic expectations and accepting them. And now that we’ve realized that, how do we compensate for it? Be creative with that time you might have now that you didn’t before COVID hit. Take a cooking or an art class.

Keep an Eye on First Responders

I’m scared that healthcare workers and first responders won’t be OK by next summer or fall. When COVID starts to ease up and the rest of us are starting to breathe, the accumulation of what they’ve been through in the last year is going to hit them. I hope we can do something to provide them with support.