My headline for this blog is not meant to be ironic or say that Troy, NY is like a ghost town. No, I actually really did want to share that I saw a tumbleweed - an actual tumbleweed - in Troy on Sunday.

I was driving through South Troy (which, for the purposes of this story will be henceforth known as the Southwest of Troy) on my way to the Hudson Valley Plaza when I saw something going across the street a few blocks away. I asked myself "Self, is that a tumbleweed?"

(from Arches National Park in Utah)

Lo and behold, as I drew closer it was, indeed, a dried up large bush/weed that was blowing in the strong wind of the afternoon. Being me, of course, I tried to get a photo but it was too quick for me. So, I went on my way and hoped that when I came back from the store it might still be in the same area of the sidewalk where it had ended up.

Alas, I came back and it was gone.

I was particularly surprised and excited to see one since in my travels in the U.S.'s west I never had. I saw an antelope play en route from Yellowstone to Aspen. I saw purple mountain majesty in the Rockies, and amber waves of grain complemented by immense energy-generating wind mills in Minnesota and beyond. I even saw buffalo roam. But no tumbleweeds.

(buffalo roaming/causing a traffic jam in Yellowstone, and the sunset over the Rockies outside Aspen after seeing the antelope)

I've looked the past few times driving through that particular section of the city's Southwest (at the base of the hill on 4th Street, a few blocks from the Stewart's). I've continued to search for the tumbleweed, with no luck yet. Troy may not be a ghost town but it now has a resident ghost tumbleweed.

- cue western whistle -

Update: I'm not the only one who saw the tumbleweed! And they got a photo too.