Since we missed Kykuit on our visit to Tarrytown we decided to change our plans. Instead of making several stops to visit sites and rent a car at each place, we would make one stop further north, rent a car and see everything in a four day period.
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Old factory converted to condos
in Tarrytown |
Our target was Newburgh on the west side of the Hudson. We bought our dinghy here in 2011 so the dinghy crossed its wake before Good Karma. We wanted to eat at the same restaurant and take another picture two years later. We were so excited!!
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| Leaving Tarrytown |
The river was kicking up a bit. You can see little white caps in these photos and the current was pretty strong but nothing we couldn't handle. Besides it was really sunny so we had a great trip.
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An abandoned something or other
Lots of abandoned stuff along the way |
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| Big house in the hills |
Notice how rural and mountainous it looks here? That is because it is. Not many people, a bit of industry, and some old towns. Really rich people live in huge mansions up the river surrounded by the work-a-day folks who used to work in the factories. Now it is pretty depressed, just like any of the communities we saw along the inland rivers.
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Indian Point Energy Center -
nuclear power plant |
We passed all sorts of interesting things to see. Indian Point Energy Center - a nuclear power plant. We've passed a few nuclear power plants on this trip. It is a little surprising how close this one is to NYC.
We passed Sing Sing in Ossining. The town was sick of being associated with Sing Sing, named after the town, that they changed the name to Ossining NY.
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Sing Sing Correctional Center
This is from the website. My picture was a little fuzzy. |
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| Stony Point Lighthouse |
Passed Croton Bay Bay and Stony Point Lighthouse, very pretty, to the widest part of the Hudson, about 3 miles across.
Bear Mountain is the big deal mountain on the port side. After we passed the Tappan Zee Bridge both sides of the river are now New York. The gremlin of the Hudson supposedly lives in Bear Mountain and is responsible for the notoriously bad weather that other boaters get when they travel the Hudson. But he was asleep when we visited! Thank goodness!
The Bear Mountain Bridge is one of a few bridges over smaller rivers that makes a great photo!!
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| Bridges at Bear Mountain |
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| Bear Mountain Bridge |
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Rich person's house tucked away in
the hills |
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| Bridges at Bear Mountain |
We passed West Point Military Academy on the port side. The buildings form a huge wall over the water. We plan to visit later in the week.
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| West Point |
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| West Point |
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| West Point |
The first year cadets were climbing all over the hills on some sort of maneuvers. We spotted a few tucked in here and there. They sort of blend into the forest, which I guess is the idea for a soldier.
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| Some sort of fun happening here. |
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| Evidently Air Force is more important to beat than Navy!! |
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| Look quick. What is that in the trees? |
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A soldier doing something important
in the woods |
Then we pulled into Newburgh.
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Newburgh - the George Washington
Monument |
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| approaching Newburgh Marina |
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| Newburgh Marina is at the foot of the Newburgh Bridge |
We pulled into Newburgh city marina and tied up. We looked like a giant among run abouts and small boats. The docks were rickety and old and only about 6 inches above the water or that is how it felt. We walked single file in the center of the dock to avoid falling in the fast moving and filthy Hudson River.
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Kermit chatting with a couple who had no intention
of helping and could care less about some dopy transients. |
As we walked we remarked how odd this was, not like any other place we’ve been. We got to the gate and stopped. The gate was locked! Both sides. You couldn’t get in or out without a key! Closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Kermit found a couple sitting by the jet ski pads. They said, yup, it is locked. No offer to help. No suggestions for next steps. Just, yup, it is locked. Ok. Imagine ensuring that every docker has a key! Dick Henry would really hate this idea!
So we waved at the restaurant and took pictures, then moseyed down the road to West Shore Marina in Marlboro NY north of Newburgh and south of Hyde Park.
Everyone we met at this marina was nice. Not a clunker in the group. The two guys who work there were very helpful. The forward toilet has been giving us problems so we seldom use it. I know you are sick of hearing about our stupid toilets. But we think about boat repair all the time.
Our sons and their girlfriends will be with us over a weekend this fall so toilets become very important. The main guy, we will call him Joe (I am embarrassed to say we didn’t catch his name – really embarrassed because he is a great guy) took a look. Yup, the macerater is shot. We need a new toilet. Ok, so if you are keeping score you know we have:
· New toilet aft in Fort Pierce FL
· New plumbing from aft and forward toilets to holding tank in Fort Pierce FL and Mackinaw, respectively
· Rebuilt forward toilet at Dog River in Mobile AL
So naturally we got a new toilet in Marlboro NY for $615. We are thrilled! If you stand too close you could get sucked in!! Just what we want.
Joe got a big surprise when he changed out the toilet. The hose was tough to get out. Finally the connection shattered like glass. Evidently while in the ocean an oyster farm planted itself in our toilet! The connection looked like plaque built up inside. Joe said it looked like crustaceans lived in our toilet.
So we learned a valuable lesson.
1. Don’t pull toilet water from the ocean.
2. Don’t dock in an oyster farm like York River Yacht Haven for an extended period of time.
3. We need to add a 10 gallon fresh water holding tank for toilet intake instead of pulling water from the sea to flush the toilet. Eliminate crustacean problems and reduces odor that comes from standing salt water.
Joe’s colleague, we will call him Tom (again totally embarrassed – they are great people and deserve to have us remember their real names) popped his head out the window of an old boat he was working on to suggest some interesting stuff we should see. We hit most of the places on his list.
Here is the plan:
Wednesday: pick up a car, go for ice cream, and relax with dinner at the marina grill
Thursday: go south to Kykuit in Tarrytown, Nyack, and West Point with dinner at the grill (this is the day it rained really bad)
Friday: go north to Hyde Park to visit Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt homes, Vanderbilt mansion, and Culinary Institute then dinner and music at Live at Falcon to see Bucky Pizzerelli, a famous old guitarist I love.
More on the visits coming up next.
Notice how rural and mountainous it looks here? That is because it is. Not many people, a bit of industry, and some old towns. Really rich people live in huge mansions up the river surrounded by the work-a-day folks who used to work in the factories. Now it is pretty depressed, just like any of the communities we saw along the inland rivers.
The Bear Mountain Bridge is one of a few bridges over smaller rivers that makes a great photo!!
It looked like disaster struck this marina. Like one of those movies where the second coming of Christ pulls all the saved souls into heaven leaving only the sinners to deal with the new world. Like the boaters just dropped everything and left. We saw open bottles of pop and beer, meals left out, open bags of chips, garbage bags open on the docks, doors and curtains open on boats. It was rat heaven waiting to happen. Or maybe it already happened. We were creeped out.
The people who work and dock here are really nice. Some of the nicest we’ve met. They had a nice shelter with gas grills and picnic tables. We cooked out twice, once in a total downpour!! It was very soothing to hear the wild rain pounding on the shelter roof and remain dry with a bottle of wine on a Friday night. All is well in the world. But we peaked too early and missed talking to the nice folks that night. We must learn to pace ourselves better.
The people who work and dock here are really nice. Some of the nicest we’ve met. They had a nice shelter with gas grills and picnic tables. We cooked out twice, once in a total downpour!! It was very soothing to hear the wild rain pounding on the shelter roof and remain dry with a bottle of wine on a Friday night. All is well in the world. But we peaked too early and missed talking to the nice folks that night. We must learn to pace ourselves better.
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