Up the Hudson

We left New York City on Sunday morning, about 8:30am. It was bright and sunny but not too hot. Perfect boating weather. Despite our touristing, we still have a list of stuff we didn’t do:

·        We didn’t go to a Broadway show. I really, really wanted to see Book of Mormon but tickets to a weekend matinee were $435 each. I thought it was a typo and that psychically the computer knew I wanted 2 tickets so I went back to test and entered 2 tickets and it came up $870. Nothing is worth that much. In fact I can make another list of the gazillion items I would like to spend $1000 on and it wouldn’t include 2 tickets to a Broadway show. Midweek evening tickets were marginally less at about $375 each. So no theatre for us.

·         Comedy shows were much more in our budget at about $20 or so each ticket. But we couldn’t stay awake long enough to get to a 9pm show. Darn that looper midnight! Plus the ferries to Liberty Landing and Paulus across the channel stopped running at 8:45pm so logistics of getting home seemed like a nightmare.

·         Blue Note and jazz clubs – see above.

·         Shakespeare in the Park – it rained on the best night for us to attend this open air theatre in Central Park. Plus see above.

·         Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and anything in Brooklyn – I really wanted to see what all the talk is about. I am not sure how we missed this one. No cost and logistics seemed doable. Just didn’t get round tuit. We drove under the Brooklyn Bridge. Does that count?

·          Riverside Park and St. John the Devine – I really wanted to see this magnificent cathedral. Kids from our church go there occasionally for retreats. But couldn’t handle the logistics. We also missed Columbia University or anything in Harlem.

·         A food tour – We enjoyed the Savannah food tour so much with Mike and Judy but no such luck in NYC.

I didn't know they made after market bow thrusters!
Have to get me one.

Maybe next time. I suspect we will pass this way again.

We gassed up and pumped out before leaving.

This little run about passed us while we were at the gas dock. Have you ever seen an aftermarket bow thruster on a run about? We have our own bow thruster of course - it goes bwwwwwww.... but this one is just special. Don't you think? Of course it is a Bayliner!! With fenders flapping and everything. All tricked out. 

We didn't even notice this cute little
waterfront bar till last night right across
the channel from Liberty Landing.
Another place to go next time. 

A last look leaving Liberty Landing 

I took my position in the front windows as we picked out sites in Manhattan and New Jersey.

It is a wide river but the water was pretty calm

Empire State Building in mid-town

Lots of the piers have disintegrated
so all you see are sticks

 Old piers line the NY side of the Hudson River. They each have numbers.

The New Jersey side

Old piers all along the 

Lots of density

Chelsea Pier - with marina and that driving range

Chelsea Pier Marina

We passed Chelsea Pier, we visited earlier in the week. We recognized it by that cool cloud-like building, the big driving range, and the yachts.

Chelsea Pier

the movie studio

Jet skiis running around the
Circle Line Tour

Next to Chelsea Pier is the movie studio where Law and Order and other shows are filmed. 

We encountered lots of little boats out for the day including jet skis running circles around the Circle Line Tour and kayaks. Who would take a kayak out in the middle of the Hudson River under any circumstances? I think it is crazy. We could hardly see these folks. Fortunately the one kayak is red in color.

This small boat was behaving like a crazy person, zipping in and out. After we exclaimed to each other what a jerk he was being, the cops pulled him over!! There is justice in the world 

Water cops pick up someone too
close to the shore

See the tourists?

Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum

Around 47th Street is the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. They have a tall ship, the air craft carrier Intrepid, and a bunch of planes including the space shuttle Enterprise. It looks like fun! Add another place to visit to the list. Nicholas Cage really jumped off the Intrepid during filming of "National Treasure". Remember that?

Space shuttle Enterprise

The Intrepid

Right next to the Intrepid is this huge
Norwegian Line cruise ship! How ironic!!

Chelsea Pier driving range

This marina is opposite mid-town
Manhattan right near a ferry

We noticed a bunch of other marinas in NJ that would have worked to get us closer to ferries in midtown and the upper west side.

New Jersey

New Jersey

On the NJ side we noted Hoboken and Union City where Katie Vellucci lives (we waved). This part of New Jersey is very pretty with lots of hills and trees. It looks like a nice place to live.

New Jersey opposite mid-town

New Jersey

All along we passed ferries and commercial traffic, less than on weekdays. Plus a bunch of pleasure boats. A bunch is a relative term. More than a few and less than lots. We haven’t been seeing many pleasure boats until now.

79th Street Marina - kind of bobby

Pleasure boats on the Hudson

We passed the 79th Street Marina, conveniently located near the big museums at Central Park. We watched those boats bob like corks. I don't think I would not like to stay there. On the other hand, it is much more convenient than Liberty Landing if you want to do anything at night. You just take a cab. You don't have to worry about ferry schedules. 

This is St. John the Devine, the one that looks church like.
On the left is a tower on the Columbia University campus. 

We saw the top of St. John the Devine and the top of landmark buildings at Columbia. I wanted to visit St. John the Devine but didn't get there. It sure is a magnificent structure.

It sits next to Riverside Park which is quite lovely, very green and not very city-like compared to waterside parks closer to town.

Under the George Washington Bridge and we are out of NYC proper. Did you know that the lower level of the George Washington Bridge is nicknamed Martha Washington? Now you know.

George Washington Bridge - leaving NYC

On NY side - damage from
Hurricane Sandy?

Coast Guard speeding ahead of us

Big party going on in this
yacht we spotted at Chelsea Pier

Work, work, work 

George Washington Bridge

See the double deckers? 

Close up of the double deckers

New Jersey  looks positively wild

Tiny little lighthouse under
George Washington Bridge

See the little tiny lighthouse?
That makes a all the difference, doesn't it? 

These look like homeless shelters
right along the river on the NY side

Entrance to the Harlem River

Under the George Washington Bridge is the entrance to the Harlem River. It is a bridge that turns to open. It is open in this photo - see the small boat passing through? You can take the Harlem River all the way to Hell's Gate on the East River where you can choose to continue south to the Battery and Liberty Landing or north to the Long Island Sound. We did neither. Rack up another adventure for the next time.

Looks like a good anchorage to me!! Next time...

Then the ferries fell away, boat traffic dwindled back to nothing. The NJ side turned to trees, hills, and finally the Palisades.

Say good-bye to NYC

Yonkers

On the NY side we passed Yonkers, famous for being the only one of the original six NYC cities that refused to become part of NYC and for a huge desegregation case it fought for years.

Rusty is not impressed. 

The last sign of New York is the Tappan Zee Bridge. The name is a reminder that this region was originally settled by the Dutch. I love this photo but the Tappan Zee is not a very pretty bridge. Plus it is "in restoro" as the Italians like to say - under construction.

A really pretty picture of the Tappan Zee Bridge

The entrance to the Tarrytown Marina

The breakwall is a half sunken barge

Pass immediately under the Tappan Zee and you are in Tarrytown, a close in suburb best known as Sleepy Hollow!! Washington Irving lived here.

Tarrytown is on the east side of the Hudson just past the Tappan Zee Bridge, the last connection to NYC metro area. Now you are in the country. It is a whole different world. Across the river is the cute town of Nyack. Mike and Judy recommended that we visit but the marina is not close to the town so we went to Tarrytown.

Good Karma in Tarrytown

Marinas look different here. Not nearly as nice. They appear to be more worn and dated. More wood docks, not composite. Out in the country like this the marinas are tacked on to the side of the river. Little marinas with maybe 2 or 3 guys trying to eke out a living with less than 100 boats in resident. Actually a 100 boat marina would be large along the river. We didn’t count but most were quite a bit less than 100 boats. 

Check out this marina - not very fancy - wooden fixed docks

Most marinas had lots of empty spaces and it isn’t because the boaters were out enjoying their boats. We think the slips are just not rented. Fewer people in boating due to the cost of living in general and fears about jobs.

The Tarrytown marina is one of those little down on the heels marinas with a nice guy running it and a few dock hands, mostly inexperienced. We arrived at about 2:30pm, tied up and walked the dog.

We rushed through these steps because we wanted to visit Kykuit (pronounced Key Cut), the Rockefeller family home.

It was not in walking distance so we needed to take the cab. To do this we had to walk to the metro tracks, up and over the metro tracks. We found a cab and got to Kykuit about 10 minutes after the last tour started so no go. And the guy was pretty rude about it too. No good karma there. And no tour today.

Lots to see in Tarrytown. We have to come back. 

We were pretty disappointed. Our plan had been to visit a bunch of these historical mansions and landmarks from the towns closest to them. We had to readjust the plan.

The cab took us back to town. The consolidation prize was the best ice cream to date. The BEST!! 

Growing herbs?

Yes, that dog is real. I want the
whole window!

Tarrytown Music Hall gets A and B list acts

The Tarrytown Music Hall

Everyone wants to eat in the
gangway

Of course a Dutch Reformed Church
in a Dutch town

Tarrytown is kind of surprising. It is old and kind of beat up. But it has a little theatre that attracts A and B list acts. Better acts than we have ever seen, especially for such a dumpy little town. Isn’t that odd? I guess it is the proximity to NYC. And seems like it has good food. At least this restaurant grows its own herbs right out front. 

Kermit handling the gas situation on his own

We got gas the next morning using a credit card at a 24 hour gas pump. Another odd thing!! The pump maxes out at $250 or 55 gallons of gas. Just enough to get us on the road. Pretty clever and very convenient.

Next: Newburgh and Marlboro NY