Leg #7 - 5/6/14 to 5/14/14 -- Port Washington, NY to Albany, NY

Last week Cierra and I flew to Long Island, rented a car and came to spend five days in New York.  We had a great adventure going into Manhattan for three days.  We had to catch the bus to the train station (since we couldn’t get a permit to park anywhere nearby), took the LII train into the city and ventured about.  We shopped and found a new graduation dress at the overwhelming Macy’s, saw a Broadway adaptation of Cinderella, met Carolyn Gray for dinner one night, took the Hop-On and Hop-Off bus one day, walked through Central Park, visited the Statue of Liberty and several churches, ate meals and ate junk, walked the High-Line, took the subway a couple of times, & 

walked, walked and walked.  She knocked one off of her young to-do list.

 
Ken and I flew in to Long Island on May 6, rented a car and drove to Port Washington stopping at Whole Foods and for lunch in Rosyln.  We put everything away, filled the boat with water and fuel, and Ken met with Steve about the boat repair list.  We left the bay the next morning at 9:05 hoping to make it to Poughkeepsie.  We took the Harlem River shortcut which bypasses Manhattan and cuts off about ten miles.  The view is somewhat less impressive than going around Battery Park and Lower Manhattan.  We traveled under about 10 bridges-- the last one being the Spuyten Duyvil Railroad Swing Bridge which we had to request an opening.  We were quickly allowed passage and were heading north on the Hudson.  Immediately when you enter the Hudson you see the Pallisades.  They are beautiful cliffs on the west side of the river.
It is a beautiful  trip with many towns visible on the banks.  The variation of the buildings and the different areas is so noticeable.  There are areas of extremely large apartment buildings and then massive single family houses perfectly placed up on the hill.
We passed by West Point on the way.  It is amazing to see from the river.  The buildings are so massive and have the character of an old castle.

We made it Poughkeepsie early enough to walk into town for dinner after tying up at the Shadows Marina.  We ate at Mahoney’s Pub down on the waterfront and across from the train station.

The next morning Ken was picked up by Enterprise and came back with a car.  We took off to the town of Rhinebeck for breakfast and a short walk.
The area where the Vanderbilt Mansion, the FDR Homestead and the Culinary Institute are located is known as Hyde Park.  We drove to the Vanderbilt Mansion and took a tour of that magnificent house on an even more magnificent property overlooking the Hudson River.  They describe this property as “one of America’s premier examples of the country palaces built by wealthy industrialists during the Guilded Age.

 
After that tour we headed south and took a tour of the FDR Homestead.  The buildings on the Springwood estate were much less grand but the history reminder was worthy of the time.

Freedom Sculpture at the FDR Museum made by Churchill's granddaughter from the Berlin Wall.

Culinary Institue of America, Hyde Park, NY from the water

We then went to the Apple Pie Bakery and Café at the Culinary Institute of America for a late lunch plus some dessert.  It was interesting to ask the student workers questions about their studies and situation at the Institute.

After our very touristy day, we went back to the boat for some downtime and walked up to the restaurant at the Shadows sitting right above our boat for a late dinner.
In the morning, we took off early for breakfast at the Fiddlesticks Café in Cornwall.  It was on our way to take a tour of West Point Military Academy.  We took one of tours of the sprawling facility, its’ many beautiful and old buildings with all of its history and charm.

Afterward, we headed over to the Storm King Art Center which is a 500 acre outdoor sculpture park with over 100 sculptures.  The massive pieces placed throughout the park make a striking display.  We hopped on the tram and listened to the narrative of this park that has been growing over the last 60 years.

.

On our way back to the boat, we traveled through Newburg.  We had lunch at the waterfront which is very nice with a multitude of restaurant opportunities.  The city itself looked very depressed and rough.  Back at the boat, we rested so that we can be ready for dinner at the American Bounty Restaurant at the CIA tonight.  I had made a reservation on line last week.

My dessert !!

The dinner menu at the CIA was interesting and the service was excellent.  The presentation of their food was exceptional.  We have eaten at culinary schools before but decided that we need to make a special effort to search them out in our travels.

On Saturday morning, we decided to take a short ride to the town of Beacon and check it out.  We ate at a nice little café, Nature’s Bounty, and looked in a few windows.  This town is worth a visit as it has been able to re-establish itself after quite a decline.  The DIA: Beacon (art institute)was established in an abandoned Nabisco factory here a few years back.  This evidently brought artists here to live and work and has helped revitalize the town.  It’s directly across the river from Newburg and there’s a ferry between the two cities.
Back to the boat—well, really to return the car and take a taxi back to the boat.  I’m sure everything sounds faster and easier when I write it in this journal.  We are only going about 30 miles today so we are not in any hurry.  We took off from Shadows and headed north up the Hudson.

Everywhere you look on this portion of the river is majestic.  There are so many large buildings—mansions, schools, university campuses, religious compounds, up on the banks of the Hudson.  The view in all directions is always spectacular.

There are several beautiful lighthouses on this leg.

Roundout Lighthouse on the entry from the Hudson River into Roundout Creek

We arrived at the Kingston Maritime Museum in early afternoon.  The dockmaster and staff greeted us and we discussed last year’s Looper experience.  A group of boaters stayed here for an extended period of time waiting for the canals to open after the flooding of 2013.  This is where some Loopers who had planned on traveling the Erie Canal decided to take the Champlain Route instead.  This route is the one we have planned for our journey.
We had a beautiful day in Kingston finally seeing the sun.  We sat out back and enjoyed the river traffic. Of course, we ate lunch and dinner at local eateries.  I’m not sure why we buy groceries.  We eat on the boat when we are moving but the lure of new restaurants is something we both fall for. We visited the Marine Museum with the marina where we docked.  They have an extensive inventory of marine artifacts from the Hudson Valley.  We also took the old Trolly out to the point, listened to more interesting history of this area and then visited the Trolly Museum.  We had a nice dinner at Ship to Shore and left early in the morning for Catskill for a pump repair.
We had an easy ride north to Catskill on a beautiful and sunny day.  Riverview Marina's owner, Mike, was very accommodating with a repair to our water pump.  Fixed and in a slip shortly after arriving--then off to find lunch.  This was really a slow and lazy day, mainly because there wasn't anything that we could possibly find to do.  In the evening, we walked to have a nice outside dinner on the point.  Later Ken helped a Canadian man, son and daughter figure out how to find a place to tie up for the night near our boat. They were bringing a newly purchased boat to Montreal and didn't spoke very little English. We also met up and shared bits of advice with them before they left in the morning.
We took off from Catskill very early and headed to our layover marina in Albany.  We are docked at the Albany Yacht Club just south and on the east side of the Hudson before noon.  We will keep the boat here until we return in early June.