Back online again

Much has happened since the last blog... We have been without internet for several days, so I'll get you caught up:

First of all, the Hudson River is gorgeous! It reminds me so much of Norway - the mountains rise right up out of the water, which is quite deep. Off and on we have gone through areas where there was a great deal of debris in the water, so Steve has had to pay close attention. It has been great to share all this with Diane and Joe.

We went to West Point while we were at Croton-on-Hudson. It was a short car ride from the marina to West Point. We took a two-hour bus tour of the school and grounds, with some stops along the way. The museum off-campus was very interesting. After our tour, we had lunch at a local diner on Main Street. The food was fabulous!

Yesterday we traveled to Hyde Park in the rain and had dinner on the boat. Just as we were turning in, a ship went by at 17 knots and rocked the boat like crazy! Other ships or barges passed by during the night, but none of them kicked up the wake that the first boat did.

Today we went to the Franklin Roosevelt home and Presidential Library/Museum - a great tour with a wonderful tour guide. Afterward, we went to the Culinary Institute of America (the "good" CIA, as they call it) and had lunch in one of their five restaurants. As you might expect the food was amazing! It poured all morning as we were doing our sightseeing, but we had a great time anyway.

We returned to the boat after lunch and cruised on up to Kingston, NY. This will be a really cool place to check out, once the rain stops. It was first settled by the Dutch in the late 1600s and has quite a few buildings from the 1600-1700s. We will report on this later. Tonight our friends Jerry and Jenny (from Sweetgrass), and some friends they met from Canada, will join us for cocktails.

We would like to welcome Rebecca and Christopher back from their European tour! Hopefully they will get to join us in a few weeks...

In the visitor's center

Outside the main chapel

Molly Pitcher's grave

The chapel for the cemetary

This was the plaque for Benedict Arnold - they erased his name

The dorm building with chapel in the background

Diane and Joe at West Point

Beth and Steve at West Point

Andy's Diner - a very cool little place

Just some random shots of the Hudson

A good bit of large debris floating

West Point from the water

Also West Point from the water

Also West Point from the water

We think this is the island where Benedict Arnold was imprisoned

There are more of these traveling the Hudson than we expected

At the FDR Visitor's center

FDR's birthplace and home

The stables at FDR's home

The view from the rear of the house

The gravesites of Franklin and Eleanor. They are plain mounds in front of the monument, which has both their names on it. His grave has a flag in it.

Diane thought this was "cute"

At the Culinary Institute of America

One of their herb gardens

I've always thought so

The Culinary Institute main building

The CIA from the river

The lighthouse coming into Kingston