Even though we have lived in New York State for over 30 years, we have never taken the time to explore the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains.  Our vacations always tended to take us west from Rochester.  This was the time to rectify that.

Hudson Valley

We started out in the Poughkeepsie and New Paltz area…roughly.  We were actually at a campground off to the west that you had to go over the Shawangunk Mountains to get to.  It was definitely a scenic trip between the campground and the Hudson River.  But after traveling it 3 days in a row, we were getting sick of all the curves!

The view from a scenic lookout on the curvy road to get to our campground.

Another view from our curvy drive over the mountain to get to the campground.

Just down the road from our campground, the World’s Largest Garden Gnome. Seriously.  Janelle and Laura…take note!

Perusing the travel literature and websites, I found something called Walkway Over the Hudson.  It is an abandoned railroad bridge that goes over the Hudson River.  Someone had the brilliant idea to turn it into a pedestrian walkway.  Cool!  Then I discovered Rail Trails.  These are old railroad beds that have been turned into walking and biking paths.  They are fairly level and this particular one was paved.  That there defined our first day’s outing.  We put the bikes on the Jeep, drove to the starting point of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, and rode our bikes 5 miles to the bridge over the Hudson River.  This is honestly the best bike ride I have had in years.

The Hudson Valley Rail Trail! This is my kind of bike path. Notice how this portion of the route was carved out of the rocks for trains to get through.

Walkway over the Hudson. 1/2 mile long!

Looking north at the Hudson River.

The Walkway over the Hudson.

On the Walkway over the Hudson!

This is the pedestrian bridge from down below.

West Point aka the United States Military Academy is also in the area.  So that was another day’s destination.  The only way to see the place is to take a bus tour.  The only building you are allowed in is the Protestant Chapel.  But you got to walk around the memorials on the grounds a bit, so it was interesting.  There was no interaction with the cadets, but that is probably the way it should be.  There is also the West Point Museum.  Anyone who loves military history would love visiting that.

West Point from up high.

West Point’s architecture is in the style of Military Gothic.

Inside the West Point Chapel.

Another day we visited Hyde Park.  This jam packed day included three stops.

1 – Vanderbilt Mansion.  Built by one of the more frugal Vanderbilts, this home was luxurious, but not huge.  We were told the owner’s non-frugal brother was responsible for building Biltmore in North Carolina (much bigger…America’s largest home).  Here, we stepped back into the days of the Robber Barons.

Outside of the Vanderbilt Mansion. The ramp is temporary while the steps are being repaired.

A little elaborate!

When the family was not home, all the furniture was covered with custom covers. Being a sewer, I’m impressed at the amount of work it took to make these covers for EVERY stick of furniture.

2 – CIA.  This is not the spy agency, but the Culinary Institute of America.  We had lunch reservations at their Italian restaurant, Caterina de’ Medici.  Students of the CIA cook the food and serve as wait staff.  The CIA restaurants are very popular and the restaurant was full.  The food was OK, but honestly, we have had better meals elsewhere for less money.  We were a tad disappointed.

Caterina de’ Medici Restaurant at the CIA…and student chefs crossing the road.

This sign was at all the crosswalks at the CIA. Notice the chef’s hat on the pedestrian!

Lunch at the CIA!

Desert at the CIA. Lava Cake and Hazelnut Sorbet.

3 – Springwood.  This is the life long home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The house is no where as ostentatious as the Vanderbilt’s house (his neighbors).  It was interesting to get a glimpse into how FDR lived and to walk the halls where dignitaries such as Winston Churchill Queen Elizabeth had been.  The FDR Presidential Library is also on the grounds.  That was very interesting.  But by this time both of us were tired after a long day of walking, walking, walking.  So we didn’t give the library the time it deserved.

FDR’s house.

FDR’s parlor and one of his wheelchairs.

Corinne discussing the impact of social media with FDR and Eleanor.

FDR was the first to state the Four Freedoms (Speech, Worship, Want, Fear). This art piece outside the Presidential Library honors those Four Freedoms and is made from pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Western Catskills

The Columbus Day weekend was now upon us and it was also Fall Break for Janelle.  So we cooked up a plan where our friend Mary Ellen would pack up her tent camper, pick up Janelle, and the four of us spend the long weekend exploring the western side of the Catskill Mountains.

There is a winery/brewery trail that leads you up to Cooperstown and back.  So us girls did that one day.

Three girls taking a selfie on the Cooperstown Wine Trail!

Grapes anyone? A lot of growers lost vines during last winter’s harsh conditions.

We also discovered that was a Fall Festival at one of the local ski resorts.  So we visited that and rode the chair lift up to the top of the ski hill.  What a view!  We just sat there and soaked in the fall foliage.  Honestly we could not have had better weather.

Going back down on the chairlift

Ahhhh….the scenery…with Janelle and Mary Ellen.

Mary Ellen found there was an Audubon Society wildlife sanctuary nearby.  We paid it a visit, bringing Janelle’s bug collecting paraphernalia with us.  She is taking Biology of Insects class and has to put together a bug collection.  It was actually fun tracking down all the critters.  I give Janelle credit for being able to tell one species of grasshopper from another!

Mary Ellen and Janelle searching for insects!

We stayed at a campground that was on the Ouleout Creek.  Mary Ellen had a campsite creekside.  What a way to finish off a day.  A glass of wine, a warm fall day, and a babbling creek.

Janelle hunting bugs along the stream in our campground.

We are now in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area.  We’ll spend a week here and then it’s time to put the Blue Flame in storage for the winter.  So I suspect this is my last blog post for a while….maybe.  But come late January/early February, we will be on the road again, heading south out of the snow!  I can’t wait to see more of the sites of the Southwest.