Another very enjoyable day in New York. We went to 8:00 Mass at Holy Name of Mary and then breakfast at the Black Cow Coffee Co. (cute place - good food and coffee).
Off to West Point and what an interesting place to tour. We rode a bus with Mary as our tour guide (she was awesome) and pointed out so many landmarks as we were passing by. We had 27 in our group. Then we got out and did a leisurely walk about 1/2 hour seeing more and hearing so much history and the entire time we are in the thee most beautiful setting high above the Hudson River.
Looking north up the Hudson River
Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity at West Point
We visited the Museum after the tour which is the largest military museum in the country.
Tomorrow we will be moving on north and cruising past West Point. It is the first day of classes for the new school year.
Okay.....off to lunch as we are heading to New Paltz. We rely on Trip Advisor so much and once again, it did not disappoint as we put in food along our route. We had thee most fabulous lunch in thee most beautiful setting at the Stone King Tavern on the Stone King Golf Course in
Cornwall, NY.
18th green and our view during lunch
New Paltz, here we come! Just like yesterday, so much traffic, but we lucked out and got a parking spot fairly quickly. Mark was reading a book on my kindle, so he was off to find a coffee shop (several of those in town + a Starbucks which was unusual since we didn't see other chains). I later met him at The Commissary (very funky coffee shop) and had a
lavender lemonade - funky drink, too!
I walked up and down several streets - it is so unique and old (founded in 1678). Most of the shops are kind of funky (not the usual cute boutiques and gift stores). Lots of restaurants and just about any ethnic origin you could think of ! Many people strolling around and a neat place to check out.
Really glad we came and Mark got some more brownie points.
We were in parts of this area in 2011 with Philip and Annette on Catrina. At that time we had dinner at the Culinary Institute of America and toured the FDR home (including Eleanor's beautiful gardens), and the Vanderbilt mansion. It was almost the exact same time of year! At that time, we picked the kids up in Albany and went south to NYC.
2 things we've consistently found in these little towns the past few days....they ALL have their yoga studio and there are many antique stores up here! Came upon 2 more towns with "kill" today - Wallkill and Plattekill.
We arrived back on Catrina around 5 after stopping for a few groceries. Sure have enjoyed the past 2 days - perfect weather, lots of history to soak up and breathtaking scenery!
And of course, great eating!
So, tomorrow is the big Eclipse and Mark heard a few days ago that Carbondale, IL (home of Southern Illinois University and alma mater to Philip, Annette and Ryan) will be one of the best locations to watch the eclipse. This morning on the weather channel, they were reporting from SIU and said they were expecting 250,000 people and the 16,000 seats in the Saluki football stadium were all sold out! Hotel rooms have been rented for FIVE years!
Anne told us classes were to start tomorrow, but been postponed a day!
Liam's Corpus Christi varsity baseball team is off to a great start and last night took the championship trophy home in a tournament!
6-0
Tomorrow we will leave Croton-on-Hudson and head to Kingston where we hope to be settled and wait for the eclipse!
Off to West Point and what an interesting place to tour. We rode a bus with Mary as our tour guide (she was awesome) and pointed out so many landmarks as we were passing by. We had 27 in our group. Then we got out and did a leisurely walk about 1/2 hour seeing more and hearing so much history and the entire time we are in the thee most beautiful setting high above the Hudson River.
West Point is the oldest military college in the country and has approximately 4000 cadets. It sits high above the Hudson Valley and covers 25 square miles and 16,000 acres. We have now visited 3 of the 5 military institutions (Naval Academy in Annapolis and Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs). The Merchant Marines are located in Kings Point, NY
and the Coast Guard Academy is in New London, CT.
Mary talked about so many interesting facts but one in particular was that after graduation in May the seniors fling their caps high in the air (this is a fairly common trend), but the cadets do not want them back and the tradition is for the children to come out on the field and take a hat for a souvenir. The cadet usually puts his/her name inside and may leave a small toy, candy or $. We all thought that was very sweet.
We visited the Museum after the tour which is the largest military museum in the country.
Tomorrow we will be moving on north and cruising past West Point. It is the first day of classes for the new school year.
Okay.....off to lunch as we are heading to New Paltz. We rely on Trip Advisor so much and once again, it did not disappoint as we put in food along our route. We had thee most fabulous lunch in thee most beautiful setting at the Stone King Tavern on the Stone King Golf Course in
Cornwall, NY.
New Paltz, here we come! Just like yesterday, so much traffic, but we lucked out and got a parking spot fairly quickly. Mark was reading a book on my kindle, so he was off to find a coffee shop (several of those in town + a Starbucks which was unusual since we didn't see other chains). I later met him at The Commissary (very funky coffee shop) and had a
lavender lemonade - funky drink, too!
I walked up and down several streets - it is so unique and old (founded in 1678). Most of the shops are kind of funky (not the usual cute boutiques and gift stores). Lots of restaurants and just about any ethnic origin you could think of ! Many people strolling around and a neat place to check out.
Really glad we came and Mark got some more brownie points.
We were in parts of this area in 2011 with Philip and Annette on Catrina. At that time we had dinner at the Culinary Institute of America and toured the FDR home (including Eleanor's beautiful gardens), and the Vanderbilt mansion. It was almost the exact same time of year! At that time, we picked the kids up in Albany and went south to NYC.
2 things we've consistently found in these little towns the past few days....they ALL have their yoga studio and there are many antique stores up here! Came upon 2 more towns with "kill" today - Wallkill and Plattekill.
We arrived back on Catrina around 5 after stopping for a few groceries. Sure have enjoyed the past 2 days - perfect weather, lots of history to soak up and breathtaking scenery!
And of course, great eating!
So, tomorrow is the big Eclipse and Mark heard a few days ago that Carbondale, IL (home of Southern Illinois University and alma mater to Philip, Annette and Ryan) will be one of the best locations to watch the eclipse. This morning on the weather channel, they were reporting from SIU and said they were expecting 250,000 people and the 16,000 seats in the Saluki football stadium were all sold out! Hotel rooms have been rented for FIVE years!
Anne told us classes were to start tomorrow, but been postponed a day!
Liam's Corpus Christi varsity baseball team is off to a great start and last night took the championship trophy home in a tournament!
Tomorrow we will leave Croton-on-Hudson and head to Kingston where we hope to be settled and wait for the eclipse!
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