A Day at the Museums

Day 20  |  Kingston

We got in a good walk to start the day. We crossed the Wurts Street Bridge which soars above Rondout Creek. It was a clear morning and the line of boats and docks stretched as far as the eye could see. We returned to "our side" of the creek and expanded our exploration to the comfortable boundaries of town -- freeways on one end, questionable neighborhoods on the other two. There are no concrete sidewalks in Kingston. Walkways are made of locally-mined bluestone slabs with tight, even seams. Details on buildings identify other industries of Kingston's past such as the ironworks.

Barry's aunt and uncle called to say they wouldn't be able to make lunch, so we set out to visit two local museums. The first was the Hudson River Maritime Museum, featuring model boats, nautical artifacts, local interest vessels (I had never seen ice sailing boats before), quite a few bells to ring, and a restoration shop. There are a few tugboats and two PT boats that are in line for rehab.

Our second destination was the Trolley Museum of New York. Our admission ticket put us on a vintage trolley that took us on a loop through town and out to the Hudson River's bank with a good view of the Rondout Lighthouse which we saw yesterday as we entered town.

We enjoyed our time onboard and traveling through the woods and wetlands. Barry was content to sit in his seat, the two young boys I befriended and I found it much better to lean out the windows and take it all in.

The Trolley Museum had several other cars on their grounds that were open for tours, including one of two surviving cars from a seven-car train that survived the 9/11 World Trade Center collapse (below left). What was most interesting was all the advertising on the interior of the car was intact from the day of its final run. Appealing to the former printshop owners in us were three identical placards introducing the revolutionary Canon ImageRunner 5000.

We finished our tour and headed back to Crossroads. She was in desperate need of a bath so we pulled out the cleaning supplies and hit all the spots we could reach. I put a new coat of wax on the transom and it made a huge difference. Waxing is a on-going project and I do a little bit at a time. Eventually it will all get done and then it will be time to start over again.

While at the Maritime Museum we found a copy of The Little Red Lighthouse in the gift shop and had to pick it up. Barry, who is not much of a reader, pulled it out and took a walk down memory lane.

We had dinner onboard, walked the promenade once more at sunset, and took out the trash. We'll leave early in the morning. As I write this entry, Barry is working on Plans A, B, and C for tomorrow as we move on up the Hudson River towards Albany. We're trying to find an anchorage, but there are not many spots on the Hudson. I guess we're spoiled with the multitude of great anchorages on the Chesapeake.