A quick get-away from the dock at 6:30 put us into the Hudson River and heading north. In this area the river makes many twists and turns and surprises can lurk just around the corner. There wasn't much vessel traffic so we were mainly looking for architectural surprises. The first one we saw was the Bear Mountain Bridge -- the same one we drove over two days before. There was a steady stream of early rush hour traffic flowing above our heads.
We saw several barges being pushed by tugboats. Most were loaded with sand or gravel. The train traffic was both continuous and unbelievable. The freight trains travel up the western shore and seem to stretch on for a mile. They appeared to alternate between northbound and southbound destinations. Passenger traffic follows along the eastern shore and is handled by the local Metro-North and regional Amtrak.
The United States Military Academy at West Point is quite impressive from the water. From our tour we knew the grounds were expansive, but the overall presence is far grander when viewed from the water. At this point the Hudson River is guarded by steep stone wall faces and the channel is navigable almost from shore to shore.
Once we passed West Point, the sights got more interesting. Bannerman's Island Arsenal is located in the middle of the river. The Corning Glass Museum was operating a glass blowing demonstration barge near Poughkeepsie. Just passing it brought back great memories of the egg-, flower-, and pumpkin-blowing workshops that I took part in prior to departure. As noon approached and we were eating our turkey sandwiches, we passed the Culinary Institute of America sitting impressively on a bluff overlooking the river ... and chuckled at our gourmet cuisine.
The craziest thing we saw today was a seaplane landing southbound on the river behind us. It definitely surprised us, but I got one shot of it before it crossed behind Crossroads and did a touch-and-go, heading back up. The Mount Academy stood out for its glistening golden towers. The day's pleasant surprise award goes to the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse. This well-preserved and charming lighthouse sits in the middle of the Hudson to warn mariners of the mud flats. The freshly-painted white and red facade shone brightly in the mid-day sun.
As we moved further north, the current shifted from with us in the morning to against us as we neared our destination of Kingston. Before we turned into Rondout Creek, we were fighting a 2 knot current as we had to do a tight turn to port and enter into a small channel bounded by jetties on each side. The Rondout Lighthouse sat on the northern jetty. We travelled a short distance past the Maritime Museum and its tug boat restoration to tie up at the town dock right in the middle of the action. It is a vibrant place with a lot of foot traffic, several restaurants, and Kingston Point Park. Tonight there is a classic rock cover band performing and I sat on Fiberglass Beach just listening and enjoying the evening.
Tomorrow we will explore the town, meet Barry's aunt and uncle for lunch, and then visit the Maritime Museum. We've been told that stops like this are the norm as we go further north and into Canada. I hope so. This has been fun.
Love the pics of lighthouses. U r having so much fun I can tell
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