CROTON on the HUDSON to KINGSTON / Sunday, June 5 to Tuesday, June 7 (Day 136-138)

Admiral's Log:     8:25 am, Sun. 6/5/16
                         Air Temp:   66     Water Temp:   68
                        Winds:   8 mph
                        Speed:   9 knots with current

We are heading to Kingston New York today. Tomorrow we are renting a car to tour West Point Academy and Hyde Park NY; to the Culinary Institute, FDR home and one of the 40 Vanderbilt homes.

Along the way we passed 3 lighthouses; two really cool ones. We could see West Point and the Culinary Institute from the water. 

Rondout Lighthouse

Stony Point 

Esopus, last wooden lighthouse on the Hudson

Bannerman's Castle, was originally built to store surplus ammo, then he added a residence. An explosion pretty much destroyed most of the structure in 1920. Now it is part of the Parks Service of New York.

West Point by water, very Gothic looking.

The Thayer Hotel, considered the "father of West Point"

We are blue dot passing FDR home

Passing the Vanderbilt Mansion via water

Crew race

Sailing Regatta in the rain

Love the colorful sails!

We arrived at Kingston Yacht Basin at 1:45.  Soon after Chica arrived for just one night. Since it was a rainy day, we stayed in, did a little cleaning and laundry, and made Pad Thai with some shrimp we had in the freezer, which turned out pretty good.

Monday, we said good-bye again to Chica and drove an hour to West Point. Unlike the Naval Academy, we could not just walk around campus. We had to take a tour bus. Our guide was an Army wife; she was very informative and seemed to enjoy her job. 

West Point was built as a post during the Revolutionary War in 1778. The academy was added in 1802. The architecture is called Military Gothic Style.
Three generations of the Grant Family have attended West Point, along with George Washington, George S. Patton, Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur.

Military Gothic Architecture

The chapel. The hymnals are perfectly lined up

Largest pipe organ in the world, over 23 thousand pipes!

Civil War Memorial, you can't see really well, but there are green cannons buried upside down,
which represents the ending of wars. If they are buried they can not be used again in war.

This is all that's left of "The Great Chain". It was part of a chain boom stretched across the Hudson at West Point during the Revolutionary War as a defense against the British.

By the time we got back ,Phase II and Cutty's Ark had arrived. So we had docktails and had wings delivered for dinner.

Tuesday, Lori and Dave and their friend Pat of Phase II, joined us for a tour of FDR home and the Vanderbilt home, then to the Culinary Institute for dinner. Hyde Park is only about 30 minutes away. We went to the FDR home first for a 2 hour tour.

"Springwood" was purchased in 1867, was quite modest compared to the neighboring Vanderbilt's.
Then went to his Presidential Library. It was interesting that he told his heirs that when he died he wanted everything left exactly the same, so visitors felt he could come in the door any time. There were open books, a Parcheesi game half played, even clothes left hanging in his closet.

Clothes still in the closet

Family room, wheel chair on the left. He would use a regular chair, cut off the legs and add wheels, that way it looked like he was a normal healthy man.

His wheelchair in the home elevator

Elenore's Room

FDR's Room

Grounds of FDR House

Rear of FDR House

Front of FDR House

Mike, me, Lori & Dave from Phase II and their friend Pat

After tourining FDR's home and Library we decided we needed a little pick me up. We were told there was a cute diner down the road. It was like walking back in time. We all had appetizers and Lori and I got shakes, which were delicious by the way.

                                            

Next was the Vanderbilt Mansion. It was the smallest of the 40 Vanderbilt homes, but still a perfect example of the "Gilded Age". Pretty gaudy but that was the era. The Hyde Park home has  50,000 square feet compared to the Biltmore estate which has over 175,000. 

We had a malfunction with the camera and erased this day, so some of these photos I had to Google and some I got from Lori. Now, for some reason I can't add captions. So I will add here:  First of course is the front of the mansion. The second two are parlor and living rooms. Next is His room, then his "man cave". Finally, Her bedroom and one of their gardens.

The fellas admiring the Vanderbilt view

Pat and I doing our research...

We had reservations for dinner at the Culinary Institute's Italian Restaurant, Ristorante Caterina de' Medici for 6:45. We were a bit early so stopped in a Pub for a refreshment.
We did not walk  around the campus, but what we saw was beautiful! It was once a Jesuit school and was bought by the CIA in 1970. 

CIA on the left, Italian Restaurant on the right

Future chefs

In front of the entrance, the Hudson is straight ahead.

Goof balls...

There are four student run restaurants on the campus. They do everything from reservations, to cooking, serving and even a wine sommelier. We had a great experience, the food was awesome! Lori and I had risotto which we all agreed was the best. But Mike enjoyed lamb, Pat had gnoiocci and Dave had veal. We had a delicious appetizer of fresh asparagus on a pasta in a mascarpone cheese sauce, yummy! Mike ordered a Barolo wine which they said was one of the best they'd every tasted. Of course we had to have dessert. Tiramisu and ricotta cheesecake were fabulous. We could not say enough about this dining experience. If you have the chance you must go!