The “feels like” temperature on the trip today was always above 95 degrees. I’m sure it’s just as hot, if not hotter at home. I’m so glad that Doug fixed our ice maker. As you can see, CJ’s appreciative too. He enjoyed quite a few ice cubes and water on our trip today. We did run the generator while under way today so the interior of the boat didn’t get sweltering.
Our first bridge today was the Bear Mountain Bridge. Doug learns that the Appalachian Trail goes across this bridge. I had to text my friend Valerie to ask if she remembers the bridge, and she did! Not many people succeed in hiking through the AT, but Val has, way to go Val!
In the distance on top of a hill we see an old run down castle. The picture is not all that great, but we learn it was the inspiration of the Wicked Witch’s castle in Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. Watch out for flying monkeys!
Next we cruise past West Point. I’m glad we have many branches of the service fighting for our country. The Corps of Cadets produce strong men and women for the Army. However, being from a Navy family, all I can say is BEAT ARMY!!
I know I’m still pretty new with all this boating stuff, but doesn’t it appear that by the time you see the red marker on that rock it might be a little too late??? I’m really glad we have state of the art navigation tools on board.
We then pass by an abandoned island that once held Bannerman Castle. The island was used to defend America from the British in 1777. In 1900 the Bannerman family purchased island to store a vast amount of black powder. It took him 17 years to build the castle, mostly by himself. I think it’s grand that the castle is still standing but, like the witch’s castle above, it’s sad that it has fallen in such disrepair.
We went under the Newburgh-Beacon bridge. This one had all sorts of fun architecture, but it’s described as an articulated deck truss design. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds really impressive! There’s a north span and a south span that connect Orange and Dutchess counties.
Then came the Mid-Hudson Bridge and the Walkway Over the Hudson. Converted from a railway to a pedestrian bridge, the walkway is 212 feet over the Hudson River and about a mile and a quarter long. Our destination is just north of here, so if the weather cools off a bit we might walk it.
Guess where we had dinner. Okay, that was an easy one. We lucked out and got reservations to have dinner at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). This Institute has so many academic programs it’s not even funny, you’ll have to look them up online. The dinner was fabulous, but for me, it was almost as much fun talking to the students as it was enjoying our meal.
They have several dining experiences at the CIA to choose from. We had dinner at the American Bounty Restaurant. We got appetizers; Doug had the Beef dumpling soup, I had the Bounty’s butcher board. For dinner, Doug had the Halibut and I got the Heritage chicken.
The staff was so refreshingly attentive! Here we are with our servers, LeAnne and Ethan. After dinner Ethan gave us a tour of the kitchen and we even got to meet the “Chef.” His name is Timothy Ocasio, Chef Instructor. He was a very nice guy and we were flattered that he took the time at the end of his day to talk with us.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we zipped right on by the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors today. Can you imagine all the bad luck you’d get with one oops in there?!
Anyhow, not sure what tomorrow holds, but there are many things to choose from, so see you then!
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