Man, this time, my “something new” was so rough. I took a trip to Cold Spring, New York, to visit two close friends at their getaway home. In the past, I’ve stayed with them in Manhattan, but for years they’ve been trying to get me to come see their little, historical house in the Hudson River valley. But the things that were required for this trip were above and beyond the call of duty for an adventure. We’re talking a comfortable bus ride and nap, a beautiful and relatively short train ride along a river valley, the wander of a quaint village in the Hudson highlands, great conversation with friends, antiquing, watching an outdoor movie on the shore of the Hudson river with mountains as the backdrop, hiking in the woods, and having the incredible pleasure of partaking of my friends’ gourmet cooking. Rough, I tell you, rough. I almost feel like I should try two ‘something new’s’ next week to make up for this trip.
Besides the wonderful time catching up with friends, it was an incredible introduction to the Hudson valley – the beauty of which I did not anticipate at all.
Some added thoughts about this trip:
1. First, a shout-out to Vamoose bus line, which is an express bus from DC to Penn Station, NYC. I want to thank you for holding my ticket for three and a half years, after I had to cancel for a work emergency. That was just plain nice.
2. Traveling up the Hudson river by train is absolutely beautiful, of which I have no pictures, but you can get a sense from the pictures above.
3. West Point Academy is just south of Cold Spring, on the other side of the river. It looks like a fortress. The constant soft boom of artillery fire over the weekend, apparently due to training exercises, was a constant reminder that the world is not at peace, despite how many lovely, friendly, village communities exist.
4. Take twice the water you think you’ll need on a hiking trip.
5. There is history here, unlike so many other places – you know, shopping malls. History helps put things in perspective, and shows that things do change over time. Examples here were the beautiful houses, but also the historic cemetery, and the West Point Foundry – once the site of the foundry for the parrot guns, which helped change the tide of the Civil War. West Point Foundry is now a preserve of woods and streams. Adjoining is the Marathon Battery Company Superfund site, a “reclaimed” site (see various images) that should never be built on again (although apparently someone doesn’t mind building right across the road from a portion of it, now a meadow.)
Time now to recover from this “exhausting” trip. 🙂 Except, first, more photos of beautiful lights.
Note: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/fiveyear/f03-02019.pdf
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