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Joe, Dottie, Bill, me and at a campfire in Rondout Valley at New York's Cartskills |
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Carol on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion |
It is difficult to tell you stories about our trip to New
York. It was a dichotomy of rural and urban, traditional and modern,
agricultural and industrial. Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind prefers the
former.
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Yappy from MegaLink days! |
So this will be about
the less known part of New York (the Big Apple will be the subject of the next post) where we camped at the Rondout
Valley Resort which is the home park of good friends Joe and Dottie whom we met
early in 2010 in Florida. It is in a region of New York State called the
Catskills along the Hudson River Valley: pretty, hilly, cool, green, rural, and
serene. Upstate New York, it’s called!
And that’s where a friend of 12 years ago, Yappy, who now works in Manhattan preferred
to visit with us.
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Woodstock with 500,000 in 1969
with Scott, Carl and Claire today! |
And just 45 miles southwest was the site of the pivotal
music festival of 1969, Woodstock in Bethel, New York, attended by almost
500,000, graced by about 30 well-known artists
like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Blood Sweat and /tears , Credence
Clearwater, etc., and extended to 9 instead of 3 days! There, at the monument
built by the owners of the dairy farm where the festival was held (it was an
alternate site when at the last minute the city of Woodstock did not issue a
license), we met three other enthusiasts: Scott, and Carl and Claire.
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Bill at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Springwood in Hyde Park |
The place now houses a Woodstock Performing Arts Center, the
Museum at Bethel Woods, and the hallowed grounds. I identify with this flower power community, a
rebellion in spirit. I was back in the Philippines, a sophomore in the
University of the Philippines, seat of student power, at the time. We were
rebelling against the establishment and, as a University Councilor of the
Student Council, we had just laid the cornerstone of a piece of university land
w called Freedom Park!
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Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill in Hyde Park
a couple of miles from Springwood |
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Martin van Buren's Lindelwald in Kinderhook |
The Hudson River Valley is home to many mansions and
estates. Martin van Buren’s (8
th president) estate called Lindenwald
is in Kinderhook. The homes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only 4-time elected
president of the USA, and his First Lady and UN Ambassador, Eleanor Roosevelt
are in Hyde Park. The Roosevelt family estate is called Springwood and his
retreat, the Top Cottage. Eleanor’s is called Val-kill (kill means river) and
the Stone Cottage. As a matter of fact, the stately Vanderbilt Mansion also
lies in the Park! All these are now under the care of the National Park
Service.
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Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park |
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Walkway on the Hudson
longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world, near Newburgh |
Actually, also in Hyde Park is the sprawling, lovely, and
unique campus of the Culinary Institute of America. It beckons with awesome
residence halls, comfy classroom buildings, and aromatic restaurants and
bakeshops. Just a day’s class costs $250 so I can only imagine how much a
degree costs, especially if one lives on campus! Nearby, on the road back to our campground, we saw a
long unusual bridge across the Hudson. We found out it is called the
Walkway on the Hudson, the longest
elevated pedestrian bridge in the world (12 miles)!
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The Plains, West Point parade grounds, where the bleachers cry out: 'ARMY BEAT NAVY' |
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Bill and I in front of the West Point Museum |
We did not have the time to visit the Rockefeller Estate in
Tarrytown or the Sunnyside Estate of
Washington Irving, the famous American poet and author in
Sleepy Hollow. We also could not find the chance to
visit Albany, capital and at the northernmost part of the state, where the
tulip festivals were happening. But we
spent a lot of time in that hallowed place where the officers’ corps of the US
Army is developed. Joe, a retired National Guard captain, took us on a tour of
the US Military Academy in West Point.
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West Point from our Hudson Line train on the way to NYC |
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Douglas MacArthur among the great generals at West Point |
West Point has influenced so much of Philippine History. One
of our former Chiefs of staff graduated from there in 1950, became a hero in
the EDSA Revolution of 1986 that overthrew the 20-year Marcos dictatorship and
became the country’s 12th President after Cory Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos. Under
him I answered the call to serve my country and served as Deputy Commissioner of
the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
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a view of the Hudson from West Point |
We saw the statues of Patton, Eisenhower, and Washington,
great American generals but I was
especially drawn to MacArthur who commanded the Pacific Fleet and returned, as
he promised, to free the Philippines from Japanese occupation in WWII. They
surrounded the parade grounds called The Plains where the graduation of the
Class of 2012 will parade in review on Memorial Weekend as part of their
graduation ceremonies.
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the long gray line at West Point, cadets in review |
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the West Point Officers' Club |
We were first registered at the Visitors’ Center where we
viewed short clips of the history and significance of West Point, established
in 1802 after the victorious American Revolution against the British. Then Joe
gave us a tour of the galleries of the West Point Museum (one of the articles
there was the Philippine Surrender Document by the Japanese in WWII). We also
had the unique opportunity to dine with officers at the West Point Club,
overlooking the Hudson. On Trophy Hill we walked where the American Soldier defended
the fledgling country and a Monument in his honor towers over the Hudson.
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the artillery at Trophy Hill in West Point |
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remnants of the chain that blocked the British
from entering West Point placed at the narrowest portion of the Hudson |
I must admit, Billy Joel is right…the lesser known New York
is every bit as amazing as New York City, although in quite a different way!
For one, the towns always sleep as soon as it gets dark!
Thanks Carol for awakening the memories of Susan Drive in Newburgh where the walkway bridge remain a constant view. Every season introduces a beautiful sight of the Hudson River and its landscapes from the veranda of our home then in the five years that we were there.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. You are so lucky to have had the chance to live there!
Deletefrom campfires with friends to the homes of the very rich, and then to the home of the US Military Academy --- a great adventure with some very nice pictures. How much time were you able to spend at West Point? Have you been to the other academies? How do they compare?
ReplyDeleteExactly! We spent a day in West Point. At the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, we only spent a couple of hours, the same thing for Annapolis Naval Academy. All three are awesome(please view my posts on them). But West Point is where they all began...much more history!
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