The last couple of weeks have been pretty photogenic,so this issue might be a bit longer. But it’s the last one, so be patient. When I last wrote, we had just arrived in New York City. The next day, Emily arrived for the long holiday weekend. We enjoyed hiking through lots of neighborhoods (Ground Zero Memorial, Chinatown (where Emily participated in the literally underground knock-off designer purse shenanigans), Little Italy (al fresco dining), Soho (So Haute? - over-run with designer stores at the expense of the old artist vibe), Greenwich Village (Washington Square on a beautiful weekend afternoon is still some of the best people watching). The next day we walked the new HighLine Trail (old elevated train tracks converted into a linear park) which was a lot of fun with great views of neighborhoods, architecture, murals etc. ). The park ended near my Aunt Carol’s apartment in Chelsea so we stopped for a visit (she had been to the boat and joined us for dinner the night we arrived). We then caught some very interesting music in a small Brooklyn club. The final day with Emily was spent biking the length of Central Park.
After Emily’s departure we biked from Battery Park up to Bob and Sarah’s apartment near Columbia U. – a beautiful river bike path ride of about 10 miles. After a neighborhood dinner we went down to Times Square to see Porgy and Bess – a great production of a somewhat odd story. We spent the night with them (nice to be onshore) and then did the reverse bike ride the next morning. That afternoon John and Kris Dwyer arrived. After a great dinner with spectacular views from our marina restaurant we took off (the next morning) for the spectacular Hudson River run north. After passing the length of Manhatten, our first stop was Stony Point. Not the most exciting marina, but the owner handed over the keys to his car for the weekend without us ever even mentioning our interest in local transportation. First time that has ever happened, though we did have the use of the marina golf cart back in Colonial Beach. We took advantage by touring nearby West Point (impressive, but the Naval Academy wins in terms of architecture and tour quality), heading to the top of Bear Mountain for a sunset view of the panorama over the Hudson River Valley, and going to Babe’s, a nearby restaurant/bar. I guess we must have had a good time because after dinner we were in the bar long enough to pick and listen to 25 songs on the jukebox, accompanied by Debi and Kris.
After bidding the Dwyers adieu early Sunday morning (we had to kick them off early to get out of the marina before the tide got too low for our boat), Debi and I continued up the Hudson. I thought our stop at Kingston was another highlight – one of our books said it is the most popular cruising destination on the Hudson – and I can see why. We were docked right alongside the town square, with 20 restaurants and bars (do you see a pattern here?) within a few blocks – all very historic. We did a lengthy bike ride into a nearby historic area the next day – and then the following day left for our final destination for the winter (as it turned out), Coeymans (about 11 miles south of Albany). Most of our time there was spent packing and cleaning, though we enjoyed their hot tub (with flat screen TV!).
And that brings us back to today.
So in the past 4 months (almost) we have traveled about 800 miles (not including the side trips, wandering in and out of harbors, criss-crossing the Chesapeake six times), had 25 overnight or longer visitors (and numerous day-trippers), and spent between one and two weeks at 25 different marinas. It’s been a great adventure – and we thank all of you that joined us for any part of it – you made it even more special. And we thank the many of you who sent encouraging responses to our Boat’s Notes. And we thank the rest of you who were too polite to tell us to stop loading up your inboxes with our trivialities.
It’s not too early to book space on Sea Fever 2013. We hope to see you there, on land, here, there and everywhere.
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