Boosted by the balmy weather of the South, a Covid jab and fevery night on Chocolate Street, we headed toward the Hudson Valley, a long desired destination. Our hypothetical Hudson Valley trip had been a river cruise but in these Covid times that wasn’t considered . But realistically, that probably would not have happened, since the only boat trip we’ve ever taken (together) is the Jungle cruise at Disneyland and that didn’t end well when our youngest daughter threw up after getting off (she thought it was real).
Instead we settled for highway 9 on the east side of the river which only offered occasional glimpses of the river. But strategic stops along the way, kept the suspense up and provided dramatic vistas while passing through many, historic villages.
For no good reason, we somehow fell into a college tour- perhaps that is natural after three daughters, or maybe it is just because most of the towns in the area have a college. First stop, Vassar, it looked precious, expensive and just trying to find parking was a reach.
Wandering out into Poughkeepsie, we drove right under the Walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park, so we went ahead and walked over the Hudson, enjoying a cold and windy panoramic view. A better choice than our hypothetical Hudson River cruise or 1998 Jungle Cruise and no one threw up.
Although we had always wanted to do the Hudson Valley, we did not really plan for the Hudson Valley, so twilight found us looking for a place to stay and since laundry and showers were done, it was time to check off another parking lot- we were fortunate to be able to spend the night in the Elk’s Lodge parking lot (now we only have a Cracker Barrel parking lot left to earn the boondocker’s badge). The Elk’s parking lots, like Cracker Barrel and Walmart, are usually welcoming to overnight travelers. it was a “benevolent” and “protective” night (as per their motto) surrounded by the sounds of a late Boy Scout meeting and Bingo. https://www.elks.org/lodges/LodgeFacilities.cfm?LodgeNumber=275. Not only did this bring us closer to meeting Nick’s boondock goals but turns out it was a historic lodge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Elk’s lodge, and as anyone who has been to Poughkeepsie/Hyde Park area knows, it is all about FDR.
Newly inspired, we visited the FDR National Park the next morning, but like everything, these days, stayed outside. What we saw was a bit random, maybe not the top 40 hits, but still interesting (their cushions almost match our van’s cushions!, more great views, who knew they were such accomplished equestrians?). https://www.nps.gov/hofr/index.htm
Followed the National Park trail that supposedly went towards Vanderbuilt’s mansion, we ended up somewhat lost in a random neighborhood in the village of Hyde Park. (Hyde and seek Park?).
We pushed on to Olana (or rather the wind pushed us on), the home of the famous 19th Century Hudson Valley painter Frederic Edwin Church https://www.olana.org. (again, great from the outside, skipped the inside).
The plan was to, again, walk across the Hudson on the Skywalk to Thomas Cole’s estate (another Hudson Valley painter), almost did it , but the cold and the wind determined otherwise. We ended our brief Hudson Valley tour and headed to an overnight in Vermont, Bennington, VT another college town. Unfortunately, we were also coming to the realization that Santiago was named after a Spanish town, not a New England village, with weather very different to what we were now living in.
During our Covid year in Amherst, we kept wanting to go to the adjacent towns of West Adams, home of Mass MOCA & Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Williamstown, home of Williams College, but thought there would be so much to do we would want to save it for a safer time to visit. Since the current trip was all about going places we talked about going (yes, that is novel for us), we thought we would make a scouting stop and we could go back later. Considered a walk around Williams college, but road work blocked access, so we did not get in. But scouting was good, conclusion was a quick stop was enough, two more small New England towns checked off the list. Our view of Mass MOCA, very consistent with our B-side travel.
MOCA and the view from outside the North Adams History and Science museum located in the lobby of the Holiday Inn
A detour through Amherst to get covid testing (negative), an oil change and drive-by two colleges, we headed for the Cape (don’t we sound East Coast?). Cape Cod was not really in any plan, but since we were in the New England neighborhood, it was more a curiosity and would look good on the travel resume. To get there, we went through Providence, RI and checked Brown University and RISD off our college tour list.
Providence was a nice surprise, had a nice feel, well, at least from the outside. It felt like a mix of San Francisco and Boston, but we only spent a few hours walking along the river. It also felt like a livable US city, a la Savannah. https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2021/11/25/savannah-squared/
The drive through the Cape was disappointing in that it we were too inland to see the water, and kind of felt like anywhere east of the Rockies. We spent the night in another former President’s stomping grounds, Hyannis/Hyannisport which had a little tribute walk for JFK. Here, influenced by our lack of enthusiasm, we decided to turn left and head north instead of continuing on the Cape. If you look at the Cape as a flexed arm, we only made it to mid bicep, and apparently the nicest parts start at the elbow and up.
With the Cape behind us, we sailed through Plymouth, MA as Thanksgiving week began. Somehow we missed the Rock and the downtown, but managed to have a very pleasant short visit in Plymouth with relatives on Fresh Pond (ponds being another very East Coast thing) and headed toward Maine, another long aimed for travel goal.
We were pretty proud of ourselves for stumbling across some traditional tourist sites even though they were often seen from a distance or may have been closed for the season. But, B-side traveling, while not always chart-topping, can be surprisingly good.
Chosen Fugue 
2 thoughts on “Sight(un)seeing”