New York City to Croton

Kim's Korner:
After delaying our departure due to fog, we left Staten Island and headed for New York Harbor! Taking Overtime’s picture with Lady Liberty was a huge milestone for us and that day was finally here. We can’t believe how far we’ve come and I have to say it’s sad thinking that half our trip is over. I’ve included lots of pictures along the 18 mile stretch from Verrazano Narrows Bridge to the George Washington Bridge, also known as the GW Bridge. You have to realize for us to travel 18 miles thru this heavily traveled harbor, it took us 2 ½ hours. For 2 ½ hours, it was just huge buildings everywhere we looked – it was remarkable! 

As we left New York further behind, I realized this Hudson River area was beautiful! It reminded us of home and the Tennessee River. A train runs along the left side and Amtrack runs along the right side carrying passengers to and from NYC. Both sides of the river have ridges and even mountains. Every now and then, we’d pass a small town that would populate the side of the ridge. The churches always stand out for me as they are usually some of the oldest and prettiest buildings in a town.

We stopped at Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton for three nights. Enterprise is a short walk so we picked up a rental car and visited the Franklin D Roosevelt Estate, the Vanderbilt Estate which is currently being renovated, ate at the American Culinary Institute, visited the Croton Dam and toured West Point. All were very interesting and worth doing. The most interesting tidbit for me was at West Point – during the Revolutionary War, a huge chain (which was evidently quite an engineering feat) was stretched across the Hudson River using log rafts to keep it from sinking in order to keep British ships out. Because the Hudson River freezes, it would have to be removed each year before the first winter freeze and replaced after the spring thaw which was quite a difficult undertaking. Thirteen links (one for each of the original colonies) of this chain were kept and are on display at West Point close to “The Million Dollar View” as it is called of the Hudson River. Let me also say here that it may be confusing as you will see pictures of West Point in two different places – the first is when we toured it and the second is when we passed it on the river in the boat.

Pictures!