The Hudson River, “The Rhine of America”
We departed New York City on the 17th of June after a fabulous few days of exploring this great city. The Hudson River was waiting. We cruised north under the George Washington and Tappan Zee Bridges, past the Palisades and Ossining with Sing Sing prominent on the hillside. We passed Bear Mountain State Park, this is truly gorgeous country! We arrived at our destination, Highland Falls Marina,
the closest town to West Point and the United States Military Academy. Imagine our surprise, there were three small boats tied up in front of a house, we found out later was the former Highland Falls Train Station which, of course, came with trains passing at all hours of the day and night! 
There was no place nearby from which to tour the Academy so we tied up in the one place large enough to accommodate our boat. To say this was rustic would be an understatement! We found out later that the docks pictured in the cruising guides had broken away with the ice during this past winter when they weren’t removed in time for the onset of cold weather. The dockmaster, Skeeter, was wonderful to us, he took us in his car to the Military Academy Museum from which the tours originate and took us to the commissary to do our shopping. He also gave us a tour of this historic town.
We stayed an extra day due to heavy rains. We were told this is the wettest June in history for this area, it certainly seems that way. On Friday we departed for Hyde Park with its small marina which is close to the birthplace and home of FDR.
The dockmaster, Capt. Joe, took us to tour the home of FDR and helped us with reservations for dinner at the Culinary Institute of America. We have heard many who have made this trip speak of the kindness of strangers they had met along the way, who weren’t strangers for long. We have certainly experienced this for ourselves. We enjoyed our stop in Hyde Park very much and had a wonderful dinner at the Culinary Institute. We have continued on, through the Catskills, enjoying the breathtaking scenery of the Hudson River Valley. 
We are currently enjoying a weather delay tied to a mooring ball at Castleton-on-Hudson. Tomorrow we plan to go to Albany, the Capital of New York. 
the closest town to West Point and the 
There was no place nearby from which to tour the Academy so we tied up in the one place large enough to accommodate our boat. To say this was rustic would be an understatement! We found out later that the docks pictured in the cruising guides had broken away with the ice during this past winter when they weren’t removed in time for the onset of cold weather. The dockmaster, Skeeter, was wonderful to us, he took us in his car to the 
We stayed an extra day due to heavy rains. We were told this is the wettest June in history for this area, it certainly seems that way. On Friday we departed for 
The dockmaster, Capt. Joe, took us to tour the home of FDR and helped us with reservations for dinner at the Culinary Institute of America. We have heard many who have made this trip speak of the kindness of strangers they had met along the way, who weren’t strangers for long. We have certainly experienced this for ourselves. We enjoyed our stop in 
We are currently enjoying a weather delay tied to a mooring ball at Castleton-on-Hudson. Tomorrow we plan to go to 
