We have been blessed with a Hudson River Adventure

We started this little travel blog over seven years ago, mainly to keep our parents informed about where we were traveling and what we were seeing. It was a labor of love to keep typing and adding pictures about our travels. But we have been surprised to find that other people have found our blog, and we feel honored that they take the time to read it. We're glad that others can use it as a resource for their own travel planning. We were thrilled when we got to meet one of our most loyal readers. Mary has been reading our blog for quite some time. When she saw that we were heading their way, she and her husband invited us for a special day on the water.

Even though Mary knows all about us from reading our blog, we officially met for the first time on the banks of the Hudson River. Knowing that we love our bakery stops, they came with blueberry muffins. We have been blessed, and we can tell that this is going to be a great day! Alan backed the boat into the river, while Mary guided it off the trailer. We could tell that these two have been boating many times before.

We had planned this meeting a couple weeks ago, hoping that we would have good enough weather to spend some time on this wide river. Last week we chose the day with the best forecasted weather, and it couldn't have been any prettier! We had blue skies and the water was unusually calm. We have been blessed as we are wandering God's wonders today!

We started our boat trip heading south down the Hudson River--at least that's what they told us. Denisa was directionally challenged this day, and she couldn't tell her norths from her souths. Our first landmark was the Rondout Lighthouse.

Denisa is like a puppy with its head hanging out of the car window. She's enjoying the cool breeze off the water as we zip along on the Hudson River. There's no need to comb your hair on a boat day!

From reading the blog, Mary knows that Denisa is a big fan of lighthouses. So Mary and Alan have planned a route to maximize the number of lighthouses we will see. As we continue south, we saw our second one--the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse. These shorter river lighthouses have some great architecture, and each one has its own special charm.

We turned the boat into Rondout Creek to get a look at the town of Kingston from the water.

This is the home of the Hudson River Maritime Museum, with this stately old boat out front. This is also where the Wooden Boat School offers classes.

We had our first wildlife sighting of the day when we looked high on top of an old crane on the banks of the river. Ospreys had built a nice nest on this perch high above the water.

It was time to turn around to head north (or at least that's the direction they told Denisa we were going). That would eventually take us to the very picturesque Saugerties Lighthouse. The Hudson River flows into the ocean, so it is affected by the tide. At low tide, visitors can walk from the shore to the Saugerties Lighthouse. As you read this, if you are struggling with how some words should be pronounced, think "Socrates" and you will be very close. In fact, when someone first said the name of this lighthouse, we thought they were talking about some Greek philosopher.

Alan steered the boat into Esopus Creek to get a look around. This is the home of the U.S. Coast Guard station. We don't know why the Saugerties Lighthouse is on the Esopus Creek, while the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse was south of here. 

This is the Hudson Athens Lighthouse--the last one of this trip on the Hudson River. All four lighthouses were uniquely charming. We have been blessed!

Denisa is taking pictures and squealing with delight. It's about this time that Mary brings out the cinnamon rolls she bought at the German bakery this morning. Now Mark is squealing with delight. This is a day that we will always remember! We ate the cinnamon rolls so fast that we forgot to take a picture of them. They were beautiful, and so tasty!

We headed just a bit further north until the Hudson River split around an island in the middle. In the distance, we can see the outline of the Catskill Mountains rising above the water. We are enjoying all the beach time we have had this summer, but we are looking at those mountains with yearning. We love the mountains too!

As we headed south toward our boat launch, a tiny flicker of white caught our eye. Alan turned the boat around so we could see "it" sitting on the log right by the water.

The lighting wasn't great, but we managed to get a clear look at the bald eagle on the log.

He flew high up in the tree as we passed by in the boat to head towards home.

That wildlife sighting was the exclamation point on this perfect day on the water. As we boated under the tall bridge over the Hudson River, we are counting our blessings. We were blessed with blue skies and calm winds that gave us perfect weather for boating. We were blessed with new friends that went out of their way to take us on a route we would enjoy. We were blessed with special snacks on the water. We have certainly been blessed with this Hudson River Adventure that allowed us to wander more of God's wonders!