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!

Welcome to New York!

We were facing a weekend, and had a hard time finding an open camping spot at a campground. We were so glad that we had the option of staying at a Boondockers Welcome site again. That has been a life-saver for this trip in the northeast this summer! It was a little out of the way, but we were glad to be heading into New York for a three-day stay in a drive-way with the birds right outside our dining table window.

On the way to New York, we had to make a stop to fill up with diesel. This is the highest price we have paid so far. In April 2020, we were taking pictures of diesel fill-ups of $1.59 per gallon, instead of $6.07! The price has almost quadrupled in those two and a half years!

We have a 100-gallon diesel tank, but we try not to let it get below half-full. We only needed 40 gallons today, but it cost $246.98! We considered not making this trip this summer because of rising fuel costs. We hope we can afford to make it back home (wherever that is).

Back to more pleasant topics, we are now situated in our camping spot next to our hosts' house in Ulster Park, New York. They used to be full-time RVers, but decided to come home to New York when Covid hit. We are amazed at the generosity of people that make their property available to complete strangers like us. Our spot is right beside Lisa's flower garden and bird feeders.

After not having a yard during the five years of full-time travel, they are enjoying planting flowers and a garden again. The cone flowers in their front yard are at their peak, and we so enjoyed seeing them from our motor home window. Denisa was disappointed when she missed getting the picture of the bright yellow bird landing on her favorite bright red flowers.

But she did get the picture of one of those birds in the lavender, eating the tiny seeds.

Denisa sat at the dining window, and took way too many pictures of the birds and flowers during our three-day stay. It was bird-watching at its best! 

But we didn't just sit inside the motor home all the time. We were busy during those three day! We went to the local farmer's market on the weekend. We are far enough north that they are still harvesting garden peas. That is Denisa's favorite find at a market, and she bought a sizable bag. When she got back to the car and tasted how good they were, she went back and bought some more. The forecast for this weekend is noticeably warmer, and she's afraid that we won't be seeing garden peas much longer.

We experienced some of that warmer weather before the weekend was over. We are always looking for weekend festivals, and it's good to see them returning in 2022. We went to the Rosendale Music Festival this weekend, with music on five different stages scattered around town. It was a sweaty festival with limited shade.

Our hosts' house is just a short walk from the west bank of the Hudson River. They explained a new problem they are having in this river. Not far from their house are areas covered with an invasive water plant called water chestnut. It spreads quickly and can cover acres of a shore line.

The seed pod of this plant has sharp points that mature into a tough dagger. Forget walking bare-foot around the water now, because those points can even penetrate the soles of tennis shoes. They are hard on car tires, and are an absolute nuisance on the Hudson River. You can see why some people call them "devils heads."

We saw a water combine sitting in the middle of a patch of this invasive species. They are attempting to control this plant before it spreads further.

We have gotten several recommendations to check out the "Walkway over the Hudson," so we also fit that into our schedule.

It is 1.2 mile long and 24 foot wide, and we enjoyed every foot of it!

We didn't have to worry about dodging cars, as only bikers and walkers or allowed on this walkway. Just downstream we could see the toll bridge reserved for vehicular traffic.

While we started our bike ride on the west side of the river in the town of Lloyd, we drove across to the east side and the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. On our way down off the bridge, we took an aerial picture of this favorite shopping section in Poughkeepsie.

We had been told about the Deliziosa Italian Pastry Shoppe, and we made a trip to check it out.

If customers like cookies, they have an entire display case of cookies--sold by the pound.

But we are here for the pastries that were recommended. Another display case was filled with all things Italian and creamy.

We left with a beautifully tied box that included a cannoli, a cream puff, and a cherry/chocolate mousse tart. We can verify that all of them were very good. We also took a box to our Boondocker hosts, in appreciation of their hospitality.

Besides riding our bikes on the Walkway Over the Hudson, we also continued our ride east. We found more of the flat paved bike trails that are well-used in this area.

We can also confirm that the wild berries were getting ripe in New York. Our biking speed got much slower when Denisa kept stopping for berry snacks.

We finally turned our bikes back to the west, and made another trip over the Hudson River. This is a large body of water, and it was fun to watch the big ships cross below us.

Besides pleasure boats, large tanker ships loaded with cargo make their way up and down the Hudson River.

While we stopped to enjoy the views, a friendly New Yorker offered to take our picture on the bridge. We feel very welcome during our stay here in the Hudson Valley region of New York!

New Jersey's Prettiest Place - Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

We were up early this morning to do some serious hiking. Our goal for this stop in northern New Jersey is to visit the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. It's a little confusing to have a recreation area in New Jersey with the word "Delaware" in its name. That's because the Delaware River has been at work carving beautiful views in this corner of New Jersey for many years. We found a source that said that this was the most beautiful spot in the state, so we wanted to see it for ourselves. It was a 43-mile drive that took us over an hour from our camping spot to get to the Mount Tammany Trail head inside the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Then we started our hike of the day, going straight up this rocky trail.

This was a tough hike, so Denisa looked for some snacks on the trail. She was pretty excited about these beautiful red berries, so she started eating them. They looked a little different than a raspberry, and were less seedy than a thimbleberry. They were a yummy treat!

Did we mention that this was a tough hike? We are gaining lots of elevation, climbing up a continuous stair case of rocks.

After hiking over a mile straight up, we finally came to a break in the rocks and the trees to see the landscape around us.

The next opening gave us the classic picture that this area is named for. That is the Delaware River in the valley below us. Over the years that river has carved a gap between the two mountains we see in front of Mark. So this is the Delaware Water Gap below us. According to our list, this is the prettiest place in all of New Jersey, so we stayed for a while and enjoyed it.

After that break for the views, we were back on this stair-stepper trail. This is a loop, so for this half of the trail we are looking for the "red dot" on these steep rocks. That lets us know we are on the right path. Denisa is beginning to see that trail symbol as an evil red-eyed demon with all these darn rocks and so much elevation gain!

She was distracted by the floral scenery. We are surprised to see some wild rhododendrons still blooming this summer.

We are high enough in the mountains that these spring-bloomers look like they are at their peak.

We are still gaining elevation as we near the top of Mount Tammany. This trail was recommended by a hiker we met at High Point State Park last evening. He was a local, and he convinced us that this was the best hike in the state. We have to agree that this is the best hike we've been on in New Jersey.

At the summit, we finally came to the end of the red-dot trail, and those evil red eyes will stop staring at us.

It you look at the tree in the center of the picture below, we can see the beginning of the blue trail. It has the reputation of being a kinder and gentler trail and we are glad for that.

Near the summit, we see more of the plants like the one that Denisa picked her red berries from at the beginning of the hike. She hasn't died from eating them yet, but we just remembered that Mark has an app on his phone that can identify plants and berries. He had enough cell phone signal near the top of the mountain to identify this as a wine berry. 

Related to the raspberry, it forms those yummy berries inside the fuzzy cones until they pop open and then ripen to red. They are not poisonous, and are in fact good for making jams and even wine. Note to self--you should probably check out this information BEFORE eating them.

While he had his phone app open, we also checked on these light blue berries. They were identified as deer berries. Even though they are not poisonous, they are not tasty--unless you have the taste buds of a deer.

We got our last view of the Delaware River, as it was snaking its way through the gap between the other mountains far below us.

Now we are back to the rocks, this time on the descent. The blue trail is less steep, but just as rocky at the top. We have to be careful to find a solid place for each step, and our necks are getting sore from looking down all the time on this hike.

It's a good thing that Denisa has fruit snacks to keep her going. She has a veritable smorgasbord of fruit, as she is enjoying blackberries and blueberries now.

We finally got low enough on the mountain that we turned onto one of our favorite trails. That white slash on the tree above Denisa's head is the symbol for the 2,170-mile Appalachian Trail (AT) that stretches from Georgia to Maine. We've hiked on this trail many times, but this was the first time in New Jersey.

Once on the AT, the slope and the rocks got easier. We also took a break when we got to this waterfall along the trail.

It was a busy place, with several hiking groups also stopped to enjoy the falls. We were joined here by a group of 11- and 12-year-olds on a summer camp hike, as well as a group of senior citizens on a elder hostel hike. We were all surprised when this doe sauntered out in the open very close to several hikers.

After that stop, the trail was much kinder and gentler. We had time to stop and smell the flowers--including this bright red specimen that looked a little like a miniature Christmas poinsettia.

By the time we got back to the pickup, we had hiked 4.9 miles. That's not very long, but the 1,306 feet in elevation gain and all those rocks made it seem longer. We're not in our top hiking form right now, so we were tired when we got back to the trailhead. So we decided to do the rest of our exploration in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in the pickup. We stopped in at this lake, but again, we were too lazy to pump up our inflatable kayak.

Back on the narrow and bumpy paved road, we followed a brown sign that took us off the main road and down an even rougher gravel road. Several miles later we arrived at Crater Lake. Not as deep as the Crater Lake in Oregon, this was still a nice one.

Denisa sat down at the edge of the water and took off her hiking boots. The water felt good to her feet, but not as cool as the mountain lakes we are more familiar with in Colorado. Those can be at elevations of 10,000 feet. While we were in one of the highest elevations of New Jersey, this lake is only around 1,000 feet.  Denisa almost jumped in the water when Mark pointed out that she wasn't alone on that shore. Right beside her was a scaly creature hiding in the sticks. She was just glad she sat down beside a frog instead of a snake!

We had a good day on this last stop in New Jersey. We've seen some pretty places in this state, but we will have to agree with the sources that say that Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a nice place to wander more of God's wonders!