ssloop: New York City-Erie Canal

Our destination on Wednesday was West Point only 20 miles upstream from our anchorage at Haverstraw. We took a slip at Cornwall on Hudson Yacht Club about 11am. At 1pm Ken and Kate Sampson came and picked us up for a tour of West Point. The Sampsons are long time friends of Sheli's Uncle Willl & Aunt Janie Byker. Ken is a retired U.S. Army Chaplin and therefore gave us a great personal tour of West Point. It was awesome to see West Point both by water as we passed by on the Hudson and by land. The Hudson Highlands is a beautiful area! In the evening, Ken & Kate treated us to dinner at the Canterbury Brook Inn. (Serving authentic Swiss Cuisine - What a treat!)

Thursday morning we continued north 36 miles to Kingston, NY. Our cruise was beautiful with many lovely homes along the Hudson. At times, the river was 130 feet deep! We are not in the shallow Intracoastal anymore! We took a a spot at the floating dock at the Hudson River Maritime Museum at Rondout. After getting settled we rode bikes to the laundromat. It was an adventure peddling up hill while hauling the laundry. It was a good workout. We will be staying here for a few days because our friends Paul & Cindy Takken are flying in for a visit. Paul's sister Renee and husband Richard live in Kingston which makes this a good location to see them and us. They flew in late in the evening and stayed with Renee and Richard.

Friday morning, Paul, Cindy and Renee picked us up at the boat and we all went for breakfast at a local diner. After breakfast, Renee gave us a tour of the historic Old Dutch Reformed Church in Kingston where she is the pastor. We then dropped her off at her house and the four of us took her car to Woodstock, twenty minutes away. Woodstock was the sight of the huge weekend music festival in 1969. Based on the reputation of the festival and some of the locals we saw while there, we are pretty sure some of them never left. Peace baby, Far out! However, today it is a quaint town in the Catskills with fun and interesting shopping. At night we returned to Renee and Richard's home for burgers on the grill. Yum!

Saturday morning we went to the local Kingston farmers market. Paul bought a $20 mystery bag filled with goodies from a local cheese vendor. We added a few other items such as bread, meat and crackers also from the market which we then shared for lunch at Renee & Richard's house. In the afternoon we took Paul, Cindy, Renee, Richard and their Indonesian friend Dewee for a boat ride on the Hudson.

Sunday we attended Renee's church and heard her preach. Afterwards with Paul & Cindy as crew, we headed north once again on the Hudson River. We traveled 51 miles and dropped the anchor at Houghtailing Island. Once again it was windier than predicted and the captain was not happy! But the anchor held and we had a pleasant evening grilling out and playing cards.

We woke up Monday morning to even stronger winds than the night before and the captain was still not happy! Argh! We pulled up the anchor early and headed out. The good news is that we were traveling with the wind at our back which made for a comfortable ride. Our travels took us past Albany, NY and on to Troy. At Troy we locked through Federal Lock #1 which as a lift of 17 feet. For the first time since October we are out of salt water and back into fresh water! A couple miles later we turned at Waterford onto the Erie Canal! Another chapter in our voyage begins!

Nice place along the Hudson.