Newburgh

Monday – August 1

We’ll get to Newburgh in a minute. But first a final note about Liberty Park, where the Liberty Landing Marina is located. As you approached the Hudson River on foot from the New Jersey side, there is a spectacular 9/11 Memorial, titled Empty Sky. Two towering aluminum monoliths direct your gaze across the river to where the twin towers once stood. As you walk between the aluminum panels, they are etched with the names of all the New Jersey residents who died when the twin towers fell. And when you reach the end of your walk, your gaze is centered on the new World Trade Center. It is beautifully understated and surprisingly powerful.

OK, Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

We had a perfect trip up the Hudson River this morning: flat sees with the wind and tide at our back.

It’s no wonder that the early explorers marveled at the Hudson River: it is wide, and it is 100 feet deep, and the area called the Hudson highlands is spectacular, with high granite cliffs on both sides and towering up-thrusts like Storm King Mountain and Bear Mountain.  And of course, West Point, which, unfortunately, is rather ugly from the water. 

Now we’re docked in Newburgh, just in the shadow of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. 

I have been to Newburgh several times before; my late wife Cathy had family here. But I never really put it into its context on the Hudson. The vistas looking south really are remarkable.

Nothing exciting planned for tonight; a boring meal in a boring restaurant, but today was a very scenic ride.

Tomorrow: one more day on the upper Hudson; then we enter the Champlain canal on Wednesday.

ttfn

R&L&G