Saratoga Springs, NY

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We had a beautiful day cruising up the Hudson on June 24th going through four locks.  Everything went very smoothly except for two smallish “moments of terror.”  The first was as we waited in a tidal basin for a lock to open and our bottom kept bumping against something hard.  Our depths showed that we were in plenty of water.  What was it?  We never really found out, but likely it was a submerged log or stump.  The second moment occurred as we passed under a bridge.  All the bridges have 17 foot clearances and our boat (with our antennas lowered) is 16’4”.  We always confirm bridge heights with the lock master as the river is high with the spring run off and the lock masters can control the water height to some degree.  The lock master “thought” it would be OK but he wanted us to let him know after we went under it (not very reassuring for us)!  To play it safe, Jonny asked Lynn to get on top of the boat and watch the top of it as we went under the bridge.  Imagine how scary that was!  As we came closer and closer to the bridge, we were so close to touching that Lynn swears we were no more than 3 inches under it (see the the white space at the very bottom of the third photo)!   With a pounding heart, she came down to the flybridge announcing “never again!”  What if we didn’t have 3 inches to spare?  At that point, there was no time to turn around or shift into reverse.  Oh, the joys of boating!

But we arrived safely at Schuyler Yacht Basin, a charming old marina located about 10 miles east of Saratoga Springs in the town of Schuylerville.   Schuylerville has a memorial that commemorates the Battle of Saratoga which was a decisive battle and turning point in the Revolutionary War.  It took place less than a mile from where we were docked! We planned to stay two nights and rent a car so we could explore beautiful Saratoga Springs.

After picking up the car, we drove around Saratoga Springs and Jonny was able to show Lynn what a lovely town it is.  The downtown area is filled with cool shops and restaurants.  We had a great steak dinner at Sperry’s which has been around since the 1920’s and was filled with drawings of award-winning jockeys, trainers and owners.  

The next day we explored more of the city including the racetrack (the season begins in July), Skidmore College, Sarasota Spa State Park, and the various neighborhoods surrounding them.  This is definitely horse country but it is also a city that appreciates the arts.   We visited the National Museum of Dance with a fascinating collection of film clips and exhibits of world renowned dancers representing all genres from ballet to tango to modern dance.  Throughout the city, we saw sculptures of ballet shoes and horses all decorated in different ways.

Saratoga Springs is known for its mineral springs which are located throughout the city.  These are among the few naturally carbonated springs in the country. The springs were known by the Indians for their healing powers and they are very popular to this day.  Saratoga Springs became the place to see and be seen during the gilded age of the 1800’s to mid 1900’s when people would come to get away from the the city and  “take the waters.”  Saratoga Water, in the blue bottles, continues to be bottled directly from these springs.

The Saratoga Spa State Park was created in 1835 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The park is is absolutely stunning with beautiful red brick bath houses and buildings located throughout its rolling hills.  There are numerous spas throughout the city but we chose to “take the waters” in the historical Roosevelt Baths that are within the park itself.  The bathhouse felt like we were stepping back in time to an era of genteel luxury.  There were about 20 separate bathing rooms, each with a very deep bathtub and spa table.  After donning our robes, we each were given our own tub in separate rooms.  The water was brownish, warm and effervescent.  It felt like entering a warm cocoon.  After 40 minutes of blissful relaxation, we felt renewed and completely refreshed.  What a treat!

Adjacent to the park is the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) which includes an outdoor theatre much like Tanglewood in the Berkshires or Wolf Trap outside of DC.  The day we were there, various high school graduation ceremonies were underway and the venue was preparing for an annual jazz festival that was to take place over the weekend featuring some really great artists.  Once again, our timing was off and we were not going to be able to take advantage of the event.  But our time in Saratoga was well spent and we strongly recommend this town as another great destination in New York state.

New Baltimore, NY

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Who ever heard of a town called New Baltimore? We hadn’t until we met the guys who own the Shady Harbor Marina there.  We met them at the Rendezvous, the conference of boaters who are traveling the Great Loop which we attended in Norfolk.  They lured us to their marina with free tee shirts and two for one drink guarantees.  So we chose to stay there as a convenient stopover point on our journey up the Hudson River.  Boaters can be easily bribed! 

On Father’s Day, we took our time leaving Kingston in order to ride the current up to New Baltimore.  Tides, currents, wind, etc. all play big roles in trip planning.  Our friends Chuck and Vickie on Patriot left at 11 a.m.  We left at 1 p.m.  We both travel at the same speed and they arrived at Shady Harbor only 45 minutes earlier than us.  We generally travel at 8 mph but with the current running we were able to travel at 9 1/2 to 10 mph (speed demons that we are)! 

And we passed another Hudson River lighthouse on yet one more scenic Hudson river cruise.

Shady Harbor is a large and comfortable marina right on the river.  There, we joined Vickie and Chuck for dinner at the restaurant at the marina which was surprisingly good! 

The next morning, in the wake of his previous success, Jonny decided to work on fixing the leaky forward hatch while Lynn did laundry.  The latch was leaking slightly onto the V-berth mattress and since we are expecting guests when we arrive in Montreal, we had to get it fixed pretty quickly.  Once again, Jonny came to the rescue by removing and re-caulking  the hatch.  He also ordered a new seal to be shipped to a marina on Lake Champlain.  We’re hoping that that will do the trick but it won’t be fully tested until we get a another heavy rain.

We left Shady Harbor by 1 p.m. headed for Waterford, N.Y. and the real start of our locking adventures!

We passed Albany’s skyline but resisted the urge to stop.  Next time we come by, we need to visit New York’s capital.

We also passed by the very industrial city of Troy, N.Y.  One of the most interesting waterfront sites was the modern bridge across the river. It was quite an architectural departure from most of the bridges we’ve seen to date. 

It was in Troy that we traversed the biggest lock on the Hudson, the Federal Lock.  It was fairly intimidating because it was so large and we were so new to the experience.  We had to hold onto our lines for dear life to make sure we stayed close to the sides. We have about 25 more locks to go on this journey so we should be experts by then!

Kingston, NY

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Continuing up the Hudson River, we arrived at Kingston, NY on June 18 where we stayed at the Rondout (Creek) Yacht Basin.  It was a beautiful day cruising up the Hudson during this eight hour trip.  We passed West Point on the west bank in a very dramatic setting, then Cold Spring and Hyde Park on the east bank (which we mentioned in our last blog). 

We visited Cold Spring and Hyde Park by car just a day or two earlier and it took less then an hour to get there.  But when one is traveling 8 mph by boat, life moves at a much slower pace!  This stretch of the Hudson is known as the Hudson Highlands.  The scenery is very evocative and  familiar if you know the work of the Hudson River School of Artists.  The scenery is dramatic with cliffs, wide expanses of green, and amazing mansions scattered on both banks.

As we arrived in Kingston, we passed the Esopus Lighthouse, one of many up and down the Hudson.

Jonny spent the first day in Kingston successfully fixing our two broken heads and reinforcing Lynn’s decision that he is the best husband – ever!  That evening we celebrated with dinner at the Marina Harbor Restaurant with Vicky and Chuck from Patriot who we had met at the Rendezvous.  We enjoyed hearing their story – they are both former FBI agents out of DC and have been traveling extensively on their boat for the last several years. 

On Saturday, we took a long, challenging and fun bike ride up, up, up the hill from our marina to the city of Kingston which is the third oldest city in New York.  It was also New York’s first capital.   Many of the larger river towns are built in two sections, the lower town which is right on the river,  and the upper town which is often the “high rent district.”  That section of Kingston is called the Stockade Area.  In 1658 the European  settlers who were living and farming there were ordered to move their houses and barns from the lowlands to a higher bluff and rebuild them behind a 14–foot high wall to protect them from the Esopus Indians with whom they were feuding.  During the day, the men left the stockade to work the fields, but the women and children were confined to life within the stockade.  The villagers lived this way until 1664 when a peace treaty was signed ending the second of the two wars with the Esopus Indians.   The streets of the original village are still there though the wooden houses are long gone.  Limestone houses were built in their place and many of  those houses still remain.  Over the years they have  been enhanced with architectural elements such as Gothic Revival gables and gingerbread trim. There is a block with four of these amazing  limestone house, one on each corner, and each is in remarkably great shape! 

The Stockade neighborhood was hosting an authentic  farmer’s market complete with local produce, meats, wines and even a classical string quartet performing.   But before we succumbed to buying everything in sight, we decided to eat lunch at a quirky, kitschy,  vegetarian café with delicious food called “Outdated, An Antique Café”  that was filled with all kinds of antiques and memorabilia, all of it for sale.

We continued our bike ride through town and passed a number of  amazing murals painted on the sides of buildings.  We couldn’t help capturing some of the images. 

Just as we were headed back to the boat (luckily it was all downhill now), it began to sprinkle.  The forecast called for rain the next day, so Lynn made some bean soup in the pressure cooker to keep us warm and cozy on what we expected to be a rainy trip to our next destination, New Baltimore, NY.

Croton-on-Hudson, NY

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We had a beautiful day cruising up the Hudson River from NYC and arrived at the Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton-on Hudson on Sunday, June 13.  This marina is what is called a dockominium and is situated in a beautiful, peaceful bay within a condo complex of attractive natural shingled condos.  It had been recommended to us by members of the cruising community for its easy access to many of the Hudson Valley attractions.  There were several loopers docked there and we missed, by just one day. a “docktail party” that had been organized by the dozen or so loopers staying there.

We were pleased to finally meet up with Joel and Sarah on Snow Goose.  They have a boat exactly like ours and we had met Joel in Florida when he first purchased and was fixing up his boat.   After multiple unsuccessful attempts to rendezvous earlier we finally caught up with each other.  Joel and Jonny had fun trying to solve all the little problems on our respective boats.  In fact, one of our main objectives in staying at Half Moon Bay was to pick up the parts of our head (toilet) that we had to replace.  Jonny was so excited to finally receive them after a 10 day wait.  When he went to pick up the package from the dockmaster, we were dismayed to see such a small box.  In fact, the company that placed the order failed to order the most important part!  So we are back to square one.  Our plan is to get it shipped to the next marina we stay at in Kingston, N.Y.  We are making do with one head and that one is not functioning  properly either.  But because that one is at least usable, we are waiting until we have one fully functioning head before we tackle number two!   Bummer!

One of the nicest things about Half Moon Bay is the park that Croton-on-Hudson and neighboring villages have created along the waterfront.  We walked and rode our bikes there several times during the two days we spent there.  It had gorgeous views of the Hudson and many peaceful spots to sit and reflect.  Additionally, it had a unique monument to victims of 9/11.  A huge sundial was constructed from one of the beams from the World Trade Center  with a moving statue of a woman next to it.  Each time we were there, we saw people of all ages enjoying the space each in their own way.

That evening we joined Sarah, Joel and his cousins who live in the next town, for a great dinner in Croton-on-Hudson at a restaurant called Tagine.  They love living in this area and were telling us stories about how Croton was settled and grew with an an eclectic mix of immigrants, lefties, artists etc. It is now home to many commuters but it still retains a thriving artistic community and a rich heritage of cultural diversity that lends an eclectic vibe to this little village.

After exploring the village of Croton-on-Hudson, we rented a car for a day and explored the surrounding area.  First, we drove up to Cold Spring, a lovely town that we had visited years ago – it’s still as pretty as it ever was.  From there we stopped at the Boscobel house and gardens, a historic home that had been transported from its original location to a beautiful river setting.  Here, we “snuck in” and  strolled the grounds before anyone realized that we had not paid the fee! 

Our big plans for the day were to go to Hyde Park and have lunch at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). This has been on Lynn’s “bucket list” for awhile. We had reservations at Bocuse, the French restaurant, one of five from which one can choose.  The CIA is the world’s  premier culinary college with a beautiful campus on a stunning section of the Hudson River.  All those working in the restaurants are students and they must rotate through each of the roles in a restaurant before they graduate.  We had a  fabulous lunch and though we are not the type to take photos of our food, we decided to do so this time! 

From there, we visited Springwood, the FDR home and presidential library.  Since the last time we were there, Lynn had been on a Franklin and Eleanor kick and she wanted to revisit their homes.  It’s a fascinating place and theirs was such a unique contribution to world history. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to there, especially parts of the Presidential Library and the full guided tour of Val-Kill, Eleanor’s home on the grounds. 

On the day we were planning to leave Croton, we learned that the Clearwater Music Festival (the one started by Pete Seeger to raise money to clean up the Hudson River) was to be held the following weekend at the park at the other end of Half Moon Bay, the exact place where we were staying!   It would be two days of outdoor entertainment featuring scores of bands, many of them favorites of ours.  After EXTENSIVE deliberation, we decided to continue up river to our next destination – Kingston, NY.  If we had stayed, we would have run the risk of not reaching Montreal in time to meet our friends who are joining us there from California.  We also needed time to make those pesky repairs mentioned earlier.  And as we all know, everything always takes longer than we think it will!