We didn't catch a train, but as soon as Ali was done with work we shot off, hoping we could make it to all our sights before they closed. We held our breath and raced up north.
On our way, we passed by THE Culinary Institute of America. You know, with alums like Anthony Bourdain and Duff Goldman. The drive was cloudy and beautiful. I can never get enough of all this green.
We made it just in time to take a brief walk around Springwood, Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthplace, and home with Eleanor Roosevelt. Also home of the First Presidential Library. The library was closed so we just walked around. We saw the graves of Franklin and Eleanor in the Rose Garden.
The house is really impressive. Apparently it was used as a "Summer White House" and housed princesses and monarch from around the globe, as well as Winston Churchill himself.
Not to get weird, but this place is likely haunted by a ton of political ghosts.
Scared of ghosts face.
After that we jetted over to Poughkeepsie to walk on the longest pedestrian bridge in. the. WORLD! New York always has to be so epic. So obviously it is also a National Historic Site.
We got a little lost in some sketchy places thanks to our shady navigation. But after a while we shut her up and found our way.
The bridge closes at sunset. We weren't really sure how that was going down since there was no sun with all those clouds. But we made it and had time to walk about halfway down the bridge.
Apparently the bridge used to be a double track railroad bridge. That thing is so narrow I kept thinking of old westerns with trains rattling down these toothpick-frail bridges. I guess part of it got damaged in a fire so they let pedestrians walk on it instead.
Just kidding. Obviously it's safe or whatever. Luckily I had Ali to tell me about bridges and safety and things you know when you are a genius structural engineer for a living.
Bridges make Ali happy! :)
The Walkway Over the Hudson has fun little informational signs along the bridge. Where you can learn about things like sloops, "The 18-wheelers of the 19th century." Pretty much a sailboat. But we didn't have any boat aficionados to educate us on all that.
Pretty soon this wannabe-hardcore wannabe-park-ranger got all bossy about the park closing in 5 minutes. I walked three steps past him to take a picture of the American flag of all things and he pretty much shot laser beams through my back. For goodness sake! It's the flag! What about freedom?! No freedom there cos we had to hoof it back to the car while he drove 5 yards behind us until us and the few other people on the bridge exited.
Sheesh!
Next we rushed over to New Paltz. In New Paltz you can find the debated first/ one of the first streets in America. Seriously. The history over here is crazy. This place also closes at dusk since it is a National Historical Landmark or whatever. *eye roll*
It is not likely that you can see anything on this map.
But we are crazies and it's not like there is a fence or anything so we let ourselves in. And that was the funny thing. (one of) The oldest street in America is half museums half occupied residences. There were people just wandering around walking their dog right next to a house that was built IN THE 1600s.
Old stuff is not even a big deal around here. That dog probably pees on those buildings every day.
Moving on. The street is called Huguenot Street and the homes are dutch colonial style. I'm no architect/ art history buff but they look very Northern European. The community was settled in 1678 by individuals fleeing religious persecution in what is now northern France/ Belgium. That's less than 60 years after the Mayflower landed.
I started getting a little weird thinking about ghosts because I was getting a little spooked by how dark and quiet the area was.
Don't even mention when we walked past the cemetery. Kidding. I think.
By this point it was pretty late, so we headed back, hopefully without any hitch-hiking ghosts.
(Name that reference!)
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