Great beauty today

Hi everyone,

I wish you could have been aboard to see this stunning section of the Hudson I traversed today. The weather was downright glorious, if a bit on the cool side. I started out on the Tappan Zee, passed the nuclear plant at Indian Point, went under the glorious Bear Mountain Bridge, passed beneath the fortress of West Point, negotiated the swirling waters of World's End, and gazed upon the legendary Storm King Mountain. Then came Bannerman's Castle on Polepel Island.  There was plenty of barge traffic and folks in small fishing boats. Finally, I passed the exquisite lighthouse at Esopus Meadows, which has received a paint job in the not too distant past. There were other impressive bridges that I passed under and marveled at, thinking about the capital required for financing, and the actual human capital that did the work. While there is a great deal of natural beauty along this part of the Hudson, there is an equal amount evident in the manmade. Granted, the nuke plant was not very pleasing aesthetically,  but it and the wires marching across the river are pretty darn impressive. There are spectacular houses situated all along the river that exemplify the best in various eras of architecture. Trains, both passenger and freight run very frequently along both sides and demonstrate the importance of the river for travel. You would expect them to detract from the view but I, at least, do not find that to be the case at all. And then we have West Point, arguably ground zero for the development of the US Army. A truly impressive facility, regardless of how one feels about the long history of the military in this country. The story here goes back to the Revolution. As I passed I thought about Benedict Arnold and his attempt to hand it over to the British and of George Washington's shock at the discovery of the plot. The Hudson River was absolutely critical in terms of importance strategically to the newly born United States.

I remembered a couple of things from my first trip on the Hudson when I was 16 years old. One was the mothballed fleet of WW2 Liberty ships that were moored opposite the nuke plant, if I remember correctly. Probably cut up for scrap. The other thing I remember was an operating steam sidewheeler named the Alexander Hamilton that took people on excursions from the city, up to Poughkeepsie and back. What I was most impressed by was how fast the Hamilton could move. By far the fastest large vessel on the river and you had to constantly be alert for her whereabouts.

I am anchored near Kingston and hope to head out in the morning in spite of more lousy weather on the way.

Best to all, Charlie