Downstate New York
Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 11:22 amLooks like these will be our last weeks in New York state for some time, and Shelly wanted to see New York City. We did it by going camping downstate, near Poughkeepsie, and taking a train into the city on Saturday and Sunday.
This is a wonderful private park that we stayed at, Sylvan Lake Beach Campground. Looks like we managed to do it on the last warm weekend.
It's a half hour from the nearest train station (New Hamburg) and about a 2 hour train trip each way to Grand Central Terminal, in Manhatten. A very nice campsite, they have a little plateau they use specifically for teardrops, pop-ups, etc. Has electricity.
We took a tour bus around Manhatten, which I don't particularly recommend. They give you earbuds which often didn't work well and which had a lot of idiotic recorded chatter in between a few relevant facts. I don't like earbuds anyway, since they don't work well with my ears, and it was often hard to hear above traffic noises. Oh yes, busses also get stuck in traffic jams in Manhatten!
We also took a tour boat around the island, that we both liked. They take it all the way around when the tide lets them get under low bridges and turn around otherwise, so make sure you find out ahead of time if that's important to you.
We also saw the 9/11 Memorial (didn't have time for the museum) and then the USS Intrepid museum. The Intrepid was a World War II era aircraft carrier, that was hit several times by kamakazie pilots. It later served in Vietnam as well.
On Monday, we drove up to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, also about a half hour from our campsite. Pretty good history of the Great Depression and World War II from Roosevelt's point of view. We also took the guided tour of the home he grew up in. Much different than, for example, the Eisenhower home at his presidential library! Guess the Roosevelts had a little more money in their family. The home I grew up in is somewhere in between, but since I never quite became president, we're selling it, rather than donating it to the nation. Sorry!
We ate our meals while touring, after the first evening's, which made the trip slightly more pricey, but a lot more convenient. All in all, a great 3 day trip over an unusually warm mid-October weekend.
Tom
PS--If you're from Manhatten, what I call "downstate" you would call "upstate". You're wrong, but it's not a big deal!
This is a wonderful private park that we stayed at, Sylvan Lake Beach Campground. Looks like we managed to do it on the last warm weekend.
It's a half hour from the nearest train station (New Hamburg) and about a 2 hour train trip each way to Grand Central Terminal, in Manhatten. A very nice campsite, they have a little plateau they use specifically for teardrops, pop-ups, etc. Has electricity.
We took a tour bus around Manhatten, which I don't particularly recommend. They give you earbuds which often didn't work well and which had a lot of idiotic recorded chatter in between a few relevant facts. I don't like earbuds anyway, since they don't work well with my ears, and it was often hard to hear above traffic noises. Oh yes, busses also get stuck in traffic jams in Manhatten!
We also took a tour boat around the island, that we both liked. They take it all the way around when the tide lets them get under low bridges and turn around otherwise, so make sure you find out ahead of time if that's important to you.
We also saw the 9/11 Memorial (didn't have time for the museum) and then the USS Intrepid museum. The Intrepid was a World War II era aircraft carrier, that was hit several times by kamakazie pilots. It later served in Vietnam as well.
On Monday, we drove up to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, also about a half hour from our campsite. Pretty good history of the Great Depression and World War II from Roosevelt's point of view. We also took the guided tour of the home he grew up in. Much different than, for example, the Eisenhower home at his presidential library! Guess the Roosevelts had a little more money in their family. The home I grew up in is somewhere in between, but since I never quite became president, we're selling it, rather than donating it to the nation. Sorry!
We ate our meals while touring, after the first evening's, which made the trip slightly more pricey, but a lot more convenient. All in all, a great 3 day trip over an unusually warm mid-October weekend.
Tom
PS--If you're from Manhatten, what I call "downstate" you would call "upstate". You're wrong, but it's not a big deal!
