Alexis and Breanna

Alexis and Breanna where busy in the house to get the decorations ready.

wheel barrow

One of our projects was to make a decorative wheel barrow to display the fall bounty.

Joel was very keen to help.

decorating for fall

Now that we are officially off the boat for the winter, we are spending the first week off the boat with Bart and Val's kids.
Bart and val where away for a few days, so Opa and Oma came to spend time with the grandkids.

Tanya and Tyson

I "wove" you Mommy!!!

On the Fybridge

Father and Son on the flybridge

Fishing

Tyson tried his hand at caching the big one.
He did not have a lot of luck.

Bath in the cockpit

They both enjoyed a container full of water in the cockpit as there bath tub.

in the sink

Tasha felt safer in the sink!!!

Tubeing

Some of the activities Tyson liked, was riding the waves on the tube.

T,&T, and t,& t

On the following Monday Terry and Tanya arrived with Tyson and Natasha.

The van der Veens

Sunday Sept 2de we had a fisit from Heather and Geoff and their two kids.

Went out to Oneida lake anchored out , swam, and had dinner on board at anchor.

A swim in lake Ontario

We celebrated the closure of the loop by having a refreshing swim in lake Ontario.

It was special to have Breanna with us for the loop closure.

Entering lake Ontario

When we entered lake Ontario, we officially finished the loop, as we had done lake Ontario before.
In total we traveled 9278 nm during the last three years.
(a nm is 1.852 km for a total of 17178 km)
That is a lot of boating!!!!

Feedin the ducks

The ducks really appreciated having Breanna around.

Fishing

At the dock in Phoenix NY Breanna tried to catch the big one.

Hangglider

The hang glider ride!!

I thought it never would stop going around!!!

Sea lions

Went to the Syracuse fair and Bree got on the picture with a couple of friendly sea lions.

New first mate

The last week we had the pleasure of having Breanna, our oldest grand daughter on board.
Had lots of funn, and did lots of stuff.

Back on the boat

After several weeks at home and a trip to Europe we are back on the boat.
Breanna our oldest grand daughter is with us for a week.
The weather is not real good (Overcast) but we are having a good time.

Docked at Miles Winery

After our bike ride we get back to the boat, and continue on our way.

Waterfall

Even though the trail is down hill all the way, we take time for a rest, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Buckwheat Mill in Penn Yen

Supposedly the largest Buckwheat mill in the Area.
Most of the product is exported to the middle east.

Bike trail

We bike 7.5 mile from Keuka Lake to Seneca lake. (Penn Yen to Dresden)
Keuka Lake is 400 ft higher than Seneca lake, and we are going the right way!!!! (my kind of biking)

To Seneca lake

Peter and Christine arrive on Monday July 9th.

The following day we take off to explore the finger lake region.

On our way we see a bald eagle, however just like other wildlife shots he is hard to spot in the picture.

Brewerton

On the 4th of July we made it to Brewerton. This is where we will store the boat for the winter. However before we but Le reve away for the winter we will explore the area around Breweton.

Other times you share the country side with bikers.

There is a bicycle path running along the edge of the canal.

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal meanders through pretty country side.

Sometimes it will run along side of I 90.

Here a picture of I 90 with a farm high up on the hill in the back ground.

Flood damage

Evidence of the flood of last year!!

Between lock 10 and 15 some of the locks saw water 10 ft higher than the top of the lock wall.

This particular lock had water as high as the middle of the windows on the first building.

The result was that lots of the earth was washed away, and had to be replaced.

Sandpiper up ahead

On our way to Amsterdam we travel with an other looper "Sandpiper"

You can see Sandpiper getting ready to enter a lock up ahead.

We are traveling up hill from Water Ford, and incline about 170 ft through the first 6 locks in less than 2 mile.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is our first stop after Water Ford.

The Pict. shows the highway sign for Amsterdam.

Fire works

The barge loaded with fire works was pulled in to position, and it happened to be right in front of our boat.

So we had a front row seat to watch the 4th of July fire works.

Water Ford Ny.

Water fort is the start of the Erie Canal. The day we arrived in Water Fort it was the weekend after 4th of July, and there weekend to celibrate.

They had a steam boat show and it was nearly impossible to get a spot at the free wall.
We where lucky, as one boat left just as we where ready to dock.

So we spent the night. (29th of June)

Rondout Creek

In Kingston NY we turn west off the Hudson and go 4 miles up Rondout Creek to anchor for the night.

After we poke our keel into some soft mud, we back off, and proceed to a different spot, and find this place just before the bridge.

Notice the peaceful waterfall just past the bridge.

Light house in the Hudson

This interesting light house seems to be in the middle of the Hudson.
It warns the mariner about the dangerous shoal that lays behind it.

From the river

A view of the main building from the river.

Many resaurants

One of 5 or 6 restaurants on the grounds.

All serve different cuisine, prepared, and served by the students.

CIA

It is situated on the Eastern bank of the Hudson on immaculately manicured grounds.

The "CIA"!!!

An other place of interest we stopped, is the CIA

No it is not the "Central Intelligent Agency" of the USA, but rather the Culinary Institute of America. Any well known chef is bound to have spent some time in either this institute, or the one other CIA located in California.

West Point

Amongst the impressive, and well known places along the Hudson is West Point Military Academy.
Many well known names graduated from West point, such as Lee, Grant, Eisenhower, and a more resent heard of name General Schwartzkopf.

More Hudson river

The Hudson is a wide river (close to 1 mile wide) all the way up to Troy, where we turn west and take the Erie Canal. In Manhattan it is on average 50 ft deep. Further up the river you can see the depth gage go over 1oo ft. It is effected by the tides all the way up to Troy.

(The weather is less humid today after we had some thunderstorms come through last night.)

The rugged Hudson river valley

The Hudson River is a deep river, running through rugged mountains.
From New York north you first pass through the Eastern part of the Ramapo mountains. After that you come through the Catskill mountains, and finally the Adirondack mountains.

(This day is Hot, Humid, and Hazy.)

Food Food, and more Food

And we had to sample some of the New York CUISINE!!!!!

Statue of Liberty

Of course we had to go back in to New York with the kids and do the statue of Liberty tour on Le reve.

Statue of the Headless Horesman and Ichabod

This is the statue of Ichabod, and the Headless Horseman. It is situated just beside the Church in Sleepy Hollow., just north of Tarrytown.

The statue depicts the Headless horseman (Bram the town bully) chasing Ichabod with pumpkin in hand ready to throw at Ichabod.

Tarrytown Old Reformed Church

This is the Tarrytown reformed Church. A historic landmark being it is one of the oldest churches in the area.
As I mentioned before, it is quite amazing to see all the Dutch heritage in this area from way back.
The cemetery behind the church has lots of history, including the story about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. The characters in the legend are buried in this cemetery.

We actually met a historian (tour guide) who told us all about the history from this area . His name is William Lent. He is from Dutch decent from way back. (Makes me wonder if this is any connection to van Lenthe from way back)

This Church was actually used on a greeting card by Currier & Ives.

Still in New York

As of this writing we are still in New York. Or I should say Tarrytown which is a 2 hr boat ride north of New York.
We will meet Val and Bart, and Christie and Andy at noon today. (June 23)
We will take them south (into New York) by boat, and do some more New York sight seeing, before leaving to go further up the Hudson river.

From the little that we have moved back and forward on the Hudson (From New York to Haverstraw) it is clear to see that the Hudson will be an interesting (and big river) to explore. Not only it's scenic beauty, but also the history is very interesting. There is no doubt who the first settlers of this area were. If not by the architecture, than by names you see all over, like Beekman street, Harlem, Wall street, Tappan zee, and Rockefeller's estate, called Kykuit just to name a few.

Henry Hudson ( who the river is named after ) obviously was not of Dutch descend, but was hired by the Dutch East Indies company, and thus claimed the territory for the Dutch in 1613.

In the mid 1600 Peter Stuyvesant was send to the area to govern, and control a settlement that had clearly gotten rowdy and out of control.
In the sixteen sixties the British came to take over the territories.
If Peter Stuyvesant would have had his way the dutch would have had control of the area much longer than the 50 or so years they did. However he could not convince the people to take up arms against the British, and Mr Stuyvesant had no choice but to surrender. Perhaps it was the hard life, internal bickering, and fight for survival the first settlers were subjected to that caused them to feel the way they did about fighting the British. Who knows why, but it is said that the take over of New Amsterdam (as it was called then) by the British was one of the easiest of all. The British renamed the area New York (after the Duke of York) and the name stuck to this day.

Central park

Central park which is only 4 blocks from our mooring is an other place of "must see" when in New York.
The day we went they were having a performance in the very beautiful open air theater. A production of Romeo and Juliet was playing, and we where lucky enough to get tickets.

The picture shows only the central oval of the park with 6 baseball diamonds. This is only a small part of the overall park, totaling 60 city blocks long.

Ground zero

The building on the right is only 1/3 the hight of what the twin towers were.
Witnessing the large empty area in the center of this big city makes you more aware of the devastation and destruction of 9/11

Ground zero

Construction is in full swing at the sight of the former twin tower world trade center.

The garment district

Just south of Time Square is the "garment district"

The statue of a man behind a sewing machine, and a large needle in a button behind him remind you of that fact.

Time Square

Only two blocks and we are on Broadway.
Yesterday we walked south on Broadway for several blocks (27 to be exact) and found ourself on Time Square.

Wanted to go further in to down town, and hopped on the subway.

79th street mooring field

Here we are anchored just off Riverside park on 79th street.

This location gives us good access to Manhattan and all the sites we want to explore.