The Hudson River is amazing. Never a dull moment. The XO and I are travelling north on it, revelling in its awesomeness, freaked out by its diversity, captivated by its breadth, depth, height, and for the most part, solitude. Our binoculars are always at the ready.
“Did you see that?”
“Check that out!”
“Look! Over there!”
“What is that?”
Like I said, never a dull moment. It’s not always the big stuff, like West Point, or the Rip Van Winkle bridge, it’s often the stuff on the river banks that you float by. Weird encampments, strange smokestacks, odd buildings, kooky, unusual things that we don’t often see in our everyday New England life. The flora and fauna of a river a gazillion years old, carved out by glaciers. Practically the whole thing is lined with huge cut stone and wood that look decades, if not centuries old. Who did that? Why?

Hudson River scene.

Bridge

On the way to Kingston, one of our plants –who we call Boyd–fell off the boat and miraculously managed to save itself by grabbing on to the dinghy tow line! Here he is inches from death.

Hudson River tug. They’re everywhere.

Tug with barge. Also everywhere.

By the time we hit the Rondout Creek in Kingston NY., we’re ready for the luxury of a slip. Oh yeah baby. Showering and washing dishes with the water running! Free WiFi! Air conditioning! We pick a great place. The Rondout Yacht Basin. They have a pool, a restaurant, and a laundry. As an extra added bonus, we can refuel and pump-out right from our slip.

Slipped in Kingston, NY.

Nash Jackson. Dock boy extraordinaire.

Tony the cook. Best french fries ever!

We take a cab to the shopping center and the biggest Lowes and Wal-Mart I’ve ever seen. They’re easily twice the size of the ones back home in Wareham.

Restocking our provisions. The 5 foot PVC pipe is to make a fender-board.

The cab for our ride home is a no-show, so we take our first UBER. Our driver Wayne is very friendly and helpful.

Love UBER.

We visit the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston Village. They have a dinghy dock so we travel there by water.

One of the best museums I’ve ever been in.

Early outboard.

I have actually operated this type of engine on the Charles River as a kid.

There are 5 unrestored WWII PT boats just waiting for someone to love them enough to lavish many thousands of dollars on them. These things are huge.

The village of Kingston, while very scenic and interesting, is, shall I say, out of our price range. So many boutiques. We walk into a wine shop looking for our favorite Rex Goliath Cabernet that we usually pay ten bucks for, but turn on our heels when we find nothing less than 30 dollars.

Kingston.

Thanks to the awesome folks at the Rondout Yacht Basin, we have an enjoyable stay in the Kingston New York area. SOCOBO 8/11/17

Rondout Creek morning.