We stopped at Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton-On-Hudson for tourist activities, and I wanted to go to dinner at The Culinary Institute of America, which was a short train ride from here. Due to circumstances, we had to cancel the initial reservations BUT I was able to make another reservation for another night at a more reasonable time and for the specific restaurant I wanted to go to. Also, as fate would have her way, we had to replace the main water pump…AAARRRGGGHHH! Good thing we had just gotten a “just in case spare” last week.

The marina was a short, but very hot, walk to the train station where we traveled to Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Tarrytown was a cute little village with lots of shops and restaurants. Sleepy Hollow wasn’t really much of a “cute” town, but it does have a lot of history. Most notedly the backdrop for the character The Headless Horseman from the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which was written in 1820 by Washington Irving. It is rumored that The Headless Horseman “tethers is horse nightly among graves” where he is buried in the Old Dutch Church graveyard. Interestingly, the Sleepy Hollow High School mascot it The Headless Horseman and was voted “America’s scariest high school mascot”.

We also walked by Philipsburgh Manor, a historical depiction of life in a 1750 manor, gristmill and trading complex. We didn’t go in the manor, but did walk around the outside.

Today, June 27, we traveled north, and yes it was raining AGAIN, to Poughkeepsie, NY where we are in Shadows Marina. The sights along the 40 mile journey were beautiful and very peaceful, although wet and overcast – at least not hot and buggy.

During this journey we passed the United States Military Academy commonly referred to as West Point in West Point, NY. It was originally a fort and it the oldest military academy in the US being established in 1802.

After passing West Point, we came across Pollepel Island which is 6.5 acres that contains Bannerman’s Castle which was built by Francis Bannerman in 1901 as an expansion of his growing military munitions surplus business. In 1920 200 pounds of shells and powder exploded destroying a portion of the complex. New York state took possession of the island in 1967. Today the property belongs to the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and is mostly in ruins. As of 2021 the island is under the care of The Bannerman Castle Trust, Inc which works with the State to try and stabilize what is left of the old buildings for educational, historic and maybe some day recreational activities.

Along the way we encountered a goose traffic jam. They were quite lippy and did not feel they needed to yield to the bigger guy in the pond – the huge white boat crossing their path. It’s pretty funny to think they could even come close to winning that battle.

We are docked for 2 nights where we will hit The Culinary Institute of America tomorrow night. After that, heading up to the Erie Canal. Looks like we will have friends (Bruce and Diane) joining us in Syracuse for the week trip to Buffalo along the Western Erie Canal. Keep checking up on us. Love to all, Gina and Mike