On the Road Again...

We arrived in Stony Point, NY with little fanfare. But, what a joyous sight to see our vessel launched and looking so welcoming! The folks at Pennybridge Marine did a great job looking after the boat for the winter, and of souping it up for our next adventure. The electrical system is working great, the new water pump makes life much better, and the air conditioning is making the extreme temperatures almost bearable! We have seen 32 degrees here with very high humidity - not my expectation for June weather. We were docked close to a retired fireboat - Fireboat McKean - an interesting sight for us.

I make it sound like everything has gone smoothly - there have been a few bumps.

After setting up shop for day-to-day living (make the bed, clean the bathrooms, ensure the kitchen was functional, making sure the stuffy that Mac sent with Papa had a place of prominence on the boat), we opted to not travel too far on the first night - got supper at a lovely Mexican restaurant up the road and crashed for the night. So far, so good.

After a great night's rest, up early to shower and head out for coffee and groceries.

Well, so much for the fun part. Greg forgot his phone in the Uber we took from the marina to the grocery store :( - the beginning of a very LONG day. HIs phone travelled to the city (NYC), New Jersey, Connecticut, and back along the Hudson before the driver returned it late that night - understand, the marina is an hour out of Newark. Although our faith in the goodness of mankind was tested, Jean (the driver) restored our faith upon his return to the marina and the recovery of the phone. I did receive a panicked telephone call from Scott after he had called his father and spoke to someone with a thick French patois (I think Jean is of Haitian descent) and very unclear in his diction!! Scott wondered if we had been hijacked in our journey (think Somalian pirates), but it was just Greg's phone gone MIA. That evening required four fingers of good Irish whiskey to celebrate (love that Redbreast)!

We spent the next day waiting on the remaining electrical work to be completed (again very hot and humid) and setting up our new Starlink system - nice to be relatively stress free for a day. Some sights below from our boat - the adjacent fuel dock, barges on the Hudson, and a very large crane who just came by to visit!

As the forecast on Friday was not optimal, we planned a day in NYC - who doesn't like NYC, regardless of the weather!Our sojourn to the city began with an Uber ride to the ferry terminal in Haverstraw (nothing forgotten) and a very smooth ride across the river to Ossining - home of SingSing prison (who knew). Below, the Haverstraw Ferry terminal, the ferry docking, and the Ossining terminal (with an interesting sculpture to greet passengers).

From there, we boarded the commuter train to Grand Central Station. We then jumped on the subway to the upper east side, headed to the Frick Collection (https://www.frick.org). Anyone who has read 'The Magnolia Palace' by Fiona Davis will know why this attraction might be interesting! A return to the Gilded Age is what we were looking forward to; however, I had not planned far enough ahead. Unless you reserve your admission, you are not welcome! Our new mantra became - 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', so we did. We are now members of the Frick Museum and in turn, bypassed all the persons waiting their turn for admission on the street in the very hot and humid weather as the suboptimal weather had not materialized. No rain - just sun and more heat!!

We were rewarded - Mr. Frick was the owner of a vast collection of art work (many impressionists - my favorite period) and had built a beautiful house on Fifth Avenue to house everything.

We had lunch at Pershing Square - a very American restaurant - and headed to Best Buy from there. We needed advice on how to secure our new Starlink system which we were able to obtain. From there we travelled to Bryant Park, and sat with drinks to just enjoy the New York Scene. We did enjoy an Uber ride in a Tesla - viewing the New York highrises through the panoramic glass roof was amazing.

Eventually we headed back to Grand Central and boarded our train back to Ossining. We had a meal waterside in Ossining, then boarded the ferry and returned back to the boat. What can I say - I love NYC!

Our time enjoying the hospitality of Pennybridge Marine has drawn to an end. We highly recommend the marina - the owners and people who work here have been most accommodating especially Ginny, Donna, Dan (a great mechanic and fount of boat knowledge) and Mike. Our dock neighbours - Randy and Sharon - were equally as welcoming and full of entertaining stories. Given the current barrage of misinformation about border crossing problems, and rhetoric about the 51st state, we have felt welcomed and respected throughout our time here. However, tomorrow we leave - time to get on with completing the Loop!