11 May 2014

Our stay in Kingston was brief but pretty jam packed with things that we did.

But first, our trip here was very nice. The day got better and better, we went from a cloudy 68F to a sunny and clear 78F. The water was very flat and a lot of people were taking advantage of the great Saturday to go out and fish. We did a lot of speed changes from cruising to “no wake” to tiptoe through (well as much as a 30,000 lb boat can) through the fishing grounds.

The dock is along the Rondout in Connelley (just across from Kingston. Connelley and Kingston were huge shipping locations in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. How did I know that?

Simple, after getting tied up we got a taxi and headed over to the Hudson River Maritime Museum! It’s a small place but lots of history of the river in the Kingston area. They also have a great collection of tug boat lore, since tugs played a big part in cargo traffic on the river. We spent about an hour there browsing the exhibits.

One of my favorites was the ice boats. I’ve seen the little 12 foot iceboats, but they have one on display that is 55′ long and has side runners that are 12 feet apart. This thing was huge! They have movies of it screaming along the ice with a guy standing on the windward side (like hiking on a boat) to keep the skate on the ice. It had a recorded top speed of 60MPH!!

Outside the museum, we caught the trolly over to the Trolley Museum of New York.Since we were the last ride of the day, we got to ride into the trolley barn.

In the barn we got to see the Trolley’s they have refurbished and the ones in progress. A neat ride back into history.

Our first choice for dinner was closed, so we walked through Kingston to an Irish Pub we had seen. We had a Scotch Egg, Bangers and Mash and Fish and Chips. Sláinte! After dnner we walked a little around Kingston looking at the shops and the antiques. We got back to the boat and I set up the printer / scanner so Susan can get started on her project. I cruised the dock looking at the boats (love looking at boats)

Sunday (Happy Mother’s Day) is bright and clear, so we will once again head north. We are looking at two days of rain, that will let us catch up on projects.