#114 West Point Academy, NY 6-26-09

We drove south to the KOA in Plattekill, NY on the 25th. This was the closest RV Park to West Point Academy. The drive into the park was very tight with the 40 foot RV. The roads are narrow and the trees are close to the edge.

We told the people at the park that they should pay us to drive in! We only had 30 amp service, but has not been hot enough to have to run both of the AC’s.

West Point, named for the point on the west side of the river that juts out and narrows the channel.

As you can see, it is a misty morning when we arrive. We did take our umbrellas, but luckily we only had to use them once.

Part of the dormitories and Thayer field where the cadets march.

The chain above is the last 13 of the links of a giant chain that was strung across the Hudson River to keep the British and any other war ships from getting up the Hudson. It was strung across the river after the winter thaw and brought back in before the freeze. It weighed tons and tons!

The above is the memorial to all the Union Soldiers (that they had record of) who died in the Civil War. Their names are inscribed on the band around the balls. The officers names are on the pedestal under the solid granite pole. (you can see a little bit of blue sky!)

On to the cemetery where there are still officers being interred. This is the grave of Thayer, the first administrator of the Academy. Many places are named after him.

After this General’s monument was put in place the Academy put a size limit on the monuments that could be erected. This one even had a buzzer inside so if by any chance the general was buried alive, and he woke up he could press the buzzer and the alarm would sound. The cadets used to take a long stick and set off the buzzer until it was finally unhooked!

The first woman monument for Margaret Corbin who followed her husband into battle during the revolution and when he was shot, she picked up his gun and continued to shoot.

Next we went to the small Chapel. Here the plaques of many famous Generals are displayed. The painting above the alter was so beautiful that I just had to have a picture.

The flags above are recreations of all the flags flown during the years that our country was forming.

The picture above had the words Duty, Honor and Country in the panels.

All four of the pictures above are the main Chapel. This chapel will hold over 1000 people.

After our tour we had lunch and went to the Museum.

The “fat” bomb. A duplicate of the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Japan.

A full size jeep from WWII is on display as well as a tank and a car from WW I. Many, many kinds or arms are all displayed. From the kind of arms used Before Christ to modern day. And arms from all over the world. It is an amazing museum.

First look at the sky. You actually see the storm moving in. But if you look on the Hudson River you will see a large boat steaming down the river. I thought this was an amazing view that we had on our drive back home.

We are driving right into these clouds and they did rain on us. It poured! We drove most of the way back to the RV (about 40 miles) in the rain. We even stopped and did our grocery shopping on the way home, hoping by the time we finished shopping the rain would have moved on, but no such luck. At least the rain waited until after we had our wonderful tour of United States Military Academy at West Point!

#113 Bennington, VT 6-24-09 Grandma Moses

On Wednesday, we drove to Vermont to go to the Museum that houses some of the Grandma Moses displays. But------Wednesday is the day the museum is closed!!! So I’ve down loaded some information and some pictures because it seems like the younger generation (my daughter, Laurie for instance) doesn’t know about her art. The information below is from Wikipedia.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), better known as "Grandma Moses", was a renowned American folk artist. She is most often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age.

Moses began painting in her seventies after abandoning a career in embroidery because of arthritis. Louis J. Caldor, a collector, discovered her paintings in a Hoosick Falls, New York drugstore window in 1938. In 1939, an art dealer, Otto Kallir, exhibited some of her work in his Galerie Saint-Etienne in New York. This brought her to the attention of collectors all over the world, and her paintings became highly sought after. She went on to exhibit her work throughout Europe and in Japan, where her work was particularly well received. She continued her prolific output of paintings, the demand for which never diminished during her lifetime. Grandma Moses painted mostly scenes of rural life. Some of her many paintings were used on the covers of Hallmark cards.

The pictures above are a sample of some of the type of paintings that she did.

Although we didn’t get to see her work and story in the museum we did tour the town and had a good time.

As some kind of fund raiser the town has put painted moose all over. I will put some of the pictures we took of the moose in an album. They were amazing.

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Bennington, VT isn’t just about Grandma Moses and Moose. They have the oldest church in VT.

There is a monument to the battle of Bennington. Of course if you want to climb up to the top and see the view—you have to pay. We didn’t do that!

They have covered bridges, but we only made it through one. Below the bridge was a wonderful New England sight. Two men fishing!

Our favorite Moose was right in front of an English Pub—run by John straight from England. We had “fish and chips,” and Frank had a good English Beer!

How do you like the gold moose? I thought he/she was really neat!

We had a very full and fun day in Vermont even though the museum was closed!

#112 6-23-09 Cooperstown, NY

We got an early start today—10:00 am. Well, that’s early for us! We drove over 60 miles to go to “The Baseball Hall of Fame.” Of course, it was almost lunchtime when we arrived, so first on the list was to find a place to eat. Cooperstown is a little bitty town, they call it a village. So we walked a couple of blocks in the village and ended up on the lake where the boats are docked. This is where we had our lunch and our first entertainment of the day!

This has to be a shallow lake, because the guy just backed his car right into the water, crawled out the window, over the top of the car and drove the boat onto the trailer. Then he crawls back into the car through the hatch and drives the whole thing out of the water! Not like the sloping cement boat ramps I’m used to seeing.

Our first stop in Coopersville was the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is a three story building with two wings that have been added. Lots to see!

Just inside the door is a “baseball” cow. Check out the mitts on his horns. Is he a righty or a lefty?

Next we went to a short film about baseball, showing clips of some amazing catches and telling us stories about the game. The theater looks like we are in a baseball field.

There are lots of pictures of baseball players and I liked this one with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Both out of uniform.

This painting and the story that goes with it, I thought was really interesting.

After we left the Baseball Hall of Fame we headed back towards home, but we made one stop before we go.

This is the Farm Museum.

This is the entrance to an amazing display. We got there about 3:45 and they close at 5:00 pm. So we got in for 1/2 price and had to do a hurried tour through an 1850’s town. This is a real working town. They have animals, printing, pharmacy, weaving and do demonstrations of all of that during the day. I’m sorry we got there so late. But we did get to see some of the “inhabitants” at their jobs!

The Pharmacy and the herb garden right beside it.

Below is the Rx sign, with the church in the background.

A familiar sight to Frank. A hop baler! 1860’s style.

The kitchen above was inside a typical home.

This was one bedroom, with a full size loom right in the room where you sleep. Every square foot of the house has to be used.

The old school house.

Frank must be listening to some teacher from long ago!

OK, here is my ride—where are the horses?

One more really amazing feature that was in the Farm Museum: A Carousel!

Aren’t the animals amazing?

When we got back to the Coach we decided to go to “Jumpin Jacks,” where they have a water ski show on Tuesday nights. The guy that runs the campground is one of the performers in the show!

Brad is the second guy in from the front with a girl on his shoulders! They take off from dock behind them—all at the same time and come back with the girls forming a pyramid.

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When you view the album, some of the pictures are a little fuzzy. They were really moving fast.

We arrived back at the coach a little after 8:00 pm. It was a very full and wonderful day—no rain!