New York City, NY – Newburgh, NY - June 17, 2008

Last night there were some dark, menacing clouds in the sky. There had been a chance of severe storms but we just got some rain. The photos don’t really convey the way the sky looked. The more severe weather went north.

We were underway at 7:00 this morning, starting our trip up the Hudson River. The ferry boat traffic between New Jersey and New York City was much heavier than over the weekend.

We went under the George Washington Bridge. The bridge was built in 1931. 30 years later a lower deck was added. Semi-trucks go on the top deck and cars on the lower. With all the traffic, they could probably use a third deck.

As we got further north the tall buildings and wall-to-wall concrete give way to more greenery and trees. The area became less populated and had more of a ‘country’ look. It’s hard to believe that New York City was less than 20 miles away. Maggie had told us that parts of the Hudson resemble Lake Pepin and we can see that. The cliffs here are higher than those around Lake Pepin, but the look and the feel of it is the same.

We left New Jersey behind and now had New York on both sides of the Hudson. The river widened some and we saw more recreational boats.

We passed Tarrytown. The name derived from the complaining of Dutch wives that their husbands tarried too long at the village taverns! We also went past West Point. West Point is the United States Military Academy and was opened in 1802. We had not realized that it was built right next to the water, almost into a cliff and looks like a fortress.

We needed to keep an eye out for debris. There was a 30’ log in the river, along with smaller branches. It was probably due to the storms last night. A riverboat captain in a boat ahead alerted us on channel 16.

We arrived in Newburgh, NY at 1:30 after traveling 59.1 miles. We had very favorable current. Bob and Margaret are coming over tonight for dinner. We will make the crab cakes we had bought and frozen at the fish market in Cape May, NJ.