We started with a return visit to Golden Harvest Farms to get cold apple cider and apple cider donuts. We just cannot recommend these enough.
Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge
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Approaching the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge for our first crossing of the Hudson River. We planned on 2 crossings, but ended up doing it 4 times.
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The Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge
Mid-Hudson Bridge
Our first stop was going to be Kingston, New York, but I missed the exit and ended up down near Highland before we could exit the New York Thruway. We decided to cross the river on the Mid-Hudson Bridge into Poughkeepsie and head up to Hyde Park. If you ever need to use the Mid-Hudson Bridge to go east into Poughkeepsie and then get on US-9, beware, it is a left entrance onto US-9. Now, I'm not violent by nature, but if I ever meet the guy that designed this, he's gettin' an ass whoopin'.
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Mid-Hudson Bridge Toll Booths
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Mid-Hudson Bridge
FDR National Historic Site in Hyde Park
We apparently missed a sign and momentarily headed south on US-9. After turning around we headed up through Hyde Park and arrived at the FDR National Historic Site. We've done the house tour before and recommend it, but today was just a quick visit for photos.
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Kelly outside the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center. Of FDR's three vice presidents (John Garner, Henry Wallace, and Harry Truman), I wonder why they named the visitor center after Wallace?
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The rose garden where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are buried.
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Kelly at the grave of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. Besides being the 32nd President, Roosevelt was also Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Governor of New York.
Vice President Levi P. Morton in Rhinebeck
We then continued north into Rhinebeck for our next stop. If Rhinebeck sounds familiar, it is because Chelsea Clinton was married there on 31 July 2010.
[Find Kelly]
Kelly at the grave of Vice President Levi Parsons Morton in Rhinebeck Cemetery. In addition to VP, he was also Governor of New York, United States Minister to France, and a United States Representative from New York.
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I saw this headstone near Morton's and just had to wonder if Thomas Holy Suckley had a tough childhood.
Vice President George Clinton in Kingston
When we were done in Rhinebeck we probably should have headed straight to lunch, but we really wanted to visit Vice President George Clinton. We had failed on three previous tries in 2006, 2009, and 2010 because it was too late in the day. So when we finally were in the area in the daytime, the draw was irresistible. We headed back over the Hudson on the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and dropped down into Kingston.
[Find Kelly]
Clinton is buried in the Old Dutch Chuirchyard on Main Street. He was a Brigadier General during the Revolutionary War and twice Governor of New York. Clinton was Vice President for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; one of two men to be Vice President for 2 different Presidents (the other was John C. Calhoun). As far as anybody knows, he is not related to President Bill Clinton (who was born William Jefferson Blythe III).
Elizaville Diner
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After leaving Kingston, we crossed the river for our final time that day and headed to the Elizaville Diner. We arrived about 20 minutes late, but were warmly welcomed by the folks from roadsidefans. We ordered lunch and started swapping stories about all sorts of stuff.
Millerton, New York
A couple of people had to leave after lunch, but the rest of us ran a 4-car convoy over to Millerton to see the Oakhurst Diner and Gilded Moon Framing shop.
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The Oakhurst Diner. I just love that stainless steel.
The Gilded Moon is located in a converted 1903 bank building. We met one of the artists (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) and he gave us a tour of the building and showed us some of his work.
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A view of Main Street from the Gilded Moon.
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The vault door from when the building was a bank.
Collin's Diner
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Most of the group was very tired at this point and headed home, so instead of backtracking to the Red Hook area, we took US-44 to Canaan to see the outside of Collin's Diner.
We continued east on US-44 and as we drove through New Hartford, what did I see? Could it be..... SATAN?!? (with apologies to The Church Lady). I like Connecticut, but they have some weird stuff there. Well, maybe I like it because of the weird stuff.
On the way back north through Granby we stopped for dinner at the Rancho Viejo (formerly Guadalajara Grill) restaurant. I don't know how authentic the food is, but it sure is good! We shared nachos (which was very large) then I had the Enchilada Combo while my son had the Pollo Fundido platter.
Just over 300 miles after we started, we were back home. Very tired, but we had a great day.
Koala Kitchen
http://www.koalakitchen.com/
