RockChalk44: Max and Leo

School is out, and our grandsons', Max (13) and Leo (9) flew into JFK in New York City on Friday June 7th. Shelley and I took the train into the city and the subway out to JFK to meet them, and spend the night in the city to see the sights. At least that was the plan, but Mother Nature was NOT cooperating. It rained...heavily. So we had a nice evening at the hotel, and by morning the skies had cleared. We walked a good deal of the city, and took the subway to other parts further away like the new Freedom Tower. The former Ground Zero is now the Freedom Plaza and they have topped out the new Building at 1776 ft. It is beautiful.

We wanted to surprise the boys, so we timed our walkabout to end up in Times Square at 2:00 for a matinee performance of The Lion King. All of us agreed it was great. I can see why people get hooked on Broadway plays. The majesty of the stage and actors and music is incredible. Pretty cool for a Kansas boy.

So we are off on our Big Adventure with Max and Leo for the bulk of this summer. We got back to the boat late Saturday evening, and untied the lines by 8:00 the next morning to start making our way north up the Hudson. I said it the first time I came up this river, and will repeat, this is one of the prettiest rivers in the country. The Catskills are off to the west and the Adirondacks to the east, and much of humanity flows in between. This river has long been the transportation funnel from the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, south to the Atlantic. Today there are railroads right at the river's edge on both the east and west bank, and only 4 feet off the water level. Naturally these railroads were shut down during Sandy last fall as an 11 ft. surge of sea water rushed up the river 117 miles to the Troy Lock. We have seen many docks and marinas wiped out by this surge.

The Hudson is also full of barges moving north or south between Albany and New York City. Us little guys need to stay out of their way and let them have the deep water. Most impressive to me are the mansions built along the river. The rich and famous of this country's early years, built their summer homes on her banks. President Roosevelt was born and raised in his families mansion in Hyde Park, and his Presidential library is now on the same grounds as the family home. Many important decisions in this country's history were made in his living room. The Vanderbilt's had one of their 46 mansions just a mile north of FDR, so we enjoyed visiting both.

Franklin D Roosevelt's family home in Hyde Park

Within these walls..The Great Society and The Manhattan Project!!

So the adventure continues as we move north. The weather has moderated but it is still pretty cool. Sweatshirts and shorts!! But that has not stopped the our pursuit of showing the boys something new each day. That means that I have to share with them all my favorite sayings. that Leo call Pepaisms. The list is quite long. That is the really fun part for me!!