South to Saugerties, NY -- with special guests aboard

Saturday, September 2 -- Troy to Saugerties -- 50 miles

This was a special day because our son, Zach and his family joined us for a Labor Day weekend ride down the Hudson back to their home in Manhattan. They took the Amtrak train up to the Albany-Rensselaer station and then an Uber over to Troy in the morning. We all had lunch at the Dinosaur BBQ right next to the Troy Downtown Marina, then took off for the first leg of our trip. Here's a picture of Avery showing Mimi the slime that she made with her chemistry kit.

We saw many interesting sights on our run down the Hudson. The building in the background with the red pyramidal towers is the New York State Capitol building in Albany, which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, a late nineteenth century architect whose style was so distinctive that they named it Richardsonian Romanesque. 

The only destroyer escort still afloat out of 563 that saw service during World War II, the USS Slater, is a museum ship tied up at Albany. 

There is quite a bit of commercial traffic on the Hudson, which comes in all shapes and sizes, from ocean-going ships to river barges.

The main Amtrak line runs along the east bank of the river, usually right along the shore, and we saw many Amtrak trains go by over the weekend. 

There are also quite a few lighthouses along the river, and some spectacular bridges. Here are the Hudson-Athens lighthouse, the Rip Van Winkle highway bridge at Catskill, and the lighthouse at Saugerties.

Zach, June and Avery stayed at a very nice hotel in Saugerties while we stayed on the boat at a rather beat up old marina. Their hotel was next to the dam on Esopus Creek.

We all had a nice dinner together at the hotel, sitting outside overlooking the dam. Mimi and Poobah had to walk the mile-plus back to the boat in the dark because we couldn't get Uber or taxi service.