West Point Military Acadamy Museum

Mornin all!  James and I had a nice church service yesterday at the Fishkill Church of the Nazarene.  Everyone was very nice in SS and in service.  Later we stopped at this 50's looking diner the I-84 Diner for lunch, it was really nice, a little expensive but nice.  After lunch we headed to West Point.  Yep, the real one.  It is a small little town with the Army's main academy just outside the window.  We went thru the meseum and the welcome center they were really nice.  More for the "guys", but I was interested.  In the sub-basement they had the "large" artillery.  Then the regular guns, ammo and swords and rifles and, and and...anyway.  We rumaged around there for about 2 hours and then hit the Dairy Queen on the way out of town.  That was for me (James can't do dairy).  Anyway so as you drive back up and over the mountain to get back to the hotel, they have overlooks you can stop at.  So of course we did.  It was another beautiful day!!!! I hope it was where you are also.  Anyway here are some pics.  Enjoy, we miss and love ya all!!!!

Vanderbilt Mansion Hyde Park, New York

James and I saddled up yesterday and drove down to see one of the smallest of the Vanderbilt mansions here in New York.  There are 211 acreas left now but in the beginning there was 715.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside because everything was orginal.  The grounds was beautiful and as you can see it was a wonderful day for a trip.  The Hudson river runs thru the back yard so to speak but there was a tunnel that went under the road infront of the house that took the servants over to the farm part of the estate.  I have pics of the outside of things but if you ever get to go thru it, it is amazing and the technology that they used when no one else in the area had access to was amazing.  The center of the roof actually could be opened up several inches to allow a cross draft in the summer for cooling.  They would open the windows on the first floor and lift the roof and it would pull the cool air up and send the hot air out.  It was said that when they called the power company to turn the lights on in the evening the towns people would gather at the rock wall by the road to watch it.  They of course did not have electricity.  The grounds servants were about 45 all the time and they worked in 12 hour shifts 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.  The guide said that most weekends they would have 4-5 families stay the weekend in the country with them.  The inside is amazing.  The grounds now is open to the public 7 days a week to us as a park, there was several out walking dogs, playing with kids etc.
James and I had a great time...  Oh yeah, there was a cool bridge that we crossed over the Hudson to get to the town I have a couple of shots of that as well......enjoy.

Solomon Island and Point Lookout, Maryland

Well for the last couple of nights we have been in the very bottom of the state of Maryland.  If you look on the map you will see that Maryland is divided into two sides we were on the left side bottom.  Our hotel was on the marina and we took a drive to Point Lookout State Park this point has a light house and on the one side is the Patomic River and the other side is the Chesapeak Bay.  It was wonderful, a beautiful sunny day after work we drove for about an hour and walked around for a while, saw some great things and headed back.  Have I mentioned we have a great job????? Well we HAVE A GREAT JOB!!!!!  Check out the pics.

washington, DC

Well its been a busy, busy day.  We went to church and came back, changed clothes and headed to DC.  James had never been there and I had but it was when I was a senior in high school..... (no comments, please).  Anyway a few things have changed...  The capital was closed but we walked around and went to the Smithsonian's Natural History museum.  It was really nice.  Then we walked over to the Smithsonian's castle.  The gardens and then back to the truck.  Here are some pics.  Hope you like them.