Up the Hudson

On Sunday, March 15, 2020, Camille and I drove with Sophie up the Hudson River Valley to Albany. Camille has taken a trip out of NYC each weekend.  She thinks it makes the week go faster and the burden of her presence seem lighter on the Zengers, the friends with whom she stays.  It was "just spring" as we drove north, with most of the trees still bare and snow in the Catskills.

It was a thrill to take the FDR Drive up the east side of Manhattan, whirring past public housing projects, huge skyscrapers, and the East River.  After the usual snail's pace of walking through Manhattan, it seemed almost shocking to travel so fast above-ground!

We drove north for nearly an hour, following a Hudson River Valley guide brochure.  Our first stop was billed as a nature walk around a lake.  When we stopped at that supposed tourist site, we all laughed.  The "lake" was a big puddle by the side of the road, with a few geese quacking nearby.  "This was a goose chase," Sophie said wryly.

 Notwithstanding that disappointment, it felt wonderful just to leave the city, which is weighed down with fears of coronavirus.  Unfortunately, nearly everywhere we stopped was closed, including all the state parks.

 We paused for lunch at a cafe in New Paltz which, mercifully, was still open.  I enjoyed the house specialty--pasta with Cajun sausage and a spicy cream sauce.

 We walked along Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, even though the museum and historic homes were closed.  This was a 1700s French Protestant community.  America was a refuge for so many religious dissidents, including the French Protestants who fled France when the Catholics came to power and pushed them out.

 We were the only tourists there, and we enjoyed wandering through the picturesque graveyard.

 Each house had a story.

 Next stop was the home of Frederick Church, one of the "Hudson River School" of painters during the 1830s to 1850s,  My mother was not a connoisseur of paintings, but she did love the lush landscapes of the Hudson River School. 

 The home was a work of art, itself, with Moorish details

 We looked far down the hill at the beautiful Hudson River.

 I will have to come back in the fall, when this valley is most beautiful.

 We wandered on to the quaint town of Hudson, noted for its many antique stores.

Camille and I wandered through the shops, while Sophie dozed in the car.  Sophie is nearly halfway through her radiation treatments, and, as the doctors predicted, she is getting more and more tired.

 We drove up and up into the Catskill Mountains, along narrow, winding roads.  Camille and I took a short hike to Kaaterskill Falls, as, again, Sophie slept.

 Finally, as it began to get dark, we arrived in downtown Albany.  I checked Hotels.com for a good but bargain hotel and, voila, there it was right in front of us--the Fairfield Inn & Suites, for which Camille had Marriott points.  We asked the clerk where we could eat supper and she said that this afternoon Governor Cuomo shut the whole city down--no restaurants were open and the hotel would not be serving its usual complimentary breakfast.  How quickly all of New York State had closed its doors!

 The city was charming, layered over several hills, with historic government buildings.  Albany reminded me of Austin, Texas, another hilly government town.  I will have to come back.

As we drove south to NYC, we passed many army trucks.  We heard on the news that Governor Cuomo had called out the National Guard to help in areas with coronavirus outbreaks, such as New Rochelle, a Jewish Orthodox community just outside NYC.  Camille dropped me off at JFK for my flight home which, again, was only half full.  This has been both a fun weekend and a sobering one. I didn't realize, until I got back to SLC, that NYC had become the heart of the coronavirus epidemic in America.  When I mentioned to a work friend that I was just back from NYC, he moved several steps away from me!