1 July 2009 Stroudsburg, PA to Westfield, MA 205 miles
Pictures L to R: Baby on the Delaware River (PA); Port Jervis NY; Newburgh, NY--the closest we'll get to NYC; Crossing the Hudson River; Farmland scene.
The weather seems to be dictating both our direction of travel, and the number of miles we are doing this week. We have camping reservations for the weekend of the 4th in Maine, so our mileage is a little higher again...the rain is supposed to taper off for the weekend--we'll see!
After a wonderful breakfast at the Stroudsmoor, we woke to gray foggy skies again and headed north up the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area. Once we were through the town, this became a smooth, green beltway following the Delaware River. We crossed into New York at Port Jervis…surprised that we were unable to find any sign posting stating "welcome to NY." (I know for a fact that there are a few New Yorkers looking forward to our visit!) We continued along Highway 209 through rolling hills of dairy farmland, and lots of beautiful scenery. We continued east until we made it to Newburgh, NY, the closest we will be to NYC--we are just not big city folks--and made a left turn to follow the Hudson River north to Poughkeepsie, where we could cross the Hudson without being on the interstate. I was surprised at how wide the Hudson River was at this point—as wide, if not wider than the Mississippi. Once east of the Hudson, the terrain became rolling hills, dotted with horse farms. I’m not sure if this area is considered upstate NY, it may be mid-state, but it sure is beautiful. We stopped in Millerton, NY, just west of the CT border to stretch our legs and ended up walking down their rails-to-trails pathway for a short distance.
Shortly after crossing into Connecticut we stopped for groceries…still hoping to camp…in Canaan. We spent about a half hour talking with people in the parking lot. One gentleman, we learned, was 90 years old, had a 1932 two-door that he has had for over 40 years. He is the second owner, and the car is un-restored! He also has a 1971 GTO Judge that he takes to car shows. As we were talking, another gentleman walked up and the first man said, “This is my neighbor…he is the old guy around here.” The second gentleman was 95 years old, a retired deputy--still active as a reserve! I guess Canaan is a great place to live a long life.
Just about the time we were leaving the parking lot, the rain started in earnest. This part of Connecticut is windy mountain roads, much like the foothills in the California Sierra Nevada’s, but forested. It was simply beautiful. Since it seems to be our MO lately, we began looking for somewhere to eat and wait out the biggest part of the rainstorm. What we found was a gem of an Italian restaurant in Winsted, CT, that had a great pesto pizza! Ummm…only problem was we’ve been leaching garlic all day now.
The towns we were going through didn’t have much in the line of hotels that we could see, and since the weather looked worse to the south of us, we turned north at Granby, CT, and made our way in Massachusetts, along route 10/202. The sun was shining above us, but storm clouds surrounded the area. We got a hotel room in Westfield, just west of Springfield, MA, and it was a good thing…we woke up to a solid rain shower that is supposed to continue for much of the morning.
Shortly after crossing into Connecticut we stopped for groceries…still hoping to camp…in Canaan. We spent about a half hour talking with people in the parking lot. One gentleman, we learned, was 90 years old, had a 1932 two-door that he has had for over 40 years. He is the second owner, and the car is un-restored! He also has a 1971 GTO Judge that he takes to car shows. As we were talking, another gentleman walked up and the first man said, “This is my neighbor…he is the old guy around here.” The second gentleman was 95 years old, a retired deputy--still active as a reserve! I guess Canaan is a great place to live a long life.
Just about the time we were leaving the parking lot, the rain started in earnest. This part of Connecticut is windy mountain roads, much like the foothills in the California Sierra Nevada’s, but forested. It was simply beautiful. Since it seems to be our MO lately, we began looking for somewhere to eat and wait out the biggest part of the rainstorm. What we found was a gem of an Italian restaurant in Winsted, CT, that had a great pesto pizza! Ummm…only problem was we’ve been leaching garlic all day now.
The towns we were going through didn’t have much in the line of hotels that we could see, and since the weather looked worse to the south of us, we turned north at Granby, CT, and made our way in Massachusetts, along route 10/202. The sun was shining above us, but storm clouds surrounded the area. We got a hotel room in Westfield, just west of Springfield, MA, and it was a good thing…we woke up to a solid rain shower that is supposed to continue for much of the morning.
Dear Dave, Peggy and Henry,
ReplyDeleteWhat a nation we live in and you are seeing it from God's eyes. This is so great and we can picture your trip as if we were there. I know this has been said to you many times but you tell us the beautiful and the sad that you see and the people you meet with words that make it possible for our minds to picture and travel along with you. God Bless and Henry, you try to keep dry.
Gary and Lynne