…… of my life in NY.
(An alternate title of this post could be: “A BOATLOAD of Pics!”
You might want to pace yourself.
Over a week or two.)

And only a sample day. They’re not all like this.
But a lot of them are close. 🙂

The day before I flew back to Texas, my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.
I was supposed to meet up with my friend, Jeni, to walk a mile or so and meet up with a group of Manhattan Women’s Club members.
I hit the snooze button.
Twice.

And then I just happened to wake up …… at 7:19 a.m.
Seriously.

Jumping out of bed, while experiencing heart palpitations and yelling out a curse word is not the best way to start the day.
Trust me.

But, since I seem to sometimes do my best under pressure, I managed to shower, dress, put make up on and race walk two blocks …… all by 7:36 a.m.
Yes, I’m that good.
Kind of sad, isn’t it?

Then Jeni and I walked to meet the bus. We ended up race walking because we thought the meeting spot was about 6 blocks before it actually was.
I know.
We were only about 7 minutes late, and thankfully we were not the last ones to get there.
Whew.

Jeni was smart …… she went to the long back seat and napped the two hours it took to get to Poughkeepsie (OK, I have to say that I just love saying that word. What a great name to be from. I have no idea if the town is a great place to be from, but I love its name. Say it … it’s fun! Oh, and it’s pronounced Poe-kip-see. 🙂 )

I was jealous.
And very tired.
But I perked up when we got there.
Thank you, Dr. Pepper.

We chartered a bus to the Hudson Valley to walk over the bridge (from the Poughkeepsie side). The bridge is 1.28 miles long and 212 feet tall.
Funny, it seemed longer and higher.

Here are some pics:

See? I told you it looked longer than that!

It’s also THE longest elevated pedestrian bridge In. The. World.
Impressed?
You should be.
This is the view of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, a.k.a. the “Franklin D. Roosevelt Bridge”.

A tug boat!
He was pushing a lot more than he was tugging.
(Or should I say “she”?  Boats are supposed to be shes, but I seem to remember some children’s story about a boy tugboat.  Anywhooo …. I digress.  Terribly.
Sorry.
Welcome to my brain.)

The mid-way point.  Does it look like less than 3/4 of a mile?
Me, either.

This is a view from the other side.  I thought this house was so pretty with its blue door and its flower boxes.

Next stop:  The Culinary Institute of America.
Or CIA, which, I confess, was a bit confusing on the first email.  I kept thinking we were going to THE CIA, but knew that we’d have to go to Langley, VA for that tour, so that didn’t make sense.
Again, welcome to my brain.

Back to the cooking place.

Mostly everyone there (who were students) wore the comfy-looking uniform of grey pants (roomy pants, kind of like scrubs) and a white chef’s top.  I think I’d go nuts trying to keep the top white.  For one day.
Too much pressure.

Inside where our group had lunch.  It was a fixed menu (kale salad with asparagus, grilled sea bass and veggies, and cheesecake).  It was a very tasty meal.

We saw this lovely waterfall on the way out.  I was trying to hurry to get a pic, so they’re not great, but you get the idea.
Hmmmm, I wonder if that statement would work for a picture of half of Niagara Falls?  “It’s not a great picture, but you get the idea.”
Somehow, I doubt it.

The C.I.A. (the cooking place) is located in Hyde Park. Interestingly enough, Franklin Roosevelt’s home, museum and presidential library are located there, too.
So we went to see them!

This is the library … and our tour guide.

There were about 20 of us and then a good-sized group from Texas.
Whoop!  They were an older crowd and were very nice.  They asked us about NY and what they should see and do the next day there.  I felt so New York-ish to be able to answer them.  🙂

This was FDR’s birth-home, childhood home, and his home-away-from-White House-home.  The only place he thought of as “home”.  And I can’t blame him.

These were the barns.  Pretty dang nice for a barn, wouldn’t you say?!

Going in through the front door (as opposed, I guess, to the back door … whatever):

FDR greets you upon entering.  A young FDR.

First floor living room:

This was Anna Roosevelt’s (FDR’s very “in control” mother) “office”.

And this is her picture.  She looks like a formidable woman.
And she was.
Very.

First floor “family room”

Foyer

OK, I’ve decided to split this post into two posts.
You’re welcome.

Tomorrow I’ll post all of the pictures from the second story of the home, the inside of the Library and the grounds.
That’s going to be another boatload of pictures.
Sorry that there are so many, but I have to say that when I go visit something in NY, I feel like I’m visiting it for all of you, too, so I want to take as many pics as I can (interesting pics, I hope, for the most part).
Many of you have said (more than once) that you’re living vicariously through me, which is a fun role that I don’t take lightly. I want you to feel, as closely as possible, like you were there.
Of course, you’re free to exit right out of this window any time you’d like. I realize that looking at other peoples’ pictures isn’t very exciting for most people, so I don’t take it personally.
Much.

So, Happy Wednesday/Thursday, Peeps.
I’ll post the rest tomorrow …… or at least that’s my plan as of 11:52 p.m. Central Time.
I also have to do laundry and pack for San Diego before early Saturday morning, when I get on yet another plane.

Whoop!… ?
(Yawn!!!)

🙂