From West Point to Freeport

We started the day with a tour of the United States Military Academy.  We did not have long to stay and found ourselves wanting to stay much longer.  You could easily spend a day on campus and touring the West Point Museum.  

 

Hannibal was a past Army mascot.  Actually,  three mules were retired in a ceremony this past year and new mules were "drafted into service".  West Point is located on the west bank of the Hudson River north of New York City.  I was surprised to learn that the river is 200 feet deep at this location with a very swift current.

 

 A chain was forged (over 1700 feet long) and pulled across the river to keep the British fleet from running up the river.  Forts were located along the river with cannon to sink the ships if they ran into the chain and were held. The view below shows the Hudson and the bend in the river.

 

Below is the Cadet Chapel.  Every book was perfectly positioned in the back of the pews.  There is a shelf underneath each pew for placement of the cadet's hat.  They were tuning the organ when we were present and the pipes extend down each side of the building.  The buildings on campus were of stone quarried from a local quarry.

 

The Cadet Chapel at West Point

 

Superintendent's Residence at the end of the parade ground

We left Highland Falls, NY just before noon and drove across Connecticut and Massachusetts.  I was surprised by the constant rolling hills of Connecticut.  We crossed New Hampshire near the coast and entered Maine.  We are spending the night in Freeport, Maine which is the home of L.L. Bean.  We went downtown to go to Bean's and were concerned the store may be closed, but the store is open 24 hours a day.  L.L. Bean has been open 24 hours a day since 1956.  The store is acually a collection of 5 or 6 stores scattered through town.

 

We are back in our room watching the news and hoping we will be able to get in Acadia tomorrow, but making alternative plans in case our stubborn Congress continues their standoff.  We will just have to see what tomorrow brings.

From Harrisburg to West Point

We were up early on Sunday morning for the drive from Harrisburg to Berwick, Pennsylvania.  Where yesterday was driving in farmland, today we went into the mountains.  Seemed like home in that there were "deer crossing" signs every few miles.  The scenery was beautiful as we began to see more and more reds and yellows along the streams.

It was a joy to attend church at Emmanuel Bible Chapel in Berwick with the Kaltenbaugh family.  Judy and Rollin are friends from Memphis and were such a help to us then.  We met Judy when Connie was hospitalized and Judy was her nurse and she invited us to her church at Boulevard Baptist.  We have stayed in touch through the years, but this was the first time since 1979 that we had been able to see each other.  Niki was a baby when we moved and now she is a mom with two beautiful boys of her own.  Judy's mom has now moved near her and the whole family was in church Sunday.

 
Thank you Judy and Rollin for letting us worship with you, lunch, and the time of fellowship in your home.  The landscape around your home is beautiful and hard to describe to all the Tennessee folks.  The photo taken from the backyard does not do justice to the actual view.

(The view of the mountains and the cornfield from the backyard)

Judy & Rollin

We did not want to leave, but we had to be on our way to make the drive on to Highland Falls, New York.  The foliage around Scranton, PA and in the Delaware River Valley was probably 40 to 50% of peak and beautiful.  Tomorrow we plan to start the day with a tour of the United States Military Academy and then drive across Connecticut, Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire, and hopefully into Maine.

Saturday, September 28

Two days of travel has brought us to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We were in 5 states today as we left Tennesse, traveled through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and into Pennsylvania. 

The Shenandoah Valley was beautiful with the corn being harvested. Tobacco was cut and hanging in the field. There was  some color in the maples in southern Virginia, but very little change here.  We saw two sets of geese headed south in their "V" and made us wonder why we were going North.  

Tomorrow morning we plan to be in Berwick for church and lunch with friends from long ago. We last saw Rollin and Judy in 1979 when we were in Memphis. From there it is on to New York.