It's the beginning of Spring Break and Plebe-Parent (Aunt/Uncle) week at West Point for the class of 2023. We flew up to New York on Thursday morning to join the family and participate in the activities. Our younger nephew, James (Brendan's brother), is being courted by the Sprint Football coach so Mark, Michele and James came out earlier.
We flew into LaGuardia and rented a car. I've never rented a car at LaGuardia and now I know why. Apparently, you take some kind of city bus (the purple route) to get to the shuttle stop. The shuttle bus took us (and I'm not kidding here) around the corner to the car rental garage. We could have walked the quarter mile to get there!
Meanwhile, we get the car and head out to Newburgh, NY where we have a hotel room booked at the Hampton Inn. We tried to book at the Historic Thayer Hotel but it's Plebe-Parent week and they were booked. No worries. Our hotel is fine. And, it has a special amenity that I've NEVER seen at a Hampton Inn. It has a bar. We'll talk about that later.
First things first - we have to get our visitors passes so that we can get on campus. The route that we have to take to get to the campus is insane. We went through this neighborhood with winding streets and steep hills. We thought Google Maps was taking us on a goose chase but when we took the last turn, we were dumped out on the main street that ran right in front of the visitor's center.
The visitors center is about 1/4 of a mile outside campus in this little village called Highland Falls. We get our passes and then, our plan was to go back to the hotel.
Then Michele calls. She and the boys are going to a West Point basketball game. Do we wanna go? What else have we got to do so we say sure!
We got food at this little hole in the wall on Main Street called Maria Bonita. We wanted to eat pub food but the kitchen wasn't open. We're very skeptical about getting east coast Mexican food but we were pleasantly surprised. The food was good. I got beef flautas that were quite tasty. John got a flauta, a chile rellano and an enchilada. None of them had canned chili beans as a topping (which is how I envision anyone outside of Texas making enchiladas).
We had some time to kill so we drove around the village a while. Along Main Street, there are several churches all in a row.
Sacred Heart Church. This is the Catholic Church.
Thayer Gate at West Point. The Historic Thayer Hotel is just inside the gate but to get there, you need visitors passes which must be procured at the visitor's center.
First, a little background. Originally, West Point was a fort that was occupied by the Continental Army.
A little factoid for you: Benedict Arnold committed treason by trying to sell West Point to the British. Who knew?
We drove up to redoubt4.
We got back in the car and drove around. This is the Cadet Chapel. Protestant services are held here. At night, it appears to be lit up. I love old historic churches...
There's a lot of wildlife on campus. In this picture, there are three deer. Can you find them? It took me a few minutes and I was right there!
This is a view of the Hudson River at sunset.
Tickets to the West Point basketball game. That evening they were playing Lafayette College. Being from the south, I assumed this was Lafayette Louisiana. Nope. This college was in Pennsylvania.
The tickets were general admission so we were practically courtside!
The West Point Black Knights are in gold. Lafayette is in red.
This is the inside of the chapel. It's beautiful.
Michie Field where the football team plays. BEAT NAVY!
This is the West Point Museum. It's next to the visitors center and it's free. They have some cool exhibits related to the folks that attended West Point along with exhibits about the wars that America has been in. Worth a visit.
We pulled into the town of Esperance (one of many small towns). We looked at each other and thought, well, the GPS hasn't steered us wrong yet. So we continued on.
As we drove on, we went through several small towns and thought we heard banjos but we kept on. We were coming up on the next turn onto "CR31". Huh, I wonder what CR stood for but I thought for sure we were coming upon civilization.
Nope. CR stands for Country Road. We started seeing signs showing deer crossing and then one for horse and buggy crossing. There wasn't really any room to turn around so we kept going.
When we came out of the woods, we ran straight into Cooperstown. Talk about the middle of nowhere! The town was pretty deserted. Most of these cars were people that worked on this main street. Based on what we'd read, we were expecting hoards of people. Apparently, we were there in the "off season".
They had an exhibit on Babe Ruth that was pretty cool.
They also had an exhibit on the Negro League. I thought they would have had a bigger exhibit on Jackie Robinson.
Lou Gehrig's jersey. It's the one that he wore his last season. Also, the farewell trophy presented to him.
A League of Their Own!
This is for my mom. After the Boston Marathon bombing, Neil Diamond performed "Sweet Caroline" during a Red Sox game. I've been to a game there and they sing it in the 8th Inning break. It's so cool!
Speaking of parks that have been closed...This is a cornerstone from Ebbets Field.
They also have a floor where they have lockers from all the teams. John in front of the Texas Rangers locker.
Statue of Buck O'Neill. He was in the Ken Burns documentary "Baseball". Buck played in the Negro league for the Kansas City Monarchs and then coached.
This is Springwood, FDR's boyhood home. He lived here with his mother until he went to boarding school. Then he lived here with his mother and his family. Initially, the house was just the main section in the middle. When FDR was living there with his wife and five kids, he asked his mom if he could expand the house. She said if he designed it, she would do it.
This is the library. It's the first presidential library. FDR planned it and started construction while he was still in office. Being a history buff, he thought that others would want to study his papers. His plan was to work here after his second term. He even had an office built for himself in the library. All the best laid plans...
FDR took office after Herbert Hoover. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression. There were so many people out of work and Herbert Hoover couldn't do anything to help.
In comes FDR and his new deal. He created a lot of the social programs that we have today such as Social Security, Tennessee Valley Authority, Unemployment Insurance, and the Works Progress Administration. These programs gave relief to millions of people and put lots of people back to work. Not everyone agreed with him. Some thought he was making the country socialist.
FDR was elected for an unprecedented four terms in office. At the time, it was just protocol that presidents would only run for two terms. Now, there's an amendment to the constitution that prevents more than two terms for a president. FDR died shortly after the beginning of his fourth term.
The next stop was the Vanderbilt Mansion. Yes, this is the same Vanderbilt that you know. I think the most famous Vanderbilt (aside from Gloria) is Commodore Vanderbilt. He made his fortune in the shipping industry. His grandson built this house for himself and his wife on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River.
Unfortunately, we missed the tour and the next one wasn't for two hours. That's what happens when you visit a place in the off season. But, we could walk around the grounds. The Vanderbilt grandson and his wife died without any children. A niece inherited the place and tried to sell it. Since there were no buyers, FDR suggested she donate it to the National Park Service. And she did.
This was the key defensive position for Ft. Putnam (aka West Point) during the Revolutionary War. Mark is explaining the details. He's got a wealth of knowledge about this place so he's the perfect tour guide. From here you can see the points where the chain was set up. The views from here are pretty amazing. The photos don't really do it justice.
This guy was too much. He was part of the Lafayette sideline team. He handed out water and towels to the team when they sat for a rest. I swear this guy looks like he does Dr. Pepper commercials.
Now this guy...what can you say about a muscle-bound donkey in gym shorts?
The Black Knights weren't doing well so we left. We'd been up since five in the morning and were starting to wilt.
The next morning, we were back on campus! Several of the buildings were open to the families.
This is Jefferson Hall where the library is located. Normally it's restricted to students but for the weekend, it was open to all. We also walked into Thayer Hall where classes were on going. That's also where we heard the Superintendent speak.
I'm not sure what this building is but the entire campus was like this! All these gothic buildings.
This is the cadet chapel in full daylight. It wasn't exactly on the tour but the bus driver dropped us off.
I thought this view of the campus looked kind of cool. These are the barracks with the Chapel high above. The statue is of U. S. Grant, if I'm not mistaken. He was one of two U. S. Presidents that attended West Point. The other is Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Other notables that graduated from West Point include several generals from the Civil War such as Robert E. Lee (he was actually the superintendent for a time as well), William Tecumseh Sherman, Jefferson Davis and George McClellan among others. Others you might recognize, Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton and Mike Pompeo.
This was the Old Cadet Chapel. It's at the entrance of the cemetery.
Brendan was still down. We met the others for a lovely seafood buffet at the Thayer Hotel and then called it a night. This is the Thayer Hotel. It opened in 1926 and, apparently, has pretty amazing views of the river. We tried to book a room here but they were full. Maybe next time...
The next morning, we went back to the campus for the final time. There was a parade and we wanted to see it. We thought it was going to be the full monty but most of the upper classmen had been released for Spring Break so this was just the Plebes. Still, pretty exciting to see "our" cadet marching. (See how I took credit there?)
I don't think this is Brendan's group but it was hard to find him. Afterwards, Brendan was feeling well enough to meet us for lunch. It was quite a sight to see all the cadets marching by.
I feel terribly underdressed! The poor guy was exhausted so we gave him a hug and dropped him off. This is in front of the fire place in the lobby of the Thayer Hotel. In case you couldn't tell, we are very proud of Brendan.
And now, the other things...
One of the side trips we planned was to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. John is a huge baseball fan and, by association, so am I. We plugged in "Baseball Hall of Fame" into the GPS and headed out. We started out on the interstate but then we were directed to exit and take a right.
Along the right side of us was Lake Otsego. It looked like a lake on the GPS. It was a lake but it was frozen over. I really wanted to pull over and poke the ice with a stick to see if was truly frozen over.
Well, there it is. The National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a little underwhelming. The reason it is in Cooperstown is because this is supposedly where Abner Doubleday invented baseball. That's since been debunked. The real reason was that this was a depressed area and the guy who opened the museum wanted to generate tourism.
Tickets weren't very expensive but I like the fact that we got printed ones. In preparation of this trip, we watched the documentary by Ken Burns, called "Baseball". That was so interesting! It was a serious time commitment but well worth it. Based on that I high expectations.
We were so surprised! They actually had an exhibit for the Texas Rangers! This is Elvis' jersey that the wore at the last game at Globe Life Park.
The induction plaque for Joltin' Joe DiMaggio. Back in the day, they even had a song about him and his hitting streak. It's kind of cool but a little like "It's a small world" from Disney World. Once you hear it, it's stuck in your head.
The Hall of Fame was cool but not quite what I was expecting.
The last trip was to Hyde Park. One of the things on our bucket list is to visit all of the Presidential Libraries.
We were so close, that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the FDR library.
Everyone knows (now) that FDR was unable to walk. Back then there was a gentleman's agreement between FDR and the press. No photos of him walking or getting out of the car. He wore these heavy braces on his legs that kept him upright. Then he'd hang on to someone and propel himself forward so that it appeared he was walking. Back then people associated physical handicaps with mental ones. Meanwhile, at home, FDR had a wheelchair. To get upstairs where his bedroom was, he used this manual elevator. He basically hoisted himself, his wheelchair and his leg braces to the second floor by pulling the rope. It would be like climbing up a rope in gym class. His upper body was very developed.
This is FDRs desk from the White House. It was originally Hoover's desk but FDR took it over. When FDR left office, the new president wanted new furniture. The desk now sits in the FDR Presidential Library.
Eleanor and FDR are both buried in the rose garden on the property as per FDRs instructions. They are the only family members here. Others are buried in the cemetery at the local church. Aside from the family aspect of this trip, I think this was the highlight. I've seen several documentaries on the Roosevelts (there's a Ken Burns documentary called "The Roosevelts".) and they are an interesting clan.
The weather that day in New York was amazing. We found a bench (one of several on the property) and just hung out for a bit and watched the river. This was our view.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Newburgh, NY. I'm a Hilton person so I try to stay at one of their options when possible. This particular Hampton Inn had a bar. As a rule, this is unheard of. The Hampton Inn is like the McDonald's of restaurants, and I mean no disrespect. They are consistent and you know what you are going to get when you stay there and a bar is not usually one of those things.
We had to check it out, of course. It was way in the back, behind the breakfast area. You had to look for it. It wasn't exactly hopping but there were people. We ordered drinks and the bartender chatted a bit asking us questions. "Where are you from?" "Why are you here?"
Then another group walked in. When he chatted them up, he really started peppering them with questions. How long will you be gone? How will you get to the airport? Where will you leave your car?
I looked at John and we wondered if he was going to case their house or something! John made a motion for me to drink up. The other family was slowing getting ready to leave and we did not want the bartender to focus on us.
This was fun trip. Sadly, it was a little overshadowed by the whole coronavirus pandemic. We left New York right before they had a major outbreak.
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