What is it about hotels that makes me toss and turn all night long? That's what I've been doing this whole trip. On top of that, we haven't heard anything about our land offer yet (we really thought we'd hear something today), so that has me too excited to sleep, too. Anyway, I owe you a blog since I'm a day behind already, so here we go.
In addition to little sleep on this trip, we realized at Hopewell on Friday that we didn't pack the camera charger and the battery that was in the camera was dead. We are pretty sure we left the backup battery charging at home. After dinner Friday night, we stopped at Best Buy to buy a universal charger so we could use our real camera instead of cell phones. We plugged the battery in that night, but the charger doesn't really work. It charges for about 10 seconds and then goes into standby mode. So that night, Steve plugged and unplugged the battery from the charger to get a charge on it. That worked for Saturday's parks. He tried it again Saturday night and it didn't take long for it to recharge. However, on Sunday while we were at Vanderbilt National Historic Site (our first site of the day), the battery died. I'm telling you this because I'm too tired to deal with transferring pictures from two cell phones onto the laptop to add to this blog. :-) I'll add pictures when we get home tomorrow.
Our first park on Sunday (10/8/17) was Vanderbilt NHS. We chose an odd time to come to this park because they are near the end of a $3 million renovation to both the inside and the outside of the house. So if you are looking forward to pictures of one of the Vanderbilt mansions, let me tell you now to set your expectations on the low side. The outside of the house was covered in scaffolding on all sides and the furniture on the inside of the house was covered with sheets. Because of the renovations, we were only able to tour about half the house. I will say even though we didn't get the full experience, the house is really cool. This is our second Vanderbilt house tour (the first was The Breakers in Newport, RI) and it's just crazy how much money they had and poured into their houses. We had another fantastic ranger as our tour guide here which just adds to the experience!
We had lunch at Chatham Brewing Company where we had a yummy sampler. It must be because it's the time of year and I love malty beers, but we've had some great Oktoberfests on this trip, and Chatham's was great!
Our last park on Sunday was Martin Van Buren National Historical Site. We had another great tour here by a ranger who was so new to the park service that he didn't even have his uniform yet! It was interesting to learn that MVB was not born into money - his father was a tavern owner, he didn't finish school, and he never served in the military. In fact, he was only one of two presidents to not finish school and not serve the country (Grover Cleveland is the other president with the same statistic). Instead, MVB made his money with his political career and bought the house this site features when he had the money. It's an odd house because the Van Burens renovated it at one point and added a monstrosity of a tower to it (my opinion - I think it is hideous and doesn't really fit the house), purely for decoration.
We had dinner at Brown's Brewing where we had a really good beer sampler. They had a whiskey porter that was my favorite beer of this trip!
That brings us to today, which was an easy day. We started at Saratoga National Historical Park, aka a battlefield. I haven't read my previous blog posts in a while, so I don't know if I have mentioned that forts and battlefields are generally not my favorite types of National Park sites. Saratoga was pretty interesting though. My favorite part was seeing the pheasant and deer. :-) I think my problem with battlefields is that we're literally looking at fields and I just can't visualize what happened there. Also, I always mix up who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are which always throws me off when listening to the narrations for the stops along the driving tours. Steve always does his best to get me through it though. One interesting monument at Saratoga is one that doesn't name a specific person, however the symbolism on it represents Benedict Arnold. While he was kind of a hero at Saratoga, he ended up being a traitor later. Watch Drunk History to learn all about his treason. :-)
After Saratoga, we had a three hour drive to the Finger Lakes where we stopped at two wineries near Cayuga Lake (the middle finger if you look at a map). After wine we had dinner at Prison City Brewing Company where the beers were all hoppy, so Steve enjoyed his own sampler.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Let the Ranger Do Their Job
Today we toured Franklin's and Eleanor's houses in Hyde Park, NY. We started at Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site and had about 15 minutes to kill before our tour started. We used that time wisely and went into the FDR Museum and Presidential Library which is a great museum full of info and exhibits throughout FDR's life. The tour was even better! I always recommend a ranger-led tour whenever you can at any park because they are always chock-full of information! Even better if you can pull him or her aside at some point to ask a question - sometimes you get really cool information you would never expect to get. This happened today with Ranger John Foraker. We were talking about how many parks we have been to so far and he was telling us he needs to get to Alaska before the end of next year. There is a mountain out there named after one of his distant relatives that will likely be renamed to the original name of the mountain (along the lines of Mt. McKinley being renamed to Denali). Then he told us about why his relative was important other than some sort of government job along the way - Joe Foraker is the only person to ever have punched Teddy Roosevelt in the nose. This got a good laugh out of us especially since the squabble was over a football game!
Ranger Foraker was incredibly knowledgeable of all things Roosevelt and Steve and I learned a whole bunch of new tidbits of information today. I knew Teddy and Franklin were distant cousins, but I never knew that Teddy was actually Eleanor's uncle and he walked her down the aisle at her wedding to Franklin while Teddy was president! Eleanor's maiden name was Roosevelt already, so she didn't even need to change her name. When Franklin was born he was 10 pounds, and all six of his children with Eleanor were 10+ pounds as well!
During the tour the ranger spoke about how Franklin emulated a lot of his life after Teddy (literally followed every one of his footsteps throughout life and his career). One of the many things they shared in common was that they were both the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The first keel FDR commissioned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the USS Arizona. As soon as the ranger mentioned this I had chills and goosebumps down my arms. If you don't know why I had this reaction let me remind you that December 7, 1941, is "a day that will live in infamy" when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and sank the USS Arizona during FDR's presidency. Pretty strange how that all came full circle.
The house itself was beautiful and it was the house FDR was born in, he grew up there, and then spent his married life there and raised children at that house all with his mother right down the hall. Mama's boy, much?? Eleanor never owned a house of her own until Val-Kill was built, but I'll talk more about that later. One of the rooms in FDR's house was where he met with Winston Churchill while they reviewed a letter from Albert Einstein about the atomic bomb. Also, King George VI and the Queen Mother visited this home. The ranger told us a funny story about that visit - FDR had several political cartoons hanging in the foyer right outside the dining room that were from the Revolution and the War of 1812, so they weren't favorable to the British. Sara, FDR's mother (who owned the house), asked him to take the cartoons down before the royals arrived. Long story short, they ended up arriving sooner than anticipated and he didn't take the cartoons down. King George did see them and read each one for about 10 minutes and it was dead silent in the room while he did it. Afterwards, he says with a smile to FDR in front of Eleanor and Sara that it looks an awful lot like his collection at home. Turns out FDR and King George bonded quite a bit and that could have been partially due to both of them having disabilities (FDR was paralyzed by this time and King George VI was a stutterer).
One last story to share about Fala, FDR's beloved scottie. Fala and Franklin bonded instantly and were inseparable as soon as they bonded. Because of this, Fala became a celebrity too. Before Fala came along, you would have no idea where the president was unless you were secret service or in the "need-to-know" circle. Once Fala acquired his own fame, and people recognized his name being said by secret service, people would just follow the dog to see the president. This created a security issue, so they gave Fala a code name: The Informer.
Sorry the FDR blog is so long, but it really was a cool house and rangers always have a way of making a site more interesting especially when they are as passionate as Ranger Foraker was!
After FDR's site we had lunch at Hyde Park Brewing Company. The food was great, the beer was mediocre.
After lunch, we headed over to Val-Kill (Valley + Kill means "Stream" in Dutch), which is the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. We hopped on to a tour here where we learned that the home Eleanor built was the old factory for the Val-Kill Furniture company. We also learned that Eleanor was Val-Kill's number one customer and many of the furniture pieces in her house were from the factory. Her house was so cozy and had such a warm, "homey" feeling to it - so different from the home she shared with Franklin and his mother that seemed to spare no expense.
Here's where the title of the blog post comes up. This tour drove Steve and I bonkers! We take ranger-led tours to hear what the ranger has to say, not what the know-it-all people have to say. Additionally, a tour is not a chance to play "Stump the Ranger." I exercised so much patience on this tour for the people that were on it even though I would have taken much pleasure taking duct tape to their mouths. To give you an idea of how bad this was, remember, we are at a site dedicated to Eleanor. The minute the tour started, four people on the tour immediately asked questions about FDR and his political career. This ranger didn't know everything about it, nor did I expect her to since this was a site for ELEANOR! The FDR site is two miles down the road people, go learn about him there! I get that there might be some side questions about FDR at this site, but this monopolized quite a bit of the tour. When we got into the house, the questions continued. At least this time they were about Eleanor. "Did she write her books in long hand?" "Oh, she typed her books? Was she a touch typist?" "Was that where she would have stored the silver pieces when she lived here?" "How did Sara treat her?" "Was that the chair she read in?" OH MY GOD! Yes, she probably did read in that chair. Yes, she and Sara got along. Yes, she typed her books, who the heck cares if she could touch type?! I'm not exaggerating, those were actual questions asked on this tour. I love ranger-led tours, but I think my favorites are the ones where it is just Steve and me. :-)
Ranger Foraker was incredibly knowledgeable of all things Roosevelt and Steve and I learned a whole bunch of new tidbits of information today. I knew Teddy and Franklin were distant cousins, but I never knew that Teddy was actually Eleanor's uncle and he walked her down the aisle at her wedding to Franklin while Teddy was president! Eleanor's maiden name was Roosevelt already, so she didn't even need to change her name. When Franklin was born he was 10 pounds, and all six of his children with Eleanor were 10+ pounds as well!
During the tour the ranger spoke about how Franklin emulated a lot of his life after Teddy (literally followed every one of his footsteps throughout life and his career). One of the many things they shared in common was that they were both the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The first keel FDR commissioned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the USS Arizona. As soon as the ranger mentioned this I had chills and goosebumps down my arms. If you don't know why I had this reaction let me remind you that December 7, 1941, is "a day that will live in infamy" when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and sank the USS Arizona during FDR's presidency. Pretty strange how that all came full circle.
The house itself was beautiful and it was the house FDR was born in, he grew up there, and then spent his married life there and raised children at that house all with his mother right down the hall. Mama's boy, much?? Eleanor never owned a house of her own until Val-Kill was built, but I'll talk more about that later. One of the rooms in FDR's house was where he met with Winston Churchill while they reviewed a letter from Albert Einstein about the atomic bomb. Also, King George VI and the Queen Mother visited this home. The ranger told us a funny story about that visit - FDR had several political cartoons hanging in the foyer right outside the dining room that were from the Revolution and the War of 1812, so they weren't favorable to the British. Sara, FDR's mother (who owned the house), asked him to take the cartoons down before the royals arrived. Long story short, they ended up arriving sooner than anticipated and he didn't take the cartoons down. King George did see them and read each one for about 10 minutes and it was dead silent in the room while he did it. Afterwards, he says with a smile to FDR in front of Eleanor and Sara that it looks an awful lot like his collection at home. Turns out FDR and King George bonded quite a bit and that could have been partially due to both of them having disabilities (FDR was paralyzed by this time and King George VI was a stutterer).
One last story to share about Fala, FDR's beloved scottie. Fala and Franklin bonded instantly and were inseparable as soon as they bonded. Because of this, Fala became a celebrity too. Before Fala came along, you would have no idea where the president was unless you were secret service or in the "need-to-know" circle. Once Fala acquired his own fame, and people recognized his name being said by secret service, people would just follow the dog to see the president. This created a security issue, so they gave Fala a code name: The Informer.
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| Dining Room |
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| Study |
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| Political Cartoons |
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| Wheelchair lift |
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| FDR's bedroom - the chair at the foot of the bed is where Fala would sleep |
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| FDR's house, called Springhill |
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| The final resting places of Franklin and Eleanor |
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| Fala's final resting place |
After FDR's site we had lunch at Hyde Park Brewing Company. The food was great, the beer was mediocre.
After lunch, we headed over to Val-Kill (Valley + Kill means "Stream" in Dutch), which is the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. We hopped on to a tour here where we learned that the home Eleanor built was the old factory for the Val-Kill Furniture company. We also learned that Eleanor was Val-Kill's number one customer and many of the furniture pieces in her house were from the factory. Her house was so cozy and had such a warm, "homey" feeling to it - so different from the home she shared with Franklin and his mother that seemed to spare no expense.
Here's where the title of the blog post comes up. This tour drove Steve and I bonkers! We take ranger-led tours to hear what the ranger has to say, not what the know-it-all people have to say. Additionally, a tour is not a chance to play "Stump the Ranger." I exercised so much patience on this tour for the people that were on it even though I would have taken much pleasure taking duct tape to their mouths. To give you an idea of how bad this was, remember, we are at a site dedicated to Eleanor. The minute the tour started, four people on the tour immediately asked questions about FDR and his political career. This ranger didn't know everything about it, nor did I expect her to since this was a site for ELEANOR! The FDR site is two miles down the road people, go learn about him there! I get that there might be some side questions about FDR at this site, but this monopolized quite a bit of the tour. When we got into the house, the questions continued. At least this time they were about Eleanor. "Did she write her books in long hand?" "Oh, she typed her books? Was she a touch typist?" "Was that where she would have stored the silver pieces when she lived here?" "How did Sara treat her?" "Was that the chair she read in?" OH MY GOD! Yes, she probably did read in that chair. Yes, she and Sara got along. Yes, she typed her books, who the heck cares if she could touch type?! I'm not exaggerating, those were actual questions asked on this tour. I love ranger-led tours, but I think my favorites are the ones where it is just Steve and me. :-)
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| Inside the house - the table and chairs in the back is where Eleanor and JFK met for 2 and a half hours before she endorsed him for President. |
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| Val-Kill House |
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| Pretty flowers in the garden |
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| Pretty stream on the property |
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| The study - this desk is where she did all of her work. The couch is where she read. ;-) |
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| These are framed Christmas cards she received while in the White House. |
Friday, October 6, 2017
How You Like Dem Apples?
Remember in my last post I mentioned that Steve has very little vacation and we were saving for a house? Well, Steve has finally built up a few vacation days and as far as the house stuff goes, we're waiting to hear back on an offer we just put in this evening on some land! That would be a whole separate blog, but my point for saying those things is that we are on a little trip to take advantage of Steve's long weekend with Columbus Day off on Monday. We've actually had this trip planned long before we thought it was even possible to put in an offer on something, so here we are!
We were able to get an earlier start than we initially planned for today, so Steve looked into what we could do around the area where we had booked our hotel for the night in Quakertown, PA. I'll give you a hint, there isn't much to do...the movie theater is the #4 rated item on Trip Advisor. Steve realized (without telling me so he could surprise me) that Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site was on our way to Quakertown. Hopewell is a neat little site, especially if you go in the Fall. They have an apple orchard right by the visitor's center and you are able to pick your own apples for $1.00 a pound. The first time we came here a few years ago, we picked a couple pounds of apples. This time, we spent a grand total of two minutes because the mosquitoes were swarming us. We now have four apples that we'll have as a snack later on this trip.
Hopewell Furnace is called such because the furnace made iron. There are buildings around the property that you are able to walk into and learn about, and there are a few farm buildings and fields of sheep and horses to visit. There are several hiking trails which we didn't do the last time we were here. Today, we hiked to the dam at Hopewell Lake and took in some of the pretty scenery. We aren't here at peak time for the leaves, but they are starting to change, which was pretty to see reflected on the lake.
Our next stop was to Manatawny Still Works where we stopped in for a sampler of their three whiskeys, including a honey whiskey that hasn't even been released yet. All three were very good! We had dinner at The Proper Brewing Company where the food and beer did not disappoint. My favorite beer was the Irish Red and Steve's favorite was the Tall, Dark, and Steve. Tomorrow, we are off to Hyde Park to hang out at Eleanor's and Franklin's houses.
We were able to get an earlier start than we initially planned for today, so Steve looked into what we could do around the area where we had booked our hotel for the night in Quakertown, PA. I'll give you a hint, there isn't much to do...the movie theater is the #4 rated item on Trip Advisor. Steve realized (without telling me so he could surprise me) that Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site was on our way to Quakertown. Hopewell is a neat little site, especially if you go in the Fall. They have an apple orchard right by the visitor's center and you are able to pick your own apples for $1.00 a pound. The first time we came here a few years ago, we picked a couple pounds of apples. This time, we spent a grand total of two minutes because the mosquitoes were swarming us. We now have four apples that we'll have as a snack later on this trip.
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| Steven picking apples |
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| Hopewell Lake |
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| Hopewell Lake |
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| Sheep |
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| Manatawny Still Works Sampler |
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| The Proper Brewing Company Sampler |
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| Fun sign at Proper |
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