Day 79 - New Paltz to Florence

I nearly died in the woods and I ran over a deer

Weeeell... technically I didn't nearly die and the deer was already dead so not as exciting as you may think but hey, it's the headline that grabs you and you're still reading, right?

This morning I decided to explore some of the fancy Hudson River Valley and the Catskills, famous for being second (or third or just holiday) home to the rich people of last century. 

I went on the Hudson Walkway Park loop - a 4.5 mile trail that goes across the Hudson River over two bridges. It was interesting (I got to cross over into Poughkeepsie which from first impressions is not so nice) and took nearly two hours, so definitely filled my walking quota for today.

Poughkeepsie station - love that name!

Random that they felt they had to specify

I then stopped at Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage, only to find it was closed. I then tried to go to FDR's house but failed to find it (or got distracted on the way, I forget) so settled on a tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion.

It felt great to go in, flash my (no longer lost) annual NPS pass and get in for free, when everyone else was paying. More for having found my pass than for the shadenfreude, I feel I should add!

All the people that paid full price. Ah, bless.

The Vanderbilts were the richest family in the US (and I believe at one point in the world) and this is only one of the mansions that they built or owned. It was nice to tour it, the lady's bedroom was styled on Marie Antoinette's and was beautiful.

Lady's bedroom, I love the way she's got a cute cage-bed going on

I stopped for lunch at what I believe is quite a famous diner, in Hyde Park (a town, not a park) and had my first root beer float of my trip. I didn't get a picture because I was so embarrassed when it arrived - it was huge! A big glass of root beer with a huge scoop of ice cream AND whipped cream AND a cherry on top! Thankfully it arrived before I'd ordered my food so I was able to change my mind about what I might still have room for.

The bit where I nearly died in the woods

(Gotcha again!) 

The main reason for wanting to go to the Catskills was my cousin Elena telling me that, as I had no time to go to the Niagara Falls I should go to Kaaterskill Falls as it is also impressive. Unfortunately for me, I'd faffed about looking at rich people's homes and scoffing root beer floats for so long that by the time I got to the trailhead it was almost sunset. I figured as it was only a half mile hike it would not take that long... wrong! 

This is a proper hike (not straight walking like most of these things) You have to clamber over rocks, dead trees and through a stream, rising 300m over half a mile. All of this would probably be ok in daylight, or with a torch, or even with a phone in your pocket. Sadly, I'm a doofus and went out with none of these things. Oh, and it was all snowy and slippery. Anyway, I scrambled up as quickly as I could (all along feeling like an idiot for going into this in low lighting but at the same time not wanting to give up without seeing the falls because what would Elena say?!) and eventually got to where I could see (and photograph) the falls. I have to say, I could have stayed there for hours just looking at this huge waterfall and the rocks and the general loveliness, so my cousin's advice proves to be good once more.

The bottom

The top!

Of course, I had to turn right back and try to find the trail back to my car. The thing is, by this point it was darker and colder and all the snowy rocks I'd climbed up were now icy and downhill - a lot trickier to maneuver. I managed to get back but not without cursing myself all the way. Oh, and being scared stiff that a wolf was going to come out and eat me at any minute. Brrr.

It was a lot darker than the picture. And did I mention I was sure I could hear hungry wolves??

Final destination

This whole trip stemmed from my decision to spend Christmas at my godmother's house in Massachusetts. Well, I made it here!! 

On the way here I ran over a dead deer on the motorway which was quite upsetting. It was dead and lying on the road and there was nothing I could do to avoid it because I only saw it once the truck in front of me had gone over it (without touching it because it was a high truck) I tried to position myself so it would go in between my wheels but it still crunched like all hell. I'd forgotten how low my car was  - clearly lower than the height of a dead deer. I can still hear the crunching. It gives me the creepy-crawly-heebie-jeebies.