Friday, November 25, 2011

Day 4.319: Four Mile Point

We visited a tiny but lovely preserve a little way south of here on the west bank of the Hudson today.  Four Mile Point is apparently halfway along the eight mile stretch of the river between the towns of Coxsackie and Hudson.  The small park is a Scenic Hudson preserve and despite having less than half a mile of trails, we spent a very happy hour and a half there - mostly messing about on the beach.

The tide was coming in, so the river was flowing the wrong way.  There was quite a lot of debris in it which helped us to see how fast it was flowing - certainly the fastest I'd seen, maybe due to the relative narrowness of the river here.

(see all the photos here)

On the way down there (listening to R.E.M. of course since we were on our way to Athens), we had been  talking about a strange outing Exile #2 had had recently when she had run into British people working in both PetSmart and Lowes.  So, we were primed when, after we'd been on the beach for some time, a couple arrived speaking with English accents.  They are long-time transplants to North America (first Canada and then the US) and we had a very nice conversation about many things.  Eventually, after a bit of prodding from her husband, she revealed that she is an illustrator and showed us her sketchbook which was stunning.  She also gave us her card which means I can link to her website.  Lovely art, lovely people.

After a while I noticed that the stone that had been standing a way out of the water when we arrived (top-right picture) was now disappearing below the surface (next photo down).  We know the river is tidal, but that doesn't stop us being surprised when we see a demonstration.

So, after a great time skimming stones, collecting interesting ones,


watching the tide coming in, chatting with fellow ex-pats and admiring the scenery we left for the short walk and the quick and scenic drive home - with a very wet boy in the party.  Thankfully it was only his feet and legs but I poured a good cup of water out of each of his boots before we walked back to car.

2 comments:

  1. i was checking out AOA for tips on christmas trees and came across your blog. i liked reading about you and your kids skipping rocks in the water and thought you'd like to learn about a great camp for more nature experiences: www.friendsofcln.org - Camp Little Notch

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  2. Excellent - thank you, I'll look into it.

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