We began this trip to NY at my son’s home in Poughquag NY. They were watching Ellie, while we went into the city. The weather was perfect, high 60’s and it was prime time for the leaves changing all along the Hudson Valley. This is my favorite time of year, the beauty of autumn is so spectacular. The best part was seeing my granddaughter Brylee. She is growing up so fast. Talking to her and seeing her on the Portal had me thinking that we’ve lost that connection that I’ve always felt. Being there with her, those feelings just disappeared. We spent three days there and then drove to NJ for our trip to the city.
On our way back I was enjoying the scenery on the Palisades Parkway and it brought me back to driving up to Perkins Drive. I have so many great memories of being there. At different times my friend Cheryl and I would drive up, with a bottle of champagne, go off the beaten path and found a rock formation to sit on, drink, enjoy the view, and talk. I also did that with Shelly. These were my fellow nature lover friends. Pete asked if I wanted to go and I sure did. He had never been and we drove to the top, (there’s a lookout) and it’s where most people park and look at the beautiful views above the river. I took him to “my rock” and asked him to climb up and took a picture of him. It killed me that I couldn’t climb up on the rocks, oh well, I still loved being there. We continued, pulled off again where you can look down the river and see the city on a clear day, (which it was) and in the other direction the Bear Mountain Bridge.
This is my home, in the mountains overlooking the Hudson River. This is where I want my ashes to be spread when I die. This is one of the many places that I loved to hike. I would trespass onto Iona Island and Osbourne’s Castle. It’s hard to describe the feelings I get when going back but I feel it in my gut and feel very peaceful when there.
From there we continued back to Bryan’s for two more days before heading back to VA. Our last day there we went to a place called Barton Orchard’s. Laura’s daughter Nikole works there. She was able to get us all in for free. There were hayrides, a scary house, apple picking, rides, and live music. They had a show featuring characters from the movie Hocus Pocus. Three witches dressed like Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Njimny. They also had a man dressed like the corpse that rose from the dead in the movie. They were wonderful, great voices and me and Brylee had sooo much fun! Being outside with a perfect blue sky, great weather, beautiful surroundings, the smells of autumn and with my family. I couldn’t think of a better way to end our trip.
