Beacon NY

Congratulations to Beacon NY for being selected as No. 8 in the "Editor's Favorite Trips of 2014" on the Conde Nast Traveler's website.  Beacon is a very interesting town.  When I visit the family, I've taken many an enjoyable walk through various areas there.

On the Hudson River side of the station, you can walk to Long Dock Park and follow the trails for a nice 'woodsy' walk.  South of the city, off Route 9D, is Madame Brett Park.  While the area is very rustic, it's a great easy hike.  The waterfalls are very pretty and the ruins of two factories are very interesting.  One made hats and the other, buttons.  As you walk the paths, you can see some small piles of buttons on the ground.

Madame Brett Park, Beacon NY

With a short walk from the Metro North train station, you can visit the Dia Beacon Museum.  This museum is very popular with locals and visitors who take the train from New York City.  In the business section of the town, you will see a number of restaurants, gallery and shops.  I especially enjoyed my visit to Hudson Beach Glass, where my grandchildren created their own Christmas decorations.  It was fun for me.  It was an education opportunity for the grandchildren.

  During my last visit to New York, my friend, Katie, and I had lunch at the Beacon Falls Cafe on Main Street.  The restaurant is small and was very crowded.  We were advised of a wait and visited a 'Penny Social' at the American Legion Hall, just a short walk down the street.  Katie had never attended one before.  After this, we returned to the restaurant and discovered we were still on the waiting list.  When we were finally seated, our meal was very enjoyable.  I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

I was disappointed about not being able to climb Mt. Beacon during the past two trips to New York.  Last June, I was too busy with other things.  When I finally made arrangements with my grandson, we had a week of rain.  It was also the last week of my visit.  One of my previous climbs was up a rock-bed creek along side a waterfall in the mountain.  It was a little slippery.  So, I now prefer my climb to be on dry ground.  When I came to New York in November, I was happy to see that since the weather was clear, I could possibly go up Mt. Beacon when my grandson had time.  Because he was busy, the first available opportunity was Thanksgiving Day.  Then, 8 to 10 inches of snow the day before dashed my plans.

If you do decided to hike Mt. Beacon, you can see the following scenes.

Most hikers take the stairs near the ruins of an incline railway and continue on.  I take the fire road.  At the top are ruins of a casino and hotel of the 1920's.  I have yet to see this.  My grandson who knows the mountain, led me to the top of the fire road past the reservoir.  The stone monument was erected by the Daughters of the American in 1900 to commemorate the burning of signal fires during the Revolutionary War.  The scenery is beautiful, but I am curious about the casino and hotel.  Perhaps next summer.

Beacon offers a great day's visit.  Add it to your calendar.

     

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New York Visit

This year's New York trip seemed to speed by.  The morning after I arrived, my daughter drove me a Healing Service held by Father Ralph DiOrio.  I didn't need healing but knew that God's blessing is always showered on people who attend these services, which are held once a month.  I am so grateful to have attended.  I recommend that you consider going. You will certainly be blessed.  Father DiOrio's website is http://www.rdohealingministry.org/

As the pictures show, we had a big storm on the day before Thanksgiving Day.  In LaGrangeville NY, we endured about 10 inches.  I could not believe I actually experienced feelings of  'Cabin Fever.'  I couldn't wait for the driveway to be plowed.  A nice apologetic young man came to the door about 12:30am and quickly cleared the snow from the sidewalk and driveway.  I was very grateful. Thanks to this young man, I was able to attend Thanksgiving Dinner with my daughter and her family in Wappingers Falls NY.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.  The scenes shown above are of their back yard.

During my visit, I was able to attend The Beacon Players' presentation of "Footloose" at The Seeger Theatre at Beacon High School in Beacon, NY.  The actors and crew, all Beacon High School students, did a great job.  The sets and lighting were well designed.  Also, I liked the idea of having tickets with assigned seats.  On another evening, I attended my four year old granddaughter's first dance recital at Beacon High School.  She looked beautiful and did a great job.  Kudo's to the lighting crew for that show, as well.

The day before returning to San Diego, we visited New York City.  My San Diego daughter and grandchildren had come to New York for the 8 year old grandson's birthday.  He wanted to go to the Lego store in New York City.  My Beacon daughter, granddaughter and I went along for the fun.  After taking Metro North to New York City, we headed out into the extremely cold, windy day and proceeded past the New York Public Library at my 11 year old granddaughter's request.  Then on to Toys R Us on Broadway.  There we were joined by my San Diego daughter's good friend and her 8 year old daughter who had already ventured in.  Toys R Us seemed like a massive store.  In the center of the store is what looks like a three story Ferris Wheel.  The seats are replicas of cars.  The store also had huge replicas of The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building and a ginormous Dragon, all made of Lego pieces.  The only thing the store could improve on, at least in my opinion, is to have a cafe lounge with specialty coffee for the adults who wait while the families roam through the store and do their shopping.  This cafe should be restricted to age 40 and over.  Since I hopped onto the elevator with a family that was going up one floor, I was present when the family tried to get off on level 3.  They were met by an employee who advised them that the area was not open to the public.  So, Toys R Us seems to have the room.  Everyone in our group enjoyed the store, especially Candy Land.  The younger ones liked the Lego structures. The granddaughters were pleasantly surprised with finding a Clare's tucked in a corner.  So, this store seemed to have something for every child.

For lunch or an early dinner, we went on to Carmine's Restaurant on 44th Street.  Going there is a tradition for my Beacon daughter.  The food was wonderful and served family style. We shared Spaghetti with Meatballs, Penne alla Vodka and Chicken Parmagiana as well as a mixed green salad that was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, we walked to Rockefeller Center, which is a very popular tourist destination, to see the Christmas Tree.  The tree is located adjacent to the skating rink, which is shown to the left.  The statue that overlooks the rink was festively lit (shown to the right).  The huge traditional Christmas Tree is shown below.  We wound our way through the crowds to the Lego store.  After selecting some individual tiny Lego bricks, we completed our New York City visit and returned to Grand Central Terminal to catch the Metro North train for home with a very happy Birthday boy.

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Perhaps by Catherine Hall (on Kindle and the Nook) 

The Book of Micah by Catherine Hall (on Kindle and the Nook)