Aloha all,
in the first week since the last post, we visited our imaginary friends. This included arguably the most consequential president in American history and his wife, an almost forgotten president, some famous artists and one of the richest families in American history.
The second week we spent with real friends in New England. They are all Maui friends, but you don’t get away from us just because you are 5,000 miles away. The irony is that the average age of the three homes of our friends in NEW England is over 200 years OLD!
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| We spent two days visiting Eleanor & Franklin |
I consider FDR the most consequential US president (elected as president four times and led the US through the great depression and World War II). Whether you like him or not, in his first 100 days in office, he probably changed America more than any other president before or after. There is enough to learn, love and dislike about FDR that we wanted to go back to his home in Hyde Park, NY. He was also the first president to have a presidential library and even though we had been there before, we did not manage to see the whole museum before they kicked us out at closing time.
This time, we also visited Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, called “Val-Kill”. We had no idea that Eleanor was so much more than an influential First Lady; for example she was very instrumental in the creation of the United Nation’s "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". It sure sounds like they were quite the power couple, even though romantically, their relationship did not seem to have been equally powerful.
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| The Vanderbuilt Mansion - Money can't buy Gemütlichkeit |
There are more mansions in the Hudson River Valley in Upstate New York than even we can visit on one trip. Frederick Vanderbilt was practically a neighbor of FDR, so we went there next. The original founder of the family fortune was Cornelius Vanderbilt. He left almost everything to his first born son. That caused enough of a family feud that when he passed away, he spread his wealth amongst all his children. There was enough that eight of them built a mansion or two each. Frederick was the only one of those siblings who grew his fortune rather than spend it. His Hyde Park mansion is very fancy and the ranger guided tour was excellent, but the mansion itself wasn’t our favorite. To be honest, I think we rather live in Kahana Villa and leave this cold, stiff building to the National Park Service. They do such a great job showing that income inequality is nothing new.
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| The whimsical "Wilderstein Mansion" |
Just a little bit further up the Hudson River we visited the much more charming “Wilderstein Mansion". This one was owned by a cousin and confidante of FDR. In fact, Daisy was such a close friend that FDR told her secrets he would not tell anyone else. For example, he talked to her about his disability (which he usually kept very secret) and he told her about the planned invasion of Normandy before the actual D-Day (which was only the biggest secret in modern military history).
The “Hudson River School” is described as "the first native school of painting in the United States". They are given credit for helping the first nature conservation efforts and national parks being established. The old black & white photos at the time would not have convinced many city dwellers on the East Coast that these landscapes needed to be protected. Apparently the paintings of the "Hudson River School" artists did. Thomas Cole is considered the founder of the Hudson River School. He had his home and studio in Catskill on one side of the Hudson River. His favorite student Frederic Church later settled on the other side. Luckily for us, the two places are now connected by a bridge with a “Skywalk” offering very dramatic views of the Hudson River and the surrounding mountains. It's not the Grand Canyon, but the area is so beautiful that I can see why it inspired these painters.
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| The Skywalk between Catskill & Hudson |
I always find it a little sad when painters struggled during their lifetime, but then became famous after their death and never find out that their paintings sold for millions. For a while it was almost the other way round for these artist. Apparently they were rock stars for a while during their lifetime in the mid 19th century. Even Mark Twain was raving about paintings by Frederic Church and some of them sold for almost 100 times the average annual income at the time. Then came a time when the artists of the Hudson River School were almost forgotten, now they seem to enjoy somewhat of a renaissance.
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| The eclectic & eccentric "Olana" |
We are glad that some fellow travelers recommended visiting Frederic Church’s “Olana”. Little did we know that we would end up staying there all day and even all night. We took three different guided tours through the house, the studio and the gardens. Frederic Church considered his work designing the home and the landscapes around it his masterpiece. They also just happened to host a free summer concert by the Albany Symphony Wind Quintet that night. And by the time the fireworks across the river were starting, we had talked to the Managing Director of Olana often enough that she allowed us to park Joy overnight at a little roadside parking lot that is part of the estate. Olana really felt like Ohana!
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| Evening concert at "Olana" |
There once was a very controversial president in America. He only served one term, but everybody seemed to either love him or hate him. If you are thinking of a certain more recent controversial one term president, you might take solace in the fact that the president I was talking about is almost forgotten today.
There is one reason most people at least know Van Buren was a president: Many towns named their streets after the early presidents. And if your town has at least eight streets, eventually you get to Van Buren. But there is so much more useless trivia about Martin Van Buren: He was the first “American Born” president (all others before him were still born as British subjects). He is also the only president ever whose native language was not English (he was raised in Dutch). He also co-founded the Democratic Party. And he had a vice president who once suggested funding an expedition to the center of earth, which he suspected was hollow. It sure sounds like eccentric, crazy politicians are nothing new.
The National Park Service has restored Van Buren's home and offers free tours, yet as a sign of how few remember him, we were the only ones on that tour. I guess for a lot of people, Van Buren is just a street name. Maybe the day will come when another president is just known for a building in New York that is named after him.
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| A little hint, just in case you're not sure whether you love or hate New York |
The New York State Capitol in Albany was the 31st state capitol we visited. They were all very impressive. Most state capitols have enormous and ornate domes that remind me of the grandest cathedrals in Europe. But I have to admit that some of the state capitols start to blend into each other in our memories. For better or for worse, Albany is very different and we will probably always remember it. The Capitol building itself is square, confusing and spectacular.
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| We especially enjoyed the “Million Dollar Staircase”, which was not designed by Escher |
But the most striking difference to other state capitols are the surroundings: Governor Rockefeller had a whole low income neighborhood leveled in the 60s to build “Empire State Plaza”. Apparently all that concrete was so modern and popular half a century ago that they did not mind that the concrete blocks almost hide the pretty capitol building. I find the plaza a bit cold and sterile, but I give them credit for making the concert hall and the state museum two of the most impressive buildings in town and for putting a free observation deck in the tallest concrete block.
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| The Empire State Plaza, (if you look carefully, you can still see the capitol) |
Here are the other shenanigans we got into in the Albany area: In Schenectady we watched the fun “Mean Girls” musical. In Waterford we went to see and learn about the Eerie Canal. And when we were in East Greenbush to spend a night at Cracker Barrel and found out that our friend Jeanne grew up there, we went to see her childhood home.
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| I "think" this was a Rodin |
We find some of our favorite places not in guide books or from Google (not that there is anything wrong with that!), but from recommendations from fellow travelers. “The Clark Art Institute” is such a place. Usually, we don’t necessarily seek out “normal” art museums. Without the recommendation from people we met at Olana, we would never have found out that “The Clark” is anything but a normal museum. Their special exhibit about Rodin would have been worth a visit already. Their regular collection is very impressive for a little private museum in rural Massachusetts. I’m no art expert, but I have heard of Monet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro and Van Gogh, just to name a few of their collections. Then they have a beautiful garden, including some trees that once grew upside down (long story, please ask if you want to know). To top it all off, they had a free open air movie night, showing the very gripping 1955 film “The Night of the Hunter”. And to ensure that “The Clark” becomes our favorite art museum, they let us stay overnight in Joy in the museum parking lot!
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| "The Bridge of Flowers" in Shelburne Falls, MA |
With a destination in mind, we had to drive for most of one day to move forward. But we were still able to squeeze in something useful and something pretty: We got our second booster shot and visited "The Bridge of Flowers". This railroad bridge in the cute little town of Shelburne Falls, MA was abandoned almost 100 years ago. A local housewife had the brilliant idea to turn it into a community garden and local volunteers have maintained it ever since. It was prettier and had more interesting plants than some big botanical gardens we have been to.
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| Just one of the many unique plants on The Bridge of Flowers |
After a quick stop in Providence to re-visit the Rhode Island State Capitol, we drove to Rehoboth, MA to visit our friends Nick & Katy…or so we thought. Somehow we ended up at Katie’s parents home at first, but that’s another fun little story. When we finally made it to Nick and Katie’s house, we were enthusiastically greeted by their seven year old son. At first I was surprised that he even remembered me since they had moved away from Maui years ago. Then I quickly realized, that probably anybody driving an RV would have gotten that greeting.
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| We agree, Joy is a pretty cool Toy! |
We have toured a lot of old homes, many of them were not as old as the one from Nick and Katy with about 200 years. We have also had a lot of really funny tour guides, but not all as funny as when their seven year old started the tour of the house: “This is our living room, it is pleasantly messy”. We played games, threw a little frisbee, kayaked, met the family and went to a garden party with more kids and more games…we can understand why they left beautiful Maui. If we had decided to have kids, we might have moved even further back east.
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| Happy Maui Ultimate Reunion in New England |
Next we went to visit our friends Trip and Dora in Westport, MA. We got to know them last year on Maui when they joined our Tuesday Night Ohana. They bought (or should I say “rescued”?) an old plantation style home on Front Street. We thought it was a pretty big project to turn this termite infested shack into a beautiful, historically restored, but very livable home. Little did we know that this was child’s play for them. Here in Westport, they brought several historical buildings onto their property and restored them in such an ingenious way that you know you are in an old building, but you are not lacking any modern conveniences. The restoration turned out so beautifully that we actually abandoned Joy and slept in the house!
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| Depending how you look at it, this house is over 300 years, 188 years or about 5 years old |
We arrived in Westport just in time for the 4th of July festivities, which started with a cute small town parade. However, I have to admit that my favorite “float” wasn’t even in the parade, it was the 1965 Lincoln Continental convertible in which Trip drove us there.
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| Guess which one Dora calls "The Floating Mattress" Hint: it's not the one with an actual mattress inside |
I could write a whole blog just about our few days we spent with Trip and Dora. But since I already wrote a thousand words, I’ll try to summarize our time there with a few pictures:
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| 4th of July Party with fireworks, music, food and fun people |
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| We also got a private tour of Wyndfield Studio by the artist herself (www.wyndfieldstudio.com) |
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| The Best (and the most casual) Lobster Dinner we ever had |
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| They are no longer whaling here, but New Bedford is still a very busy harbor! |
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| They don't just rescue houses, but bee swarms, too |
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| Seems like most houses around here have been moved at some point, including several of Trip & Dora |
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| Our last night before leaving, we got to sleep in this restored 1806 house in the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park |
We really love our family in Germany, otherwise we just might have stayed with Trip and Dora until they kick us out. But with the knowledge that we will be back in Westport and back on the road in September, we were excited to fly to Germany to spend time with our family.
I usually do not write as many blog posts while we are in Europe, but I already jumped off a 100 foot church tower, we found a European country I haven’t been to and we have reservations at my favorite restaurant in the world…so there might be enough to write another blog post after all.
Until then: Tschüss!
Chris & Sandra
