Summer 2006 Getaway Part 3: Stonypoint and Bear Mountain

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After several errands on Saturday morning, we finally made it to the car and started our drive towards the George Washington Bridge. Before reaching Harriman State Park, we saw a sign for the oldest lighthouse along the Hudson River and decided to make a detour. The Stony Point lighthouse was built in 1826 to warn ships coming in due to increased river traffic after the opening of Erie Canal.

Stony Point lighthouse, the oldest along the Hudson River

For $5, we entered the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site and walked around the grounds where the Americans beat the British during a midnight surprise assault. The view of the Haverstraw Bay was beautiful.

The boats on Haverstraw Bay

We then proceeded to the second largest state park in New York. We read that there are over 200 miles of hiking trails but we couldn’t find trail marks except for a gate towards the smaller Bear Mountain State Park.

We walked along the concrete road until we reached an electric tower and found yellow trail marks on the surrounding trees. We followed those up to the fire tower which we climbed to get a glimpse of the man-made Lake Welch Beach down the hill.

It reminded us of the old radio tower we climbed in Sagada. That was the first time I found out the Dr. has some fear of heights. I was ahead of him ascending this tower, too, and he stopped right below me because his “balls were tingling.” I had to stop laughing to keep the the tower still. He stayed where he was and we enjoyed the view from up above separately.

The Dr. stopped here

Man-made Lake Welch Beach dotted with people

The electric tower from the fire tower

Green, green, green!

Through the forest, we skipped over huge rocks and climbed small hills and made our way up to a stone house. We sat there for a while to catch our breaths and enjoy the view of the river. It was the perfect day for a hike because it was breezy and it wasn’t too humid.

Stone house on top

It took another hour to make it back to our car where we ate a Oaxaqueñan sandwich we bought in the morning. We felt that we didn’t really do anything strenuous but that we got enough exercise because of the ups and downs.

George Washington Bridge before sunset

Still, though, we rewarded ourselves by driving to Flushing and eating Malaysian fare at Sentosa.

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Summer 2006 Getaway Part 2: Jones Beach, Long Island

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On my way to Jones Beach for the first time this season, the Dr. texted and told me that he will be out by noon. He wanted to tag along. This was a big deal to me considering I was there almost every Saturday last summer. So I packed lunch for two–angel-hair pasta, roasted chicken from the Spanish store down the block and some watermelon slices with a big bottle of water–and met up with him at Penn Station. By 2pm, we were on the beach.

We situated ourselves on my usual spot. It’s less crowded because it’s in between the couples with children and the happy gays, two groups who don’t want to be near each other. We rented a big umbrella and ate our lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing and reading clips from The Times while the Dr., well, slept and slept.

Four hours later, we got stuck on the road because of a car accident along the way. The ten-minute shuttle bus ride to the train station took more than an hour. We caught the 8pm train back to New York City and had dinner at Grand Sichuan before we trudged back to Harlem. Our sunny Sunday went as quick as the Boston Kreme doughnut the Dr. bought for me while in Long Island.

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