Next stop Florida...

We have finally reached the point in our travels that we have to turn west and head back to Chicago. Of course, we have made a few stops along the way. From Massachusetts, we headed to Florida....Florida New York that is. Its a very nice area about 50 miles northeast of New York City. It is nestled in the Hudson River Valley. Again, we were surprised to see how many trees and open fields there were in this area. I can understand why people who work in the city would want to leave out here. The hills and trees are beautiful.

Probably one of the most important places in the Hudson River Valley is West Point Military Academy. We were lucky that we arrived there on Tuesday. Graduation was on the Saturday before and I'm sure the place was extremely busy then.

We did see groups of student/soldiers waiting on the parade grounds to board buses for either home or to their next training location. It was weird seeing them with guns on their shoulders.

We took a two hour narrated bus trip around the campus. Security here is very strict. You have to show a picture ID at two different security points prior to gaining access to the campus. One which has armed military police!. Our tour guide was very informative.

During the American Revolutionary war, George Washington had defended this area from the British. It's location on the Hudson River was an ideal place for a fort. As you can see the weather was still gray and raining. Luckily during the tour the rain stayed away for the most part.







The buildings are all constructed in the Greek Military fashion. It was hard to tell which buildings were over a hundred years old and which ones were fairly new. They are all maintained so nicely. This is a picture of some of the dormitories.

Behind the buildings are the courtyards where the cadets who receive demerits most walk the square in full combat attire (pack and gun) as punishment for an indiscretions.

This is a statue of Sylvanus Thayer who is considered the Father of West Point. Legend has it that if a cadet spins his spurs at midnight the night before final exams, he will pass his tests. Fred is trying his hand at spinning the spurs.







Probably the most interesting thing we saw at West Point was the cemetery. (Are you seeing a common thread here!!) It is a military cemetery and for the most part, in order to be buried here, you have had to either gone to school here, taught or worked here or been a very prominent citizens of the town of West Point. The gravestones were very interesting.

There were the standard government issued stone that you see at a National Cemetery and  like the ones surrounding the monument shown above and then there are some very elaborate ones like these. However, after these were built, they realized that they take up so much space that they'd run out of room in the cemetery, so now you can't have giant monuments any more.





It still amazes me that I am so lucky to be able to travel throughout the United States and see all of these wonderful places. It also makes me stop and think..  There are many times when we gripe and complain about our government, but in the end, there is no other place that I'd rather be than the United States of America.