Last week I spent my day off in Fishkill, a town in Dutchess County, New York. One of my friends from camp, Lyanne, lives there, and she suggested we visit so that I could see some of the less touristy parts of New York. Whilst of course I love being able to say that I’ve seen the main sites when I visit a new place, I also enjoy seeing things more off the beaten path, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to me. I must confess that the first few times I heard her say the name of her town I thought that I must have misheard, or that it was some sort of strange nickname she had for where she lived. But no, that’s actually what the town is called!
We started our day by going to the Walkway over the Hudson. This is a bridge spanning the Hudson River, and is 1.28 miles long. I found out that it’s actually the longest, elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. In my opinion, in terms of the weather it was a perfect day to visit. Although beautifully sunny, there was also a nice cool breeze, so whilst we were warm and could enjoy the sunshine, we weren’t overheating. The views over the river were quite pretty, and we spent time looking at the houses and buildings built alongside both banks of the river. We felt particularly jealous of a house with a very large, crystal clear swimming pool which looked particularly inviting. I actually felt that the best view was probably as yo reached the centre of the bridge, as you were also aligned with the middle of the opposing bridge, which provided a great photo opportunity.
I would love to go back for a photo opportunity during a sunset or a sunrise as I suspect that the view would be truly gorgeous. However, I must confess that during the day it wasn’t the most astounding view i’ve ever seen in my life. Despite this, I would still recommend doing it if you’re in the area and have a spare couple of hours. It was a lovely relaxing walk, and of course you don’t have to go the full distance if you don’t want to. Bikes, rollerblades, skateboards etc. are all allowed there, and I saw a lot of families taking advantageof this. As I said, the views weren’t the most stunning in the world, but I’m still glad that I went there. It was some good exercise and I took some nice photos, and of course it’s something I can say I did in New York which is slightly different from what anyone else will have done – something that I always like.
‘A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.’ Lao Tzu
The one downside of working at camp is that, whilst I’m in America, I don’t actually get much time to travel. Our evenings off are only for three hours, so most of our time is split between stocking up on supplies from Walmart, chilling somewhere getting food and taking advantage of the free wifi, or going bowling. However, we do have one 24 hour period off a week, which I’m determined to try and make the most of. Although that’s slightly problematic as none of my close friends have a car at camp! It’s not the end of the world though as the camp is organising three day trips for us on our days off so that we always have an option to do something. Next week the trip is to a water park which I’m incredibly excited about – there are some things that I will just never get too old for!
A list of everywhere 