Date: 2008-06-14
From: Highland Falls, NY

To: Highland Falls, NY
Miles today: 0.0

Oh what a fun day today, and yet ANOTHER amazing thing happened this morning. We were @ the little continental breakfast room, which was packed because there's tons of people staying here for a wedding this afternoon. So this man asks Karen and I what we were aroud here for, and I told him. In the course of the conversation, I told him I lived in Northern NY for 5 years from the age of 2-7 near a town called Watertown. The guy looks stunned and goes, "My wife is from Watertown..her whole family is." I told him I actually lived in Croghan and he knew this place too! So he goes and gets his wife, and after a short conversation, we were able to deduct we were probably distant relatives!! She knew my family name (Zehr) and I knew hers (Farney). I could not believe we happen to be @ the same motel on the same weekend. We couldn't quite place the connecting relative, but both knew we were related at least by marriage, to each other's family names. Unbelievable...So Karen and I decided to go back to West Point so she could photograph monuments and buildings in the good light. I was the driver and she told me when to stop. It was fun, and I totally pulled one over on her and told her while she had walked up a hill for a good shot, I was pulled over by an MP and was told she had to stop taking pics until we went to the MP station and registered. She totally fell for it, and I died laughing man. See, West Point is a college campus with security. It's not a military base per se, but it has the feel of one. I rarely pull one over on her ad it was so funny. (I'm a brat...I know).So, we ended up @ the cemetary and decided to walk around there too. Wow, some beautiful tomb stones and mausoleums. The history of this place is really something. Then, we walked down this one row and there was Custer's freakin grave! You know...General Custer, Custer's last stand @ the Battle of Little Big Horn! It was total luck we found it in this huge cemetary, but wow was that surreal. Much like being @ Gettysburg, it made the history real to me.A tour bus showed up, so we went over to a coffee house and got mocha shakes...mmmm. It was very humid today.The other major highlight was goig to the Cadet's Chapel. It was not only beautiful, but it houses the world's largest pipe organ with an amazing 23,500 pipes that surroud the ENTIRE congregational seating area! I've actually played a pipe organ in a small church, ad I have never seen an organ like this. There were 4 keyboards, 11 verticle rows of stops on EACH side of the keyboards, and I don't even know how many foot pedas ad buttons. I did laugh, because 1 of the foot stops was named "Gong Crash," and I would have given anything to sit @ this organ and hit THAT stop! LOL The smallest pipe on this organ is as big as a stubby pencil and the largest pipe is 32 feet long and over 30" in diameter. Simply amazing....So after taking pics, we headed to Thornwood, NY, where Karen is from originally. This was great fun. You hear childhood stories from your partner, and I always want to see the real places so I can have a context. Well, we got there, and she said you almost couldn't recognize the house, it had been added onto and changed so much. Her Hungarian grandfather built this entire house with his own 2 hands in 1951 and her family owned it until 1989.We drove around the neighborhood and heard so many great stories, and then we drove back and the owners (new people) were outside, so I told her we should get out and talk to them.We did, and the owner, John was ECSTATIC to meet her, so he invited us in to see how much it changed. Him and his wife have lived there for 11 years, they have 2 sons and they really appreciated how well the house was built. He even still had the original GE yellow stove\oven Karen's mother used and bought in 1951, and he said they used this stove\oven until 4 years ago!! What an ad for GE appliaces huh?So it was just so cool, and what John is doing with the place is beautiful. We probably spent almost 2 hrs theretalking and sharing stories. Really cool side trip.We left and went to a diner for a late lunch and I got a steak. I'm craving protein like crazy.Finally, we made our way back to the motel, but only after driving thru a wicked thunderstorm. I'm always glad to be inside in these things.I'll admit, I'm starting to anticipate our separation again, and it just gets harder and harder. I just have to keep saying, "this is the last time...this is the last time."I am now reaching the stage in this hike where I'm ready to knock out the rest of the trail and get home..to my boys Hank and Henry, and most importantly to Karen. I love my home and my life there, and I really miss it. 1 more zero then back to hiking.~Certain