May 23

Still waiting...

We still have to eat, found a neat little diner, Johnny B's, favorite of the locals. Terrific chicken pot pie, we bought the last one of the day to share. Came with bowl of soup, Alvin had lentil and I had chicken Florentine. We topped that off with apple pie ala mode and whipped cream.

The owner's wife was our waitress, they lived in Clovis NM for about 4 years before coming to NY. She is originally from NJ and he is from Greece. His father meet every customer at the door and he and another elderly man entertained us with harmonica and rhythm sticks. All the people we've met have been very friendly and gracious.



We found Henry Hudson Park...

This boulder is supposed to mark the spot he landed his ship Halfmoon in 1609 while searching for a northwest passage to India.

The river is wide and deep enough for tug boats to push barges up river, and the tide causes the river to flow north for part of every day. Basically, an estuary, the tidal influence reaches as far as Troy, another 20 miles north of Albany.

The original name Muhheakantuck is from the Lanape language meaning "river that flows two ways".


We found Brown Creeper, Downy Woodpecker, Fish Crow, Great Blue Heron, Chipping Sparrow, Blue Jay, Double-crested Cormorant, Red-winged Blackbird, and numerous Robin.

The evergreen trees were soft as velvet with pale green tips,

my Sibley tree book is unavailable at this time, so I can't ID for sure.

The cones are very distinctive, should be easy to figure out once I have my book back.

Watched winged maple seeds windmilling in the wind. Don't have these kinds of maples in Texas.

Found another species of winged maple seeds, but didn't get to see these fly...

The taller the tress, the smaller the birds...
and these trees are gigantic!










Watched the finals of National Geographic Geography Bowl at 7 PM. 9 finalists, 3 girls, 6 boys... all Asian...
Amazing what a good work ethic can accomplish.