Rhinebeck, NY

Our NY friends had suggested stopping in the Hudson Valley on our way back to NC and gave us a lot of good ideas of things to do, which we accomplished about half in the week we were there. We stayed at Interlake RV Park in Rhinebeck, NY.

Our Sunday travel day from Boston to New York was not the best. First, somewhere along the MA turnpike, we heard a loud BOOM followed by about 65% of a tractor trailer’s tire flying through the air toward us. Thankfully, it landed in our lane before it reached us, and Michael was able to drive around it without incident.

Then, we arrived at our water/electric only site to find that the RVer before us had just dumped their black/gray tanks on the ground. The campground moved us to a full hookup site but I don’t think it was worth the trauma.

We ended up not even leaving the RV park until Friday afternoon when we climbed up the Mount Rutsen fire tower to get a view of the Hudson Valley (cover photo).

On Saturday, we went into the town of Rhinebeck, which turned out to be very nice. It seemed to be a weekend tourist town with many small hotels, restaurants, and shops.

Next, we went to see the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, donated to the NPS as a monument to the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age was the time period following the Civil War until the turn of the century and referred to new millionaire families that flaunted their wealth as all show and no substance.

We were able (Covid policy now requires timed reservations) to go inside the mansion, which has been kept as it was when the Vanderbilts lived there.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get tickets to go inside the neighbor’s house – the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. A docent explained that it looked very different from the Vanderbilts’ since the Roosevelts were established, and not Guilded Age, millionaires.

Our last stop was the campus of the Culinary Insitute of America. We thought we would also just be walking around the outside since we weren’t able to get reservations to any student-run restaurants that were currently open. However, just that day, the Tavern at American Bounty had reopened for walk-ins from 3-6 so we ended up eating an early dinner! In addition to American Bounty, there is also a French and an Italian restaurant open for dinner, and a bakery during the weekdays.