SNOW!!!

We woke up in a campsite, yes finally. We haven't stayed in a campsite in ages – our water tank was empty and waste full - not any more!!! We all had a shower to wash the smoky smell off us and did our daily chores eg: Dishes then played on the playground till it was time to go.

After that we just kept driving until we got to the Westpoint Military Academy museum and visitors center. There we were just in time for ½ hour of the museum which has like three stories of rifles, swords and other army things. There was one thing in particular that we liked and that was a special pistol from some man that was probably famous because mum and dad recognized the name (Louie XIV of France... ed). The pistol had some really fancy carvings on the side. We got through as much of the museum as possible before it closed, then went for a little drive to see what we could see. Deanna found a little road that on the GPS looked good but things are often different than they seem because when we actually drove down it, we found it was really crap, so did a u-turn and went straight back up again.

We decided to stay in the car park of the military academy museum and visitors center because they said it would be fine. I think that this is the best place to park because its full of security cameras and surrounded by the Army. In fact I think we can safely say it's the safest place we've overnighted so far!

When we woke up we headed back to the Museum were we took a bus tour through the actual Academy... which is a proper university college, in fact one of the top schools in the country. Our first stop was at the chapel. Did you know the pipe organ there has more than 23,000 pipes? That makes it the biggest pipe organ in the world and we got to see it in that very chapel. The smallest pipe is no bigger than a pencil, and the largest a grown man can stand up and turn around in. All the windows were stained glass, also each graduating class put their year on the windows and 100 years before... so every year group had a window... until they ran out of windows so now no more year groups get a window. There was a candle in a roped off pew in memorial of those who have not returned.

Our next stop was the marching field. If a student has been naughty they have to march in full uniform around the field rain or shine. But here's the twist – they have to do it for 4 hours!!! If you march for over 100 hours you are considered notorious. Who knew that one of the notorious types would become a general? Next we crossed the road to a big monument to the civil war. Circling the monument were canons with their heads stuck in the ground. This is to show that they will never fight each other again. Along the banks of the Hudson River are cannons that they had plundered from their other military victories.

The reason they built a fort at Westpoint in the first place was because of the Hudson River. The river is mostly wide and straight but there it narrows and goes in an s shape. So only very experienced ship captains could maneuver their way through but they must slow down. This makes it an ideal place to prevent invaders (i.e. the British) from passing by. In addition, the clever Americans built a chain with massive links & stretched it right accross the river just below the water line. If any ships tried to pass, they would tighten the chain at each end and damage/sink the ship (they were all wooden in those days). Once the British heard of this chain, they didn't even bother trying to pass anymore. Oh, and one more thing, the chain weighed 26 tons!

From there we went back to the museum where we stayed and picked up where we left yesterday. The parts in the museum that I liked the best is the really miniature lifelike sculptures of scenes in the war. Also loads of exhibits from all the wars America has been involved in - the olds looked around for ages but most of it quite boring for us midgets!

After lunch we hit the road and headed the 60 or so miles... down the Hudson... to NEW YORK CITY!!!

Has anyone reading this blog ever heard of Saturday traffic? Well I certainly hadn’t until a few days ago... I think the only place it exists in in New York. The traffic was so slow in places that me and Emma got to sit on the right hand dashboard. And that was the very spot we confirmed the sighting of SNOW!!! Snow is amazing!! It’s so beautiful. At first it was just patters of snow that melted as soon as it touched something but after a while it settled and when it did, everything turned white. There were lots of median barriers that were actually grass but you couldn’t see the grass only snow. All the trees had white frosting – like icing on a biscuit. And the road signs were half cover from the top.

The trip to our camp ground, just on the New Jersey site of the Hudson, was a huge mission. Do you know why? Because any vehicle with propane isn't allowed through any tunnels in New York. Before the snow arrived we had intended to go via Long Island for a look around but the weather was aweful... and traffic not much better. However we got turned around at the Lincoln Tunnel under the East River, meaning we had to go right around and thru Manhatten... as rush hour was starting... not to mention the snow. We sat in the same spot for 20 minutes at one stage cos the onramp was blocked. Then of course, tunnels under the Hudson were also unavailable so we had to go over the George Washington bridge... which was extremely cool in the snow!

We also had to find a place to fill our propane which wasn't as easy as you would think - the good thing was when we stopped us kids all had a massive snowball fight!

Finally we made it to our camp site... and it's fair to say that Dad was rather frazzled from all the traffic and driving in the snow. Emma and I made a snowman - not a very big one, but a snowman all the same... and it was still there in mornimg! Off to explore New York next...

Lots of love... Amy