Day 9: West Point

Tuesday, October 13

The West Point Academy is heavily guarded!

Sandra did not feel good in the morning and decided to spend the day in bed. David and I went off to visit West Point Military Academy. The campus is beautiful and is comprised of both very old and quite modern buildings. We took a 1 hour bus tour, which drove us around the campus, getting off at a few places to walk around or enter buildings. West Point is a 4-year academy. It is also the longest continuously garrisoned base in the United States. After students graduate, they are committed to 8 years of service. Originally, the only major was engineering. Today there are other majors, but they all result in a BS and everyone studies engineering disciplines, even if their major is something different. All students must compete in a team sport, since physical activity is a hallmark of military service. All graduates get a commission as a second lieutenant. Students rise at 6:00 AM and their day begins at 6:30 AM. They get 20 minutes to eat each meal and the entire 4400 student body eats at the same time in a giant dining room with a 5 story high ceiling. 

A modest chapel on campus

The first stop on our tour was one of several "chapels." I use quotes here because this one looked more like a cathedral. It was being renovated on the outside, but was quite beautiful on the inside. The tour didn't stop there, but the guide pointed out a Jewish chapel that was built in the 1980's using funds donated by Jewish groups around the country.

The point is a land mass that sticks out into the Hudson river. It was a strategic location during the revolutionary war. They hung a 1700 foot long, 65 ton chain across the river. Any British vessel attempting to get past the point would have to stop to deal with the chain and then would be fired upon with canons from the shore. The British never made it past the point. 

A beautiful view...and the river is pretty from here too!

The view from the point looking out at the river is spectacular. There is a canon collection at the view point, being a collection of enemy canons collected across all of America's wars. It started raining pretty heavily at this point, so we didn't have the opportunity to examine them closely as we sought shelter back on the bus. After the tour, we went to the on-campus museum, spending most of our time looking at a display of small weapons, which explained the evolution of firearm technology over the ages. There was a display of a random assortment of larger weapons too, including casings for the first atom bombs (obviously not the casings that were actually dropped!). There was also a large carved wooden eagle with a swastika in its talons that had been captured from the Germans near the end of World War II. What a beautiful irony that while that eagle once adorned a room staffed by Nazis committed to the annihilation of every single Jew, now it was a mere curiosity in a room, which on that day was occupied by several Jews (a pair of Chassidic men were also exploring the museum at the same time we were).

A Jewish young man ponders a trophy captured from a vanquished enemy

We stayed until closing and were thinking about getting a snack in the town outside the academy. That's when we encountered American Burrito, home of the All-American: "5 pounds of insanity," and The Apocalypse, a combination of three of their "Ultimate" burritos deep fried. They had a Wall of Fame with pictures of patrons (undoubtedly students at the Academy) who have successfully consumed either of these culinary extravaganzas in their entirety. David seemed very inspired, but in the end settled for a bean and cheese burrito. 

One view from Perkins's hilltop

The 5-story Perkins Tower in the
hands of a 25-story tall David

Heading towards home, we took the Seven Lakes Drive. We didn't get a great view of any lakes, but we found the Perkins Memorial Drive, which led up to a tower erected in 1934 in honor of George Perkins, a Parks Commissioner who worked to set aside the land that David and I were now enjoying. The tower, which is about 5 stories tall, had an observation deck with telescopes, but was unfortunately closed at the time. However, the surrounding land still provided a great view of the Hudson, as well as a distant view of the Manhattan skyline. On the way back down, we encountered 3 deer who walked right up to the car without fear (when I stopped it to watch them). We continued along the Seven Lakes Drive, but right where it crossed the main highway (itself, equally gorgeous), traffic came to a dead standstill, so we just hopped on the main road and headed back to Piermont.

Thank you for the view, Mr. Perkins!

Sandra was still feeling pretty miserable, and I too was worsening significantly. By now I had body aches, a fever and a bit of a cough. I was feeling exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep, but David and Sandra decided it was laundry night and I dutifully took on the job. A nice aspect of many Airbnbs is that they come equipped with a washer and dryer. This Airbnb had one of those stacked units typically used in small condos and apartments. Unfortunately, the dryer was taking forever to dry the clothes - the cycle had to be run 3 times. And every time a cycle ended, it would blast a horrendous buzzer repeatedly, so there was no way to just go to sleep until the clothes were finally dry. This problem turned out to be a recurring theme throughout our trip and I eventually learned the fine art of apartment clothes dryer maintenance, but more about that later.