Day 18 6/11

Washington Headquarters

I can’t wait to be out of Mount Saint Mary, I have not been sleeping well and the mattress is really uncomfortable. The place we are staying in NYC better be better. No that I’m done complaining (lol), today we went to Washington’s headquarters and  Storm King Mountain Art Center. We again stopped to get breakfast, and I again stayed in the van.

Chrvaux-De-Frise

Chain and Boom

                At our first stop we first went into the visitor center. Inside the center, on the second floor, they had over 1300 artifacts. We were again not allowed to take pictures, but when has that stopped us before. Chrvaux- De-Frise were put in the Hudson to defend it from the British, this is because the Hudson River was the most reliable Highway for transportation, especially near West Point. Chrvaux-De-Frise were put in the Hudson to damage the bottom of British ship. However they weren’t always affective because the oncoming ships would see the tip of the pointy part and avoid them. Washington and his men also used Chain and Boom, to protect the Hudson. Chain and Booms were laid across the Hudson to prevent ships from passing. This was one of the earliest techniques for protecting the Hudson. In the next room there was a portrait of Washington. Like many people of that time they showed how rich they were in their portrait. He had gold tips and a sword. He also had books on the table showing he was able to read, this was important because 0nly 30% of the people were literate.

                We walked outside and the tour guide talked about how they were going to warn Washington about the British coming up from NYC. They would use a bonfire alert, on the mountains they would set a fire that could be seen from 12 miles away. The fire started a chain of fires to warn Washington that the British are coming. Honestly I don’t really remember anything the tour guide said in Washington’s headquarters, I had a headache and was having a hard time focusing. I kept zoning out and thinking about how excited I am for my supernatural convention and the London trip (oops). Although I do remember her saying, death by fire was the 2^nd leading cause of death for women at that time, and that Washington created the Merit which soon became the Purple Heart. She also kept repeating “you are walking on the same floors Washington walked on”.  After checking out the many artifacts and the Victory Tower we returned to the van, to head back to Mount Saint Mary to do some blogs.

                We were all hungry so we only did a couple blogs. During the last blog I turned to stretch and noticed Toby had fallen asleep, obviously I could not pass up this photo opportunity (cue evil laugh). After we went to lunch before we headed out to Storm King Mountain Art Center. Krista, Precious, and I were going to take the tram but we had an hour so we walked around stalling till the next tram came. While we were stalling one sculpture was one that looked like a tree from farther away, but as you got closer to me it looked more like a wall. There was also one that reminded me of Thor's Hammer. When the next Tram came to our surprise Toby, Michael, and Andor were already on there. I shouldn’t laugh at this but as we pulled out people were chasing the Tram yelling for it to stop, it didn’t. They ran but couldn’t catch up. I like a lot of the art and thought most of it looked cool. The one I didn’t like was the one with three white squares in a row, to me it didn’t belong and looked stupid. However I did like the one next to it that looked like a bridge. My favorite was defiantly the one that moved. It was awesome. After the tram ride we walked around more then went up to the gallery. What I like about this kind of art is you can imagine it the way you want and see what you want to see.

 

 

When we finished at the center we returned to finish our movie. After the movie we went to dinner. Katie, Kassiana, Krista, Precious and I all went to Applebee’s while Michael, Toby, Andor, Pamela, and Andra went off and did their own thing. I had an awesome time at dinner, I defiantly need more nights like this. I didn’t think I would ever say this but I can’t wait to get back to Manning.