The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

September 21, 2017
Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown, New York

Today my friends Stacey, Brenda, Hilda and I took a day trip to Sleepy Hollow to explore Washington Irvings home and the surrounding area that he loved.

A view of the Hudson as we made our way to Sleepy Hollow

Brenda, Hilda, & Stacey

Brenda & me

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was published in 1820 and was set in what was Tarry Town, New York which morphed into Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.  Irvings home, Sunnyside, is right on the Hudson River and has beautiful landscaping.  We spent a couple hours there just soaking in the beauty.

The gardens leading up to Sunnyside

Creepy trees that fit right in to the Sleepy Hollow story

Irvings man made pond by the house

Ducks walking freely around the area

The trees were so much bigger than my pictures can show

Just look at that view!

Sunnyside was tucked right in to the trees

There were no pictures allowed so this is from the website

Irving's study (pic from the website)

The back area of Sunnyside

Another view of the back area of Sunnyside

This area was once an inlet for Irvings boats

Brenda, Hilda, me & Stacey

Brenda, Hilda, & Stacey

Brenda, me & Stacey

The pond again

This is definitely happening next year!

This one is definitely happening this year!

I loved this drawing of Rip Van Winkle, another of Irvings stories

We then had a quick lunch and proceeded to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery just to see the quaint Church and where many historical figures are buried.  

I loved the town signs!

Just really cool, super old ones!

Heading to Irving's grave

His area!

Owen Jones...no idea who this fella was but he really wanted people to notice!

A real Van Tassel in the Sleepy Hollow grave!

Ha!  Starbuck's is really EVERYWHERE!

I just thought this was beautiful...I think this was Andrew Carnegie's area.

Walter Crysler's grave

William Rockerfeller's grave

The Sleepy Hollow Bridge

Leona Helmsley's grave

She is surrounded by the New York skyline for ever

So that was our Sleepy Hollow adventure.  It was a great day and I look forward to many more day trips with these lovely ladies!

Football Season at West Point

September 2017
West Point, New York

So football is big at West Point.  Seriously, September/October/November is taken over with tailgate parties and Black Knight football.  It's actually a lot of fun and I feel pretty lucky to be able to experience this.  We are not going to be able to go to the Army/Navy game this year since Mike took too long to pull the trigger on tickets but we sure will next year!  Here are a couple pics from two of our game days:

Me & my side kick, Jack!

Tyler & Maryam

Tyler with Cash & Lola

Tony & Mike

Anita, me & Ali

Ali & Tony

Ali & me

Lola, Maryam, Tyler & Cash

Look at all those cadets!  They have to stand the entire game.

Our next game we got to spend some time with our friends Ali, Tony and Ali's Mom & Dad.  Towards the end of the game we even got to meet up with Cary & Orienna (some of my favorite people on the planet)!

Me & Jack "pre-gaming"

Captain Jack & me

Ali's Mom, Dad, Ali & Tony

They had cool jumpers too!

Tyler, Maryam, Tony, Ali, Mike & me

Tony "Captain America" & Ali

Mike & Cary

Orienna & me

Me, Mike, Cary & Orienna

Our last game of the season!

We only went to about three or four games this season but next year we will go to many more.  The tailgate food is just too good to pass up and the company is even better!

Exploring the City with Lady O!

August 12, 2017
New York City, New York

Today my lovely friend Orienna and I got to take a train to New York City together!  Now that we are both living back in the United States, we hopefully will have the opportunity from time to time to get together and have more adventures!

Orienna & me in Grand Central

 We didn't have more than a couple hours to explore this day but we made every second count.  We hit some of the cute shops on or way from Grand Central Station to the Memorial pools.  We also found an amazing dim sum place in China Town.  There was so much walking but just being out and about on such a beautiful day was totally worth the fitbit step count!

Orienna was just visiting some friends so I was lucky that I got to grab her for the day.  Happily I will see her again soon when her and her husband come for his West Point reunion this summer!