RSEi and the Hudson River Valley

Ten days in the Hudson Valley, MOSTLY at RSEi!

We stayed in Averill Park, NY (southeast of Albany & Troy) for 7 nights, followed by 3 nights in Rhinebeck, an hour south along the Hudson River. We spent MOST of our 1st week in Troy, MOSTLY at the Rensselaer Society of Engineering Innovation (RSEi), Mark’s fraternity house. We were quite busy.

Mark had his usual RSEi activities and meetings. (Gail took a day trip to central Massachusetts one day he had all day meetings.)
He had also agreed we‘d give a talk on Streaming to National Parks. SO…who did most of the “pitch prep” while he did other stuff??? (So much for catching up on organizing pictures.)
Gail also volunteered to make apple pies for RSEi students, baking 4 big ones, the morning of the presentation. It took a few hours, even with help from some students! (Marcy peeled a better part of 30 lbs. of Macintosh Apples with some help from Jonathan & Paul!)

It was RPI Reunion Weekend, and we didn’t even walk around campus! Off to Rhinebeck, we finally got in 3 days of touring 4 new sites:

Visited 3 new National Park Sites:

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site (#217), at Lindenwald, the post-presidency home of Martin Van Buren, our 8th president, one has the opportunity to learn about the obscure man, often little more than a footnote.
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site (#218), built by of one of the first families of wealth in America, designed by one of the nation’s preeminent architects, the Vanderbilt Mansion is a home built expressly for the aristocratic lifestyle…AND…one of the smallest built by Cornelius Vanderbilt’s many grandchildren.
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site (#219), Val-Kill, the home of Eleanor Roosevelt, where she and Franklin and Eleanor entertained friends, the press, activists, and official state visitors in its relaxed atmosphere.

Martin Van Buren NHS-Lindenwald
Vanderbilt Mansion NHS-the front of the mansion
Vanderbilt Mansion NHS-a bit of the gardens
Eleanor Roosevelt NHS-The Stone Cottage at Val-KIll

Toured 1 new State Capitol:

New York State Capitol in Albany (#30), where we got a great tour in an amazing building! The second capitol building, it took 32 years to build, with 5 architects, 1867 to 1892, when Governor Teddy Roosevelt called it Complete. Very apparent that the design changes as it was being built.