RUN AWAY with the Circus

Two circuses are coming to Bard's Spiegeltent this summer including our favorite Bindlestiff Family Cirkus the first weekend in August. (See other kid-friendly Spiegeltent events in July on the Google calendar below). The Bindlestiff Family is part circus, part vaudeville with a real scissors swallower which is not for the timid!

Saturday, August 1st
Sunday, August 2nd
3:30 p.m.
$15, $5 children 3 and older
Follow this link to buy advanced tickets

HIKE Saugerties Lighthouse

Hike the 1/2 mile trail (at low tide) to picnic at the Saugerties Lighthouse - a 139 year old red brick lighthouse sitting in the middle of the Hudson River at the mouth of the Esopus Creek. Explore its sandy beach - perfect for dipping toes in the Hudson - or cast your fishing line. Make a day's adventure out of it by kayaking or canoeing out!

Hike out dawn to dusk
Tours of the lighthouse itself are offered:
12 - 3 p.m., Saturday & Sunday
suggested donation of $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children
Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day
(And there is an operational port-a-potty April - October)

Here is an interesting note from the Saugerties Lighthouse Web site:

The Esopus Estuary is a plume emanating from Esopus Creek into the Hudson River. The deepwater portion of the Esopus Esutary is spawning and wintering ground for the shortnose sturgeon, an endangered species. The entire estuary is an important nursery area for migratory striped bass, white perch, American shad, alewife, blueback herring and rainbow smelt. It is a prime spot for bird-watching. Migratory osprey rely on the estuary as a feeding ground in spring. Other raptors, waterfowl and songbirds also visit the area.

BEWARE the ticks of spring

We caught a live female nymph deer tick on an unwitting friend last weekend and looked at it under the microscope (it was easily the smallest one in this diagram). It was an interesting educational activity we don't recommend to the squimish!

Now that we're spending more time outside we're taking more precautions for reducing ticks in the yard and on little bodies - based on our annual reading of The CDC's guidelines.

PICNIC at Blythewood

A southern belle we know lived in the Blithewood Mansion when she was a student at Bard College in the late 1960s. Its rolling green lawns and beautiful formal gardens are a great place for a sunset picnic overlooking The South Tivoli Bay and Hudson River.

When you turn onto Blithewood Avenue to approach the 1899 mansion note the octagonal gate house and imagine the long approach (before the land was given to Bard College).

Blithewood
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

FLY-in for breakfast

At our first magical encounter with the West Ghent fly-in, we ate pancakes with two 70-year-old pilots who asked 'What did you folks fly in this morning?" We had to point sheepishly to our M.G. Midget. The Experimental Aircraft Association hosts this amazing event every Spring and Fall attracting helicopters, World War II bombers and hand-made aircraft. Gawking is free for all. Breakfast is $5 a head.

Saturday, June 13, 8:30 - 1:00 p.m. (rain date Sunday, June 14). Here are directions to Kline Kill Airport, West Ghent. If you can't make it this spring there is another in September.