Tag Archives: retirement

Hike to Val-Kill and Top Cottages

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the trail to Val-Kill and Top Cottages

There’s a very cool hike through the woods from the Roosevelt family home of Springwood to Val-Kill Cottage, where Eleanor Roosevelt chose to live, and then farther up the hill to Top Cottage, where Franklin intended to live after leaving the presidency. Both cottages were on the vast Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, both small by Springwood standards (especially Top Cottage), both entirely independent of the other, and both the source of great comfort and isolation to their residents.

Let’s back up a bit. Why did Eleanor choose to live at Val-Kill, when Franklin was living at Springwood? We’ve all heard the rumors of their supposed infidelities. I won’t comment on them because I know nothing about them, but according to our park-ranger guide, Eleanor never felt at home at Springwood while Franklin’s mother, Sara, was alive. (She passed away in 1941.) Springwood was always her mother-in-law’s home. She and two friends had originally developed the Val-Kill property as an industrial site where locals could learn handicraft skills. It became Eleanor’s getaway when she was in Hyde Park with her husband, but became her full-time residence after his death in 1945 when she had the factory converted into her home. She lived there until her death in 1962.

Cindy, waiting for her hot dog at Top Cottage

Top Cottage, or Hill-Top Cottage to be precise, was designed by Franklin, an amateur architect, and built during his second term in office. It was his retreat from the world, but they–both he and Eleanor–used it for family picnics and entertaining guests as well. In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Britain attended the famous “hot-dog summit” at the cottage. (The King’s Speech, anyone?) It was Roosevelt’s desire that the king and queen see how the American commoner lived–and what he or she ate. Note: The queen ate her hot dog with a fork and knife. The king enjoyed eating his by hand!

furry friend in the forest

So, back to the hike. The woods were beautiful. We had them almost to ourselves on a Wednesday morning. The hike to Val-Kill was mostly level–piece of cake! The hike to Top Cottage from Val-Kill was a pretty rugged climb up muddy paths cut through the leaves by heavy rains a few days before.

Here are some of the guys we met along the way.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard

 

A very long rat snake. We never saw his head, but his body went on forever as he slithered into this rotted log.

FDR

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Eleanor and Franklin greeted us at Springwood, his family home in Hyde Park

Our first day of sightseeing on the Grand Niagara Tour: We headed up the Hudson River Valley to Hyde Park, New York. I’ve always wanted to visit the home and presidential library of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I didn’t know much about the Roosevelts, but I’d heard enough to be intrigued. Now, after spending two days in their midst, I want to know more. I’m researching biographies. Any recommendations?

FDR was born and raised at the family home of Springwood, and didn’t leave until his fourteenth year to attend boarding school in Massachusetts. At eighteen he attended Harvard, and four years later law school at Columbia. He didn’t take to law school and left to study law on his own. He passed the bar exam on his first attempt. Not bad for being self-taught!

Springwood

There’s so much more to his life and all that he accomplished for his state and country. Most remarkably, he accomplished what Herbert Hoover could not: He rescued this country from the Great Depression. His ideas were radical, as they needed to be, and he started putting them into place within a few months of taking office.

After two successful terms as president, America, on the brink of world war, voted him in to a third term of office. At the end of his third term, and this time actively in the midst of war, America elected him to an unprecedented fourth term. Sadly, he died as he, Churchill, and Stalin were laying the groundwork for a post-war world, just months before the war ended. Yet his legacy for peace lives on, predominantly in his dream of the United Nations.

I didn’t realize the FDR Presidential Library was not only the first presidential library, a concept that Roosevelt came up with himself as a quiet place to work while in Hyde Park, but also the only one ever used by a president while still in office. It’s a repository chock-full of papers (both his and Eleanor’s), memorabilia, and artwork. I loved seeing all the little animals on the desk he used in the Oval Office. It reminds me of my own!

I thought I would have no interest in a temporary exhibit called War Art, motivational posters from World War Two. I passed through the display, vaguely glancing at the walls. My pace slowed, however, as the message began to hit home: Americans were called upon to make incredible sacrifices during the war. Not just rationing and victory gardens, but also collecting scrap metals, rubber from tires, glass, clothing and rags (and we thought we invented recycling!); working extra hours and improving efficiencies in the work place to cover the Americans who were fighting overseas; volunteering for everything from scrap collection to rolling bandages; being mum about the war effort to avoid spreading information that could help the enemy; and so much more. Buying war bonds was especially important. Just imagine the daunting challenge of funding a global war right after the Great Depression! If it hadn’t been for Roosevelt’s New Deal, this country wouldn’t have had the infrastructure to get through a world war.

When they elected him president, many Americans did not realize FDR was paralyzed from the waist down. He was never photographed in his wheelchair and only publicly mentioned his disability once, in the last year of his life.

Being a spectator during the wars America has been involved in over the past 50+ years is nothing like supporting a massive world-war effort on a daily basis for almost four years. The Greatest Generation? You bet! We could all learn a lesson on sacrifice, honor, and integrity.

Niagara!

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courtesy of Google images

We typically travel abroad every other year for an extended period of time. 2018 is the in-between year, so I figured we knock off some domestic bucket list items. I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, so Upstate New York and Toronto are our destinations this May and June. Hope we see views like this! Stay tuned.

Kayaking Lessons

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Marcus and I had only tried kayaking once before–twelve years ago at a resort in Jamaica. Our backs hurt so badly after ten minutes of sitting in the molded plastic seats, we returned the kayaks to the beach and hobbled back to our lounge chairs.

So many of our friends rave about kayaking. I’ve watched people in kayaks in the Indian River Lagoon in Stuart, and I’ve envied the way they silently slip in and out of the mangrove islands watching wildlife undisturbed. How is it that everyone can sit in those boats for hours except us? I began to suspect that maybe it wasn’t us, it was the cheap for-tourists-only kayaks at the resort.

Fortunately we had the opportunity on this trip to try good kayaks. Our friends, Dan and Nancy, live on a little piece of paradise on the Withlacoochee River in Inglis, just north of Crystal River. They are avid kayakers and offered to let us try theirs in the peace and quiet of their backyard river. Well, I thought, if we don’t find their kayaks comfortable, then it is us!

I was a little apprehensive, however. I had never paddled any kind of boat on my own. Marcus had always been on board to help me out, if I should find myself headed backward downriver toward a waterfall, for example. But this was a one-person craft; I’d be on my own. Fortunately Dan and Nancy are extremely patient teachers and did just about everything but paddle for me–adjusting the foot rests to fit, easing me into and out of the river, and following me upriver and back like protective parental ducks taking their offspring on her first swim. I was in good company!

It was a blast–all twenty minutes of it! Dan and Nancy gave us the option of going on a longer journey downriver after our trial run, but we opted for their pontoon boat so we could go farther and see more–and so we could perfect our paddling strokes in the privacy of our own lagoon! I felt like a baby moose trying to stand on gawky legs for the first time. The paddle was everywhere except where I wanted it to be! How does one gracefully apply this oversized appendage toward something resembling movement?

We’ll seek out further kayaking opportunities at home and get that paddling down to an art. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

In the wild

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manatee sighting at Kings Bay Park, Crystal River

On a whim, we drove to Kings Bay Park in downtown Crystal River to see if there were any manatees hanging around. It was a chilly morning. Maybe there would be some stragglers who weren’t on their way out to the gulf yet. Several dive boats full of tourists in wetsuits and snorkel gear were prowling Kings Bay looking for manatees as well. Suddenly a large manatee surfaced at the dock we were standing on, practically under our feet.

“Don’t point at it!” I whispered urgently to Marcus as his arm naturally began to extend.

“What? Why?” he asked.

“I don’t want those boats to see you pointing, or they’ll head over here to have a look and scare him away.”

We kept our arms, and our first wild manatee, to ourselves for just a few moments longer.

a cute little guy wearing the floor of the bay on his back!

Up Close and Too Personal?

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manatee with an injured flipper (behind him)

We were eagerly anticipating the manatee program at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park as they are known primarily for their manatee refuge. The park is the only place in the area you are likely to see manatees year round. I don’t think they have any permanent residents, thank goodness, but given all the boat-strikes and other mishaps, they are usually working continuously with injured manatees to heal them and prepare them to be released back to the wild. We weren’t having much luck finding manatees in the area’s rivers this week because of the warmer-than-usual weather—record-breaking highs five days in a row. So we were excited to see some up close and personal.

When we arrived at the manatee tank, we found it high and dry with three manatees in it—and about a dozen people. No manatee presentation today; instead, the three new manatees the park had recently acquired, victims of last September’s Hurricane Irma, would receive their first medical checkup. Visitors were welcome to watch, however. I wouldn’t call it entertaining, but it certainly was an eye-opener.

As we arrived, there was a bit of a discussion amongst the staff members, volunteers, and vets in the enclosure as to the best way to give the manatees their much-needed shots. These guys were injured and needed antibiotics, among other things. They were not used to being handled by humans, and yet it was necessary for them to be restrained so the vet could inject them.

 

A nod of heads all around and four staff members and volunteers placed foam mats on top of one of the manatees. There was a bit of foot shuffling and half-hearted attempts to kneel next to the immense animal. Finally one of the staff members, aptly wearing a wetsuit, draped himself over the foam-topped manatee and the rest clumsily followed suit. The manatee struggled under the sudden weight, the restrainers renewed their efforts, slipping awkwardly in the mess at the bottom of the tank, and the vet was able to administer the injections.

Owie! Owie! Owie!

Well, we got our manatee encounter, up close and personal, but nothing like the volunteers and staff members did! I’ll bet it took half a dozen showers to wash away the smell of distressed manatee!

 

Olivia

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Olivia (aka Robin)

My third treat for the day was Olivia, a resident opossum at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Olivia and her sister were orphaned at a very young age and are now wildlife emissaries at the park. On the day we were there she was assisting a volunteer with the park’s Wildlife Encounters program by showing us how many kibbles she can eat.

Note: For some reason the volunteer kept calling her Robin. What? She was obviously mistaken. Look at that face! That’s an Olivia, if ever I saw one. Don’t you agree?

I had no idea that possums could be so adorable! I could have watched her munch on kibbles all day. Such a good employee!

Yuma

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Yuma, with his first kill of the day

Another highlight of the Wildlife Park in Homosassa Springs was the Florida panther. Prior to this, I had never seen a live one. The Wildlife Park has two resident panthers, both males rescued as infants. They can’t be kept in the same enclosure, so the park rotates them—one is on display in the main enclosure while the other is in R&R behind the scenes. On the day we were there, Yuma was up to bat.

When we arrived at the panther enclosure, we couldn’t find him. We asked a nearby volunteer who told us that the volunteers hadn’t been able to locate him all morning. The enclosure is not large. As we were chatting, we scanned the proximity. Suddenly a panther leaped out of the bushes in front of us and pounced on a turkey vulture that had just landed twenty feet away. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first exposure to a Florida panther!

The volunteer I was talking to was shocked. In her twenty years at the Wildlife Park, she had never seen either panther attempt to catch any of the birds who are free to come and go in the roofless enclosure. (The park has a sprinkler system to discourage birds from landing in certain enclosures. It wasn’t engaged in the panther enclosure that morning, however.) Yuma carried the vulture into his super-secret hiding place in the bushes and proceeded to “play” with his kill for a bit. He didn’t seem to know what to do with it, never having had to kill to eat. Good to know the hunting instinct is still alive and well!

Yuma, in his super-secret hiding place, watching a turkey vulture

Marcus and I walked away to see some of the other exhibits, but wandered back to the panther enclosure after twenty minutes or so. We could see Yuma, still in the bushes, and still admiring his handiwork, when suddenly he leaped out and snagged another vulture, right out of mid-air this time! The poor, unsuspecting bird was about six feet from landing when Yuma snagged him.

Yikes! A second kill!

Given our track record for witnessing panther bird-strikes, we decided that perhaps, in the interest of preserving the local vulture population, we should stop visiting the exhibit! On to the Wildlife Encounter….

Lucifer

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Lucifer (Lu), a 58-year-old hippo

On our first day on the Nature Coast, we visited the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park about seven miles south of Crystal River. In addition to being a refuge for injured manatees, it is home to other animals as well—some eventually releasable, some permanent residents due to injuries or being orphaned as babies.

Lu eating his breakfast of alfalfa

The star attraction for us was Lucifer, a 58-year-old hippo—the oldest in North America. Hippos generally do not live beyond fifty, so this guy is doing well. He was born in captivity, at the San Diego Zoo, so he’s always been cared for. He had quite the appetite and seemed to be enjoying his breakfast of alfalfa when we arrived. Get a load of that ear hair!