The Cloisters, Washington Heights, New York City, Part 2

This continues our visit to the glorious Cloisters museum in Upper Manhattan. Read Part 1 here. The museum, owned and maintained by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is simply beautiful. The artifacts are breath-taking, but my favorite part was the building itself and the park surrounding the area. Fort Tryon Park is one of the [...]

The Cloisters, Washington Heights, New York City, Part 1

What can I say. It’s exquisite. It’s been a long-time goal to see this fabulous museum. As a student of medieval history and art, visiting this museum — one of North America’s most extensive collection of medieval art and manuscripts — was one of my big travel goals. The Cloisters is an extension of the [...]

Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, Part 3

If you don’t have a hankering to go see this museum after the first two posts about our trip (read Part 1 here and Part 2 here), I don’t know what to tell you. It took us two full days (and then some) to see this museum and we had a BLAST. My kids’ heads [...]

Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY – Part 2

This is one of the finest museums in Upstate New York. Read Part 1 of our trip. The Adirondack Museum is the “everything” place about the Adirondacks: the ecosystems and biology of the forest and lakes; life in the Adirondacks from early times to now; the logging and mining industries; its formation as a state [...]

The Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, NY

While we were in Schoharie County, rambling through the deep, mysterious recesses of the subterranean (Howe Caverns!), I discovered another attraction nearby: Iroquois Indian Museum. I grew up in New York State, ancient land of the Iroquois Nations, so their history has been drilled into my skull endlessly since my school years. As a homeschooling [...]

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 3

We spent the better part of a day at Fort Ticonderoga, taking in the magnificent sights of the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain, absorbing the amazing and sometimes tragic history, and exploring the fort’s numerous labyrinthine pathways and alcoves. And this was all before we had even entered one building! Read Part 1 and Part [...]

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2

In A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 1, I discussed the amazing views of the fort and its very important role in the defense of pre-colonial settlements and American Revolutionary strategy. After soaking in the glorious sights and enjoying a musket drill, we entered the interior ring of the fort that once housed the soldiers, [...]

Trinity Church, New York, NY, Part 3

Trinity Church is beautiful, inside and out. Visiting this historic building was one of our highlights to visiting Manhattan. (Read Part 1 and Part 2). After resting beneath a canopy of trees that served as a cool refuge from the hot New York streets and lingering in the sanctuary in the same pews that our [...]

Burr, Hamilton, Chase Bank and the Wooden Water Pipes

What do wooden water pipes buried beneath Manhattan and the formation of a bank have to do with the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr? Truth is stranger than fiction…

The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY

I’ve visited some amazing museums in my time — the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the New York State Museum — the Adirondack Museum in the central Adirondack region is perhaps one of the largest museums in Upstate New York. It certainly ranks as one of the most interesting and enjoyable. [...]

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