July 4th was a most special day for me, thanks to the Volino family (Ben is Sophia’s boyfriend of over 4 years). They own a boat, the Nauti Boy III and we traveled from Stony Point, where the boat is moored down and around Manhattan. AMAZING!

This is a short video of the trip, followed by some photos.

The beautiful shoreline of the Hudson relaxed me as we started our journey.

This is the Mario Cuomo Bridge, recently built to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge. While the name still sparks emotional responses by local residents, it is a beautiful bridge and it was totally fun to go UNDER it, after many years of crossing it by car,

Heading down we passed many iconic landmarks: Yonkers (made famous in the movie Funny Girl), the cliffs of the Palisades, the Cloisters, and then the George Washington Bridge.

One of my biggest takeaways from this trip was how beautiful and varied the newer architecture of Manhattan is.

A new park along the Hudson River, one of the many projects that have made the shoreline a place of fun and exercise. A huge difference from the warehouses and ugly industrial plants of my youth.

Before heading over the Liberty Island, we hopped across the river to New Jersey to have a rest break at a local marina where we saw this JetSki tour returning. For a huge amount of money, you can see lower Manhattan from the water for one hour.

Floating by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island was special. Seeing her never gets old.

Heading back towards Manhattan we see my favorite view of the NY skyline, where the flat land touched the water and it looks like you can peel Manhattan off the water!

Now we bore right and headed up the East River which has a totally different feel to the skyline. There is a blend of old and new – from the South Street Seaport to the Brooklyn Bridge and the UN Headquarters. Passing under so many bridges I lost count…I was hoping to count all 21 of the bridges that enter Manhattan!

Going under the Henry Hudson Bridge was fun, as was passing the Columbia University crew dock and the famous ‘C’ painted on the cliff. The train bridge was open so we didn’t have to wait to return to the Hudson River.

On the way back, we stayed on the north shore of the Hudson, where we got a good view of the Palisades cliffs, along with the rock pile from a recent erosion. We also passed the mansions, often weekend homes of wealthy New York City residents. As I have driven past their gates so many times over the years, it was fun to see what these huge homes look like, because from the road they are very unassuming! I had no idea there was ship dock (on the video, where a yacht was being repaired) and how many homes there are! I also got to steer the boat for a while – totally as fun as it looks! Then before we knew it, we were back at Stony Point.

The day ended with a traditional bbq of hamburgers, hot dogs and pie, complete with great company. Thus ended one of the best 4th of July I ever had!