We started our day with the “Catskill Active” excursion, which began with a bus ride to Kaaterskill Falls. Our guide, Matt, was a “retired comedian” (his description, not mine); he kept us entertained and informed on the drive through the beautiful fall colors.

The road took us by Kaaterskill Creek and lower Kaaterskill Falls; the bus wasn’t allowed to stop for photos, but the driver drove very slowly.

We “hiked” the Kaaterskill Falls trail for half-a-mile (out and back).

The Kaaterskill Falls Viewing Platform was the highlight of this part of the excursion; Kaaterskill Falls is higher than Niagara Falls, but has a lot less water.

On the way back to the bus, our ship entertainer, Mike, pointed out some interesting things, including this Witches’ Butter fungus.

The more “active” part of the excursion took us to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, where we walked across the Hudson River Skyway (well, only partway due to time) and enjoyed the views of the river and yet more fall color.

Two of the leaders of the Hudson River School, Thomas Cole and Frederic Church had built houses on either side of the river. The ship offered excursions to each of them, but they were at the same time as this trip, but we did get to see Church’s house, Olana, from the bridge.

Of course, our ship wasn’t the only ship we saw from the bridge; there was a good bit of commercial and recreational traffic, too.

We returned to the ship for lunch and a lecture during our short cruise upstream to Troy.

We crossed under I-90 and I saw a familiar road sign pointing the way to Troy.

The Troy-Menands Bridge looked very different from the river than it did when driving on it.

There were some interesting buildings along the river, like the Hudson River Terminal Warehouse.

As we approached Troy, I was hoping to see RPI, and I wasn’t disappointed.

We went to an old favorite for dinner, the Red Front, about half a mile from the Troy Downtown Marina where the ship had docked.

The Red Front hadn’t changed much since the last time we visited (probably 7 years ago) and the pizza was still very good. We got back to the ship just in time to see the last little bit of sunset from the sun deck.

The only excursion available today was the “West Point Experience”, a guided tour of West Point. We chose the early departure, so we were on the bus at 8am and were at West Point just before 9am, where our guide, Bill, met us.

Our first stop was the Cadet Chapel, which is the largest of the nine chapels on post. It dates from 1911 and is built, like most of the other buildings on post, in the “Military Gothic” style.

When we entered the building, the first thing that struck me was the meticulous arrangement of the prayer books in the pews.

One pew was roped off and marked with a candle. It is in honor of missing POW/MIA service members.

The chapel has the largest church organ in the world, with 23,511 pipes. The control panel is intimidating.

We didn’t visit any of the other chapels on post, even the Orthodox Chapel of Saint Martin, which is in the basement of the Cadet Chapel. I would have liked to have seen the Jewish Chapel, of course.

We got back on our bus and were dropped at the parking lot near The Plain, where I saw a most unusual sign. I wonder how they enforce it?

We crossed the road to get a better understanding of why West Point was so important during the Revolution. The view from Sherburne’s Redoubt tells the story – West Point is in a commanding position to control the Hudson River. The view wasn’t bad, either!

The Americans were worried that the British might come up the Hudson and cut off the New England colonies, so they built the “Great Chain” to prevent British ships from doing so – it was made of 100-pound links of iron, connected by pieces of wood, so that no ship could get through. And the British never tried.

The area we were exploring is also called “Trophy Point” and is decorated by cannons captured by the Army over the years.

Trees were turning bright colors, making for a nice view, even on a rainy day.

We didn’t get to see Bannerman’s Castle when we sailed past it last night, but it was clearly visible from West Point.

We walked back to The Plain (the main parade ground), which is in front of the barracks and the Washington Mess. Washington, of course, has a monument in front of the Mess.

The trees around The Plain were turning beautiful colors.

The Superintendent of the Academy lives in the oldest building on the Post, Superindentent’s Quarters.

The two barracks are named after Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower.

George Patton took five years to graduate from West Point – he claimed it was because he couldn’t find the library. His statue is in front of the library, but with his back turned on the building.

We had a few minutes at the Visitor Center, and then it was back on the bus for the drive back to the ship. I set my camera to 1/3200 of a second and tried to get some interesting photos.

The road took us above West Point.

We returned to the ship just in time to see food for the next day or two being delivered. Like the army, a cruise ship travels on its stomach!

We had to cross busy railroad tracks to get back to the ship, but we were there between trains. There are no gates on the crossing, which surprised me.

After lunch, Diane and I took a walk up to the town of Milton.

There was a pond (Marlboro Water) on the way with an interesting pattern of algae on it.

Milton itself is rather small, but there were a few nice trees to enjoy (and Diane found flowers to post).

The streets leading to the town didn’t have sidewalks or much in the way of shoulders, so I was happy to find a real pedestrian path to take us down the last block or two. I didn’t expect to find a waterfall, but there it was!

We got back to the ship just before the rain really started, in plenty of time for cocktail hour and dinner, followed by a magic show – you never know what to expect in the way of entertainment on a cruise!