Today (Thu/Jun 5) we had a short 35 Mile ride up the Hudson River, from Crouton on the Hudson to Marlboro NY.
The scenery on today’s ride was beautiful with the small rolling hills, starting to grown into larger hills and then small mountains with jagged cliffs. This area is known as the Hudson Highlands. One of the most well known mountains in this valley is the Storm King Mountain.
We saw several trains right along the waterfront while cruising the valley, but this one was massive.
We also passed by a small private island Castle.
A few Google clicks later, Deena found this link to The Bannerman Castle –
Then we reached our destination for at least the next 5 days, The Marlboro Yacht Club. It’s a small club but with excellent reviews & only $2.50/ft, much better than the $5-6/ft in New York & Atlantic City.
We are bedding down here because the Erie Canal Locks #16 & 17 are still not open. There is supposed to be another update from the NY Canal System on Monday June 9th.
Back to the Marlboro Yacht Club, our home for the next 5 days.
I cannot say enough good things about the folks at this Yacht Club. Within 1 hour of docking, we had the met the following people – who came up to us to introduce themselves.
Volunteer Dock Hands Matt & Gary, Commodore John, Harbormaster Sean, Boater Daphne, Photographer Felix, Mechanic Brandon, Boater Jeff, Boater Vee, Boaters Mike & Maria, Boater George.
Later at a party at the clubhouse, we met MYC members – Glen, Amy, Anthony/Cairo, John/Megan, Amanda/Nick & several other Loopers. I’m sure that I am forgetting a few names, but you get the point.
So much for New Yorkers not being friendly. But these folks are “Upstate New Yorkers” and there is a lot of difference between them and the big city folks who looked away from us when we were in NYC.
Later that afternoon, we had about a 30 minute conversation with Commodore John Gilberto, while he was “trying” to trim the shrubs.
John has now been Commodore for 8 years. Prior to his tenurere the place was starting to get a bit tired. Since he has taken over, the following good things have happened to the Yacht Club.
John & his support team have re-done the entire exterior, installed new fuel pumps, installed a NEW POOL, & purchased new travel lift equipment.
Every fall, the Marlboro Yacht Club Members band together to Pull Out all of the Docks & Pilings. Then every spring, the Pilings & Docks are Re-Installed. This annual ritual is required due to significant ice forming on the Hudson River & the fact that the Ice shifts up & down the river.
Finally during John’s tenure as Commodore – the MYC actually had 1 episode of a Peacock Series filmed here. The Peacock Series is called – Pokerface, starting Benjamin Bratt. The series was released in 2023, and EPISODE #10 was filmed at the Marlboro Yacht Club in 2022.
We’re gunna try to watch it before we depart.
When I complimented John on the job well done at MYC, he did what most good leaders do – and said that it was his team, who made all the great things happen.
Oh yea, one last note – in addition to John’s duties as Commodore, he also holds down a day job in Sales, managing about 12 people. I don’t know how he does it, he must be an excellent time manager.
On Friday, June 6th we went on a tour of the West Point Military Academy. More to come on that in a separate post.
After West Point, we took the long 40 minute Uber ride back to Marlboro, and had lunch at a place right up the hill from MYC. The restaurant/pub is called The Racoon Saloon. It is up on a high cliff above the Hudson River & has a beautiful waterfall behind the restaurant.
The Racoon Saloon has a cool history going back to the 1820’s, when it was built as a farmers hotel.
The Raccoon Saloon got its name from the family of raccoons that once lived there – coming up through an opening in the wall and being fed by the enthusiastic patrons.
As we were leaving, we chatted for a few minutes with a guy & girl at the bar. We were asking about the closest grocery store. It turns out that Marlboro is not the epicenter for groceries. The guy at the bar then offered to take us to a real grocery store about 30 minutes away. I offered to pay for his drink at the bar, he politely refused my drink offer, and told us that he was the current owner of the Racoon Saloon. Five minutes later we were in Ronan’s car and on our way to the grocery store, then back all the way to the marina. Again – incredibly nice people.
On Friday night June 6th, we attended a party at the Yacht Club & met a bunch more very nice people. I guess that it was not really a party, just another weekly social event at the yacht club.
Last night (Sat-Jun7), we went to dinner with Commodore John Gilberto & his wife Rose.
I actually texted John early in the day to see if they were interested & available for dinner. They responded quickly & enthusiastically.
They took us to a wonderful Italian restaurant in Poughkeepsie NY called Cosimo’s Trattoria & Bar. The food was delicious – we shared Calamari & I had Veal Parmesan.
And then – John & Rose picked up the check, for all 5 of us !!!
It was a great time getting to know John & Rose better and sharing family stories & boating stories. Rose is also quite accomplished, currently acting as the Superintendent of the Marlboro School System.
After dinner we returned to the Yacht Club and as a group of about 30 people, watched the movie “Nonnas” – about an Italian restaurant that employs grandmothers as chefs. The film is inspired by the true story of Jody “Joe” Scaravella’s and the real-life Enoteca Maria restaurant in New York City.
It was a very cute movie.
As I have mentioned a few times, Monday will be a key day for us, as we hope to find out if Locks 16/17 on the Erie Canal will be opened as planned on June 11th. If not, we’ll have to start discussing – 1) storing the Mahi & flying home for a few weeks or 2) going about 400-500 miles out of our way, up to Montreal and back down to Lake Ontario. More to come in this subject.
That’s all for now folks.
Thanks for your time reading the blog.
Mike, Deena, Jerry
gettinlooped2017.com 
Outstanding post as usual Mike. BTW Derek at poker says hello and he missed you being part of the team this year. You may have heard this from John Nelson who helped me last Tthursday.
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