Hudson Valley Vacation

Every year I look forward to the Bard College Commencement/Reunion. My mother and her husband Jim both went to Bard and I attended the college for two years prior to transferring to Boston College. Bard is located in the scenic Hudson Valley and every time I drive there I get a feeling of serenity. It feels like home to me. Bard is notorious for its lavish alumni reunions. Every year the college holds its alumni reunions on the same weekend as the Commencement for the graduating seniors. It is one BIG party with open bars, an abundance of food, and tent parties that last until the morning. Ben and I stayed with Leo in a dormitory which alumni can stay in for very little money. They put all the alumni with young children in a dormitory with larger rooms which was nice.

Here are some pictures of the campus:

Blithewood Manor (my mother's first dormitory - not to shabby for a college dorm, hey?)

The garden at Blithewood

Me showing my baby boy the gardens

The new performing arts center - an architectural masterpiece.

We arrived on Friday night which was Ben's birthday. I took him to one of my favorite restaurants in the village of Tivoli. Below you can see a video of how surprised he was when the waiters and waitresses all sang him Happy Birthday!

Then we settled into our dormitory for a quiet evening...

The weather on Saturday couldn't have been nicer. Ben and I decided to take Leo on one of our favorite walks - the Poet's Walk in historic Red Hook. I put Leo in my Ergo and got quite a workout walking up the hills! Below are some pictures we took on our hike:

The weather was so nice that after our hike we didn't want to go back and just sit in the dorm, so we decided to do some more exploring. We stumbled across a sign for a "theological labyrinth" in the "UT Seminary" which was advertised as being open to the public. Seeing the words "labyrinth" and "seminary," as Catholics we were intrigued thinking that it must be some type of rosary walk or something.

We walked up a long drive and stumbled across what appeared to be a HUGE Catholic seminary! Neither of us had ever seen a seminary so big! It was just beautiful - it had Catholic statues all around it, and a large statue of St. Joseph adorned the main entrance. Below is a video I took to try and illustrate how big the seminary was:

Here is an aerial view I found online to give you an even bigger picture:

We just had to peek inside! Ben and I felt like kids running around and exploring this place! Who were these people? Surely this couldn't be a Catholic Church! But what about the Catholic statues outside?

Ben snuck inside while I stayed outside with Leo and the stroller. Leo and I had stumbled across the following stone...

...and then I knew who these people were...Moonies! (Followers of the Reverend Sung Yung Moon who claims to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). Apparently the Moonies had purchased these grounds from Catholics and had kept the statues. Sadly, the altar outside where the Tridentine Latin Mass used to be said has nearly crumbled to pieces. Beside it, a sign tells us that the altar had been dedicated by a mother of one of the Catholic seminarians many years ago.

Sadly, what lay inside was an old Catholic chapel that had been converted into some sort of New Age worship center for a religion that was clearly contrary to the Catholic faith. It was so sad for me to think about all of the seminarians who once were there, eagerly studying and anxiously awaiting their ordination into the priesthood. There was a part of me that felt it would've been better for the Catholic Church to have demolished this beautiful seminary than to sell it to a group of people whom they knew would hold services so contrary to our faith.

On Saturday evening there was the tent party with music, dancing, and plenty of food. They even have a fireworks show over the Hudson River! Leo enjoyed "Whoopsie Daisy," but the fireworks scared him so we left before the dancing started. Leo and I did get to meet Chevy Chase though, a fellow Bard alum!

On Sunday morning we found a Tridentine Latin Mass at St. Joseph's in Poughkeepsie. We met a lot of nice Catholics there. A lot of the Catholics at this parish were Polish and it was interesting to learn about their beautiful traditions. It was a nice way to end our trip.

On our way to Mass in Poughkeepsie (which was about half an hour from where we were staying), we came across the following two billboards placed next to each other. Both Ben and I did a double take when we saw them, and we just had to turn around and take a picture! I wonder who is in charge of the placement of the billboards?

*Double click on the picture to make it larger

While we were driving, we also came pretty close to hitting a deer! I whipped out my camera and got a close-up!

It was a wonderful trip. Definitely one we'll remember for years to come!