Roosevelt home and Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park

Travel days are not always easy!

We had a couple of disturbing problems with the Alfa as we were getting ready to leave our space on Long Island. First the large slide didn't want to go all the way in. We put it back out and gave it another try and it was OK. Hopefully it won't be a problem in the future. 

Then one of the leveling jacks didn't want to come up. Craig thought it might have been because of the muddy conditions we had in Virginia.  He get it to work after he crawled under the rig and cleaned it. 

When we arrived at our new location, both the leg and the slide seemed to be OK. We will know in the morning when we pull out from here. 

I got my chance to face highway traffic through Manhattan and the Bronx because after we started out, Craig needed a bathroom break at the first rest stop. I took over driving, feeling confident in myself. I figured the GPS would take us along the same route we came in on. 

Not so.

Since we were coming from the East, and leaving toward the North, the GPS programed route was not the same. We were on "highways," but some of the route was along very congested surface streets.  Yikes! But we survived without any problems and shortly after leaving the city we stopped at another rest stop where I gave the wheel back to Craig.

We stopped at Mills-Norrie State Park, which is about 100 miles from NYC. We came here to see three places: Springwood, the lifelong home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, his Presidential Library and Museum, and a Vanderbilt Mansion. 



The campground has no hook-ups, but we can dry camp for two nights. The cost was $22 per night, plus a reservation fee on Reserve America. It was recommended by someone on the Living the RV Dream Facebook page. See, your comments are useful to others! 

Our first stop,was at the Vanderbilt Mansion. This opulent, fifty+ room mansion is one of about forty built by the family. It was used as a Spring and Fall "cottage", for one of the third generationVanderbilt sons and his wife. They had no children. 

Since it now belongs to the National Park Service, our 90 minute tour was free with our senior pass. $10 for general public. 

Three rooms and the servants staircase

After seeing the mansion we took a walk through some of the gardens.

We were a bit early in the season for the roses, but the number of buds promised a spectacular show in not too long a time.

Then we were on our way down the road to Springbrook. 

I love this statue of FDR and Eleanor. It seemed like you could just sit down on the bench next to them and have a chat.

The Roosevelt family was also quite wealthy, but unlike the Vanderbilt mansion, the Roosevelt home was built and decorated for their own pleasure and not as a showcase of their wealth.

Another nice day. More peeks back into the history of our nation.

I wonder what houses the tourists a hundred years from now will be walking through. 

This is a wonderful quote from FDR:

I wonder what quote will be left by our next president for the future generations to ponder.