A Fun Day At Mohonk!

     I am having a very fun visit with my sister in upstate New York. Today we decided to go hiking around the Mohonk Mountain house. This resort was founded in 1869. Not 1969 but 1869. That's a very long time ago. The Smiley family had the fore thought to be environmentally aware and responsible for the surrounding wilderness. The Mountain House is situated on 2,200 acres and the Mohonk Preserve adjoins the resort. The preserve is another 6,400 acres of woodland. There is a total of 85 miles of hiking trails...amazing! This beautiful spot is close to New Paltz and less than two hours north of New York city.

 We parked the car and caught the shuttle up to the hiking areas. Our hike began and I quickly spotted this tree. Looks like the perfect clubhouse for a 6 year old or me!

Here is the Mohonk Mountain House. Yup, it is as big as it looks. Could be a fun place to stay for a few days. And I'd bet money the place is haunted!

We did a nice easy hike around the lake in front of the mountain house. And then headed up a trail to get to the tower. It's only about 1 mile but we gained about 1500 ft in that short mile.

We climbed to the top of the tower and this is what we saw! Too bad it was a bit cloudy. They say on a clear day you can see 6 states. That would be Connecticut, Vermont, New York Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and  New Jersey.

Here's a birdseye view of the mountain house..........

We enjoyed the views and had a snack. The wind picked up, so we headed back down. It looked like rain but luckily it never happened.

Here's what we saw on the way down......

We got back down the trail and spotted a garden, so we went to check it out!

We both started admiring the flowers and taking lots of pics! Yup! There were many bees also enjoying the flowers......

My sister spotted a mourning dove walking under the flowers. I had some concerns he maybe injured. But when I asked him he said he was fine and finding some yummy food.

 More flowers.....

So we're enjoying the amazing flowers and something zipped by me. I quickly realized there were HUMMINGBIRDS! Here on the east coast ruby-throated hummers are the most common. These were either juveniles or females or both. I think the males have already headed south for the winter. 

I lost all sense of time as I watched and photographed these guys......so much fun!

We finally pulled ourselves away from the hummers and headed back to the shuttle. Along the way, I spotted this unusual looking fruit? I have no idea what it is but it sure is beautiful!

These are crab apples. We had a crab apple tree in my childhood home. We had many crab apple fights and yes, they hurt!

We found another garden on the way to the shuttle. So we had to stop and admire.....

  What a very fun day! I enjoyed it all but those hummers were an unexpected surprise!
Tomorrow we are headed into the Bronx for a Yankee game. They are honoring Mariano Rivera so it will a very special day. If you do not know who Mariano is, just go google him and you will see. Besides being an amazing ball player, he is also a very special Human Being. More on that in my next blog......

Thanks for reading!