Isn’t Poughkeepsie one of the America’s strangest names? According to Wikipedia it means “the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place,” or at least it did in the original Wappinger language before we converted the spelling to something semi-phonetic. I think that’s adorable and quite descriptive.

I drove from Schenectady to Poughkeepsie mostly because it was close, the route took me through the Hudson river valley and there was a “world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge” at the end of the journey. Of course that begs the question, where’s the world’s longest non-elevated pedestrian bridge? When I get an answer to that question, you’ll see it here.

On my way I drove through Saugerties, which apparently has a historic lighthouse? I didn’t see it but I happened upon this little town during their “Shine On Saugerties” sidewalk lighthouse art exhibit.

Artists took the basic lighthouse construct and reconceptualized it. Is reconceptualized even a word? My spellcheck doesn’t think so.

Since I’ve been all about lighthouses lately, it’s fun to revisit some tiny artistic versions

I didn’t quite understand this vertical chess board

But this tiki bar is the bomb

The Poughkeepsie bridge or “Walkway over the Hudson” wasn’t as artistically fulfilling though the views over the Hudson are lovely. The bridge itself is a mile and a quarter long and quite wide, since it used to be a highway. It’s paved concrete and full of runners and walkers and baby strollers and dogs. It’s not so much scenic as practical and if I lived in Poughkeepsie, I’d be grateful for someplace to run that wasn’t in traffic.

So there you have it, bridges and more lighthouses. And for now, that’s the end of my northeast sojourn.

More tomorrow from the southwest. xo