Happy Halloween everyone! Two weeks ago we went to the Blaze event at Van Cortlandt Manor in the Hudson Valley. It was just the ticket to get us in the Halloween mood. I saved writing about it because I thought it was perfect for today.

It was a crisp Autumn evening with no moon. Perfect weather for viewing this pumpkin extravaganza. Van Cortlandt Manor is in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Over 4,000 hand-carved pumpkins are illuminated, either by candles or electric bulbs in over 20 different themes.

There was a graveyard with skeleton heads and hands rising out of the ground.

The manor house itself glowed eerily against the night sky.

Its double staircase was lined with grinning pumpkins.

Intricately carved pumpkins were everywhere.

This gentleman was kind enough to point out the way we should go.

Over 700 new pumpkins are carved each week to replace those that may have rotted. That’s a lot of carving! Some of the pumpkins were really “funkins.” The funkins were used when the display had to stand up to making it all the way through all three weekends of Blaze without rotting. Made from polyurethane foam they are the perfect medium for the detailed carving of this prehistoric crowd.

Watch out for the giant snake!

Tombstone effigies taken from the Sleepy Hollow graveyard (which is only a few miles down the road.) Perfect!

Celtic knots.

A creepy graveyard filled with glowing tombstones was the perfect foil for a miniature Stonehenge of pumpkins!

We also passed these sailors rowing merrily along in their boat.

It took about one hour to make the complete loop, stopping at times to take a closer look. A pumpkin-perfect night. The only thing missing was the appearance of the Headless Horseman who had a previous engagement just down the road.

If you want to watch a video clip from Martha Stewart’s show about the Blaze event and how they make it happen, follow this link.

Have a safe and spooky Halloween!

The ferry arrived around 7:45 p.m. and the game was scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. It was about a ten minute walk from the ferry to the stadium. We walked up to the line feeling pretty good, excited and happy to be there. Then the person taking tickets told us that backpacks weren’t allowed in the stadium and that we’d have to take it back to our car (uhm, no car lady) or check it at the bowling alley across the street. What bowling alley? We sure didn’t see one. If we couldn’t see it it must be further away and how would we have time to collect it after the game? We looked at each other and decided to empty the backpack and leave it behind. Okay, everything out of the pack. Let’s see, binoculars, keys, money, video camera.

Rick walked over to a hot dog vendor and asked him if he was going to be there until the end of the game and could he watch the empty pack for us? He said yes he would for $20.  Time was ticking away. Behind us in the stadium the music was reaching a crescendo and the crowd was going wild. We were missing something important! We decided the pack wasn’t worth that much to us and left the pack with the vendor, telling him he could just keep it.

Back in line once again. Uh oh. No video cameras allowed inside the stadium. What?? Such a silly rule since nearly every camera you buy today can take video. But ours was a video camera. Just great. They shuffled us from person to person until one guy pointed out the bowling alley, which really was just across the street. So, Rick went back over to the hot dog vendor (who by this time is thinking we are completely and totally whacky) to reclaim our orphaned backpack and put the video camera back inside. Over to the bowling alley we went where a guy was sitting in front of a tiny room filled with checked items. Five dollars and fifteen minutes later we were finally on our way back to the stadium. Really, the camera is so tiny Rick could have put it in his jacket pocket and gotten away with smuggling it in but we didn’t want to risk another timely setback.

Inside everyone was on their feet and we had to ask several nice people where our seats were located because we couldn’t find them. Turns out someone was using our seats, so we go that straightened out. Finally we were in our seats and the game was about to begin.

So, sing along with me, won’t you? If you don’t know the tune to Take Me Out to the Ball Game, just click on the link to get you started.

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.

For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.

Two exciting home runs! The Yankees won of course. We left at the bottom of the 8th inning so we would have enough time to get back to the ferry (it leaves 20 minutes after the last out) and collect our backpack. I’m glad we had the chance to be there on the last night.

The ferry ride back was quicker and quite chilly. Here are two strange photos that could be abstract paintings I took on the way back. Does anyone know why the Chrysler Building has that strange upside-down superimposed image beside it?

And yes, that white blob in the photo above is the moon!

We finally tumbled into our bed at 3:00 a.m. A late night, but worth it!

For more great photos of this epic event please check out a fellow blogger’s great pics!

On Sunday we had tickets to the final Yankees game in old Yankee Stadium. Rick had also booked us on the Yankee Clipper, the ferry that travels around the point of Manhattan and drops you off right at Yankee Stadium. They say that half the fun is getting there, and it was.

We boarded the ferry at 6:00 p.m. from Port Imperial in Weehawken. It was beautiful weather for a cruise.

The clouds and the skyline were fabulous!

We made a stop at Hoboken to pick up more passengers. I liked the old style architecture of the Lackawanna terminal. I didn’t get to see much of it but I think this is a place I need to go back to and get some photos. Built in 1907, it’s one of the oldest railroad terminals still existing.

As we pulled away from the pier the sun was starting to set.

The reflections off the buildings from the setting sun were hard to resist.

They looked like lighthouse beacons.

one if by land ...

two if by sea ...

As we rounded the point, the sun was pretty much gone. Here the Staten Island ferry pulls away from us and the Lady Liberty can be seen in the distance on the left.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge we go!

Looking back at the bridge through another.

Night falls on the city.

And we finally arrive at our destination. I hope you enjoyed the ride!

To be continued ...

I need to catch up on some sleep before I write a more comprehensive post ... last night was a late night at the last ever Yankees game in old Yankee Stadium. Here is a shot from the Yankee Clipper ferry of the Manhattan skyline. I aimed high with my wide angle lens to get a slightly skewed view. (Empire State Building is dead center.)

After the Wonder Wheel we took a walk on the boardwalk and out onto the pier for the view.

The now defunct parachute ride blooms like a leftover steel flower blossom at the foot of the pier.

And the amusement parks make a strange juxtaposition to the high-rise apartments in the background.

It’s very sad that as of yesterday, Astroland will no longer exist as it has been sold. This however does not appear to include the sale of the famous roller coaster, The Cyclone, which was made a landmark in 1988, or the Wonder Wheel,  but still it’s just another part of the past that seems to have no place anymore in our ever changing American society.

Our next stop had to be The Cyclone.

Let it be said that I am deathly afraid of roller coasters (and most other amusement park rides, other than the somewhat tame ferris wheel variety). I think it came about from a ride I took on a roller coaster at a local fairground when I was a teenager. For whatever reason, the bar in our car did not lock down and at every twist and turn of the coaster we threatened to pop out of it and it has stuck with me. It was a very scary experience that my brain can’t seem to rid itself of. I knew Rick wanted to ride it, and he knew that I couldn’t ride with him. How I wished it were as easy as not being tall enough to ride!

I stood watching it for awhile as it careened through its course, listening to the the clickety-clack of the wheels over the wooden tracks (which frankly sounded like the whole thing was going to come apart at the very seams) and thought for at least one very brief moment that I might actually be able to step outside of my fear and really do it. Then I regained control of my senses again and thought to myself: no, don’t do this! Rick had no problem going by himself. He knew my fear was real.

(Rick is fourth from the front in the photo just above.)

If want to experience the ride without really being there, follow this link to a youtube movie where someone videoed their front car experience on The Cyclone.

When he got off he told me it was a good thing I didn’t go with him. He said it was the roughest, most jarring ride he’s ever had on a coaster. Now that he’s ridden it once he won’t be going back for seconds.

Here is another great video clip of the Cyclone’s 80th Birthday (which happened last year).

It’s hard to believe that it’s now all come to an end. Soon they will have to remove all the rides and the carnival atmosphere will be no longer. I’m so glad we went to experience it when we did. There are rumors that the developer is going to put their own “bigger and better” amusement rides and such on the same site, but it will never be the same. An era has come to an end.