From Minutemen to a New York State of Mind

We're in rainy Plattekill, NY. Where's Plattekill, you might ask. It's just north of Newburgh, NY, in the Hudson River Valley just a few miles from I-87.

We left Old Orchard Beach this morning, and headed to Minuteman National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts. Henry asked to go visit the place where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired, and I'm always up for visiting a spot important in American history.

The park covers the township of Concord over to Lexington. Following the address the park gave on its website, we started our tour at the North Bridge, where the first British troops were killed by the colonists. There is a Minuteman statue that was erected to note the spot where shots were fired, and a man in a British solider costume stands near the graves of the fallen British soldiers. The Park Service has rebuilt the bridge the British walked over to look as it might have in April 1775.

Wed then drove the route the local militias and the British "regulars" walked and fought as they headed east, back toward Boston. We learned while watching a great educational presentation at the main Minuteman NHP Visitor Center that while Lexington and Concord was where the fighting started, the worst of the fighting happened along the Bay Road as the soldiers and militiamen headed east.

We also visited the spot where Paul Revere was captured. He was eventually released, but the British kept his horse. Henry wanted to touch the spot where Revere was, and posed for a picture.

Henry earned his Junior Ranger badge at the park, adding to his growing badge collection.
Here's a slideshow of some of the pictures from our visit:



It was getting late, so we went back to the RV to head to our final destination for the day, the KOA campground near Newburgh, New York. The campground has a pool, miniature golf and a jumping pillow (think moon bounce with no roof or walls), so we knew the kids would enjoy it. Jeff needs to get some work done, so he'll be happy with the wifi connection. I'm hoping to go visit one of the local farmers markets - the campground newsletter says there's two big ones near here.

Since it was raining and outdoor cooking was out of the question, I cooked up some ground turkey with chili seasoning and we had tacos. I had made a blueberry crisp with blueberries we picked up in Maine, but we had trouble with the RV oven - the pilot light kept going out. The crisp wasn't so crispy, although the blueberries cooked through and got juicy. Almost there...