My wife wanted to have lunch in the city for her birthday. We went to the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park. It was a beautiful fall day… perfect for a gondola ride. The gondola was made in Italy, and donated to the city. The gondolier was quite informative, and was full of facts and trivia about the park. I hear he will also sing on request.
I made my visit to Old Rhinebeck on Oct. 8th. The weather was perfect and my son and I had a great time. I even took my son up for a bi-plane ride. I noticed a little bit of a decline in the operations there this year. Some of the classic planes were not flying, and the shops had a glaring lack of shirts and other nick-nacks. After I got back, I did a little research and found this thread over at theaerodrome.com. Seems like they are having some management problems, and the decline has been going on for some time. I hope that they can stay afloat… I’m sure the real estate vultures are circling where the planes should be flying. All photos were taken with a Nikon D200 and either a 300mm f/4 or 18-35mm lens.
As fall approaches, I plan on making a trip to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome . I’ve been going there since I was a little boy, and I hope my son enjoys it as much as I did as a kid. Many of the planes are replicas, but it does not really matter. Their collection of planes is pretty large, and always fun to see, hear and smell. If you get their early enough, you can even schedule a ride in a vintage biplane. The Old Rhinebeck area is beautiful in the fall, and the photo ops are abundant on a nice day.