It's taken me a long time to wrap my head around the idea that the best way to see the sights along a waterway is not always by boat. Very often the best thing to do is treat your boat as a floating hotel room, cruise to a marina near some interesting spots, then rent a car and explore the region. It may well be heresy to suggest this approach on a boating site but a trip of 50 miles, a day in a trawler, is only an hour in a car. The Hudson Valley is an area rife with interesting and historical sites, which can only be glimpsed from the water. Near this short stretch of waterway is Rockefeller's Kikuit mansion, containing one of the best private art museums in the world, the Croton Dam, the third largest cut stone structure in the world, Xavier's restaurants, near the top of the nation's top ten, George Washington's headquarters, West Point, the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt homesteads, numerous vineyards, the Culinary Institute of America, and an antique aerodrome when you can take flights in a WW 1 Fokker or Spad. Unfortunately, none of these can be reached from the water. It's not only the Hudson Valley. Every area has it's similar attractions. On a trip up the Hudson, I suggest that a Looper stop in Croton or Haverstraw, rent a car and explore the area or take the commuter train to New York City, a 40 minute trip, an partake of the pleasures of Gotham. Then cruise up the river to Kingston and stay in one of the marinas along the Rondout and explore the mid-Hudson sites. Finally stop a day near Albany and explore the Egg. If you are an intrepid biker you can do much the same thing but your range will be limited. All of these interesting side trips are described in the Hudson Valley Guide. The Hudson River Guide is downloadable at no charge from Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/). In addition to the Guide, you will find a portfolio of NYS Hudson River charts, now long out of print, a collection of Hudson River School art, and? illustrations of river scenes. The full package of the 2012 Guide, the illustrated 2008 Guide, Hudson River charts, and the collection of Hudson River art makes good reading for those rainy days of spring while you anticipate the joys of a summer cruise. Despite its inconvenience, I urge you to log on to Scribd to get the Guide.? I will continue to supply a .PDF version of the Guide to anyone who requests it. The illustrations, however, are too big to send over most e-mail links. HUDSON RIVER GUIDE 2012 http://www.scribd.com/doc/81086151/Hudson-River-Guide-2012 HUDSON RIVER GUIDE COMPLETE (2008 Illustrated Guide, good but not quite current.) http://www.scribd.com/doc/18683012/Hudson-River-Guide-,Complete HUDSON RIVER CHARTS (NYS published enlarged portions of NOAA charts from a while back. Buoy numbers have changed but the coastline is the same.) http://www.scribd.com/doc/18651678/Hudson-River-Charts HUDSON RIVER ART (a collection of Hudson River School paintings.) http://www.scribd.com/doc/18645609/Hudson-River-School-Art Larry Z