F.D.R. Home

Our R.V. Park is located in Rhinebeck, New York. Near Rhinebeck, in Hyde Park we visited the home of F.D.R. We traveled over there to take the tour.

A lady with black hair going down and a Ranger Smith outfit from Yogi Bear was talking to a group of tourists in the center of the hall.

We came up behind.

"Oh hello. I was just telling these guys that the strongest force in F.D.R.'s life was not, as many think, Eleanor. It was his mother, Sarah Roosevelt. You didn't miss much."

We went on with the tour. Walking down a very long driveway, she told us that when F.D.R. contracted Polio, we vowed that if he could walk down to the end of that driveway, he knew he would be able to walk again. Despite numerous attempts, he never made it.

We then walked into a beautiful rose garden, in which a big stone rectangle stood behind two tiny mounds of dirt. The mounds of dirt had flowers on them, and the one closer to the big stone rectangle had a flag on it. On the stone was an engraving:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Born Jan 30, 1882. 32 U.S. Pres. Died Apr. 12 1945.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt: Born Oct. 11 1884 Died Nov. 7, 1962

Here were the graves of the two most influential people in the early 1900's.

Going inside, we saw the front hall with a lot of naval paintings and a bust of Franklin. Also was a library on the right, and other important rooms. She told us about the time the King and Queen came over and how the king spied the anti-British comics. He told F.D.R. he wanted to have them in his collection. ha!

She told us about how they lived with Sarah Roosevelt, not her living with them.

That was funny.

We went upstairs to see the room F.D.R. was born in,the room he used as a child, the room he and Eleanor shared, and the room she had alone after he contracted Polio. It was so cool to see the home of one of U.S.'s greatest presidents.

I also began to ask the tour guide about F.D.R.'s choice of books. She said he liked mysteries, war books, classics such as Treasure Island, and pretty much anything that was placed in his hand. I also found out the guide was an avid reader too. We discussed our different books and told of our interests. It was very cool.

After the tour, we went to the Presidential Library and Museum. That was fun.

We ate dinner at a little diner and disembarked. Back at the R.V. Park, I called my grandparents and had a little talk with them. I told my grandpa a few jokes and we shared laughs. It was fun.

I also finished a chapter of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. In it Bilbo disappears from his party and goes off secretly to spend his retirement in the mountainside. Gandalf the wizard is supposed to keep watch on Bilbo's nephew, Frodo.

Today we might go to Woodstock or to the Vanderbilt mansion.

Tomorrow I may meet a friend of mine from Roswell. He's taking a trip in NYC.

For now, I'm hanging around.

NYC is for me,

Andrew.