Not So Upstate New York

I can never get the pronunciation right. Pough-keep-see. Pa-keep-see. Pu-keep-see. Peek-see. Peep-see. Anyway, the name is longer than the town itself. Now you know that is a lie. But P'see is indeed a small town of 70,000 people - Southern Avenue would have more people outdoors on a hot summer day that all of P'see I suppose. While I have not read the history of P'see much, I understand IBM put it firmly on the map several decades ago during their growth boom in the '50s and '60s, as they were searching for towns to set up offices not far from their HQ in Armonk, NY. IBM has since downsized their operations in Poughkeepsie but they still have a few buildings full of techies, and have a street named IBM. Small town America is very interesting and very predictable in its own way - the same strip malls with similar stores, the same shopping mall with large box stores. Target, Converse, Reebok, Body Works, Burlington Coat Factory, Foot Locker, DSW, Sweet Tomatoes, Fresh Choice, Macys, Sears, JC Penney,….and a million others pull the crowds into the malls offering deals that should entice any shopper with a credit card in his or her pocket. And then the strip malls have the regular Nail Salon, Hair Stylists, a Safeway or ShopRite or one of the million such grocery supermarkets, the mailing supply store, and the works. I have yet to see a town that does not fit into this town plan. Wait…there are a few. Carmel-By-The-Sea in California is very quaint, very European, and shuns big box stores - in its place, they have some of the quirkiest, awesomest stores selling really wonderful products at some crazy prices. You do indulge sometimes, but window-shopping has its own charm. If you get a chance to head to the Bay Area and San Francisco, Carmel is a must-see. By the way, Clint Eastwood was a mayor of this small, cute, rich town by the Pacific Ocean. And do stop by in the neighbouring Monterrey Bay for its aquarium, its deep trench in the sea, and for the Steinbeck Museum. And the 17-mile drive along the ocean's edge (as it is called from Monterrey to Carmel via Pebble Beach) is one of the prettiest you can get in all the world.

Anyway, back to boring-drab P'see. It is just 82 miles north of Manhattan. Said another way, it is just a 75 minute drive out of Gotham City. Yes, it is nice in that it is very close to the mountains - Catskill and the Adirondack are not far off. And it sits squat next to the Hudson. So the cold north winds pack a punch when they show up around November and linger on till April or May. And to make life interesting, the winds pick a whole load of water from the Hudson, do some magic, and dump them as snow all over town. Of course, that means there is plenty of opportunity for winter sport. Which of course also means that your day begins, like for many KTians in America, by clearing your driveway, and digging for your car if you foolishly believed the met guy and decided to leave it outdoors overnight. Which also means that you wear tons of clothes before you get out of home - which in itself seems like a nice, bright idea, except when you have to get behind the wheel or head to the loo - urgently. I love India for the ease with which we get our tanks emptied out - walk into a loo, find a urinal (or a stall as the case may be), get done with your job in two minutes flat, wash, get out - simple as that. Yes, you don't have too many clean restrooms around, but if you do get to malls, you have a fairly simple four-step process between in and out. Now try that in brrrrr cold P'see, and you are gonna either be disappointed with the time it takes to do this simple act of nature, or have a whole load of wet clothes into the washer before the day is out. You gotta PLAN for the loo trip. I hate that idea. Imagine the steps - Find loo. Take off overcoat, hang it on a hook close by or push it back far enough and keep it there, and make sure it does not swing back towards the front of your trousers at the most inappropriate moment. Unzip. Oops. where the heck did it go? Oh yeah, have a thermal to get past…but that dratted thingy does not have zippers - instead, it has a maze for access. Yes, got thru that one. Now one last layer to defeat before you get that heavenly feeling of an empty bladder on a cold wintry day. But a cold body can be a spoiler in the loo, and add precious seconds to the job, if you know what I mean (spare me the embarrassment of an explanation, please). Now if I had to write seven long lines for one of life's most mundane chores, it must be dratted bad. Yeah, and that is why I will never live in Poughkeepsie. Or Minneapolis. Or Kansas City. Or one of those million places east of the Rockies that shrivel you up for 7-9 months of the year, and then give you hope for 3 months with warmth and sunshine.

So…did I talk much about P'see? Of course not. Why? Because there is not much going on there. Hyde Park, not far from P'see houses the President FDR Library & Museum. Next time, I promise to go there. I heard very good things about it and also very weird stuff. Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR's wife apparently had a funny relationship with her spouse. She had her own house down the street from his - she was not happy with just a separate bedroom. Now that is called marital disharmony - she was clear she wanted none of his love, but definitely enjoyed the First Lady tag I guess. She was a lioness in her own right, but in so far as relationships go, she and her hubby were clearly not the role models for their country folks.

And next time, whenever that next time is, weather permitting, I will head to the Catskills. I hear it is great for trekking and hiking, and I am both a hiker and a trekker at heart. Yes, I did them often, I promise. One could hike in a million places on earth, but Catskill attracts me like moth to the fire. Why? That crazy dude, Rip Wan Winkle went to sleep here. For twenty long years. Oh! What a slumber. I may end up going up for a hike…and hopefully be woken up by my 40 year old son some day. Or maybe, frozen to death. Who cares? I got done with twenty years of my life without spending a penny. Who can grudge me that?