The Vanderbilt Mansion

After four years of living right down the street from one of our countries historic landmarks, I finally made it over to the Vanderbilt Mansion. I was not disappointed. The place is absolutely magnificent! As you pull up to the mansion, the driveway winds up the 200 acre property. Visitors have the option to just hang out on the property and enjoy the view of the mansion and Hudson Valley or you can take a tour of the inside of the mansion itself. If the tour is what you are interested in, you must go to the visitors center (white building by the parking lot) to receive your ticket; they're only $8 for the hour long tour.

The Vanderbilt Mansion

Since that era of history always interested me, I thought that the tour would be perfect and I wasn't let down. The tour starts on the outside where you learn the general history of the mansion: how much it cost back then, what it translates to now, some family history, etc. As you stand there listening, looking up at the mansion in awe, you learn that this mansion is the smallest of all the Vanderbilt mansions.

The Living Room where music and card playing took place

Once inside the tour takes you through the first floor where you see Vanderbilt's office, the giant dining room, the men's sitting area, the women's sitting room and the general living room where the parties gathered. The foyer--where you hear most of the information about the third floor--is bathed in sunlight from the skylight on the roof. The tour takes you up the grand staircase to the second floor.

The foyer when you walk in the house

The second floor is where you can see the master bedrooms for Mrs. and Mr. Vanderbilt. These bedrooms are modeled after the royal bedchambers in the Palace of Versailles in France. You also notice that the married couple had two separate bedrooms, both extremely elegant. You can also see bedrooms that were used by the guests of the Vanderbilt s who would stay for the weekend. On the second floor you are also able to see the types of bathrooms that were in this mansion. Each bathroom had running hot and cold water, bathtubs, and flushing toilets...all extremely expensive and unheard of for the time period in which they were built. As if it wasn't impressive enough that they had them at all, there were 14 bedrooms in the mansion, including one in each bedroom.

Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom

After seeing the bedrooms, you get to go down the servant staircase to see the male servant quarters in the basement (the women servants lived on the third floor) and the kitchens where they prepared the 7 course meals that the Vanderbilt family was accustomed to eating. The servants were given $1-$2 a day, four times what the average family made a day at other jobs. And after seeing these servants quarters, it would not have been a bad deal to have been employed for the Vanderbilt family. The servants were the recipients of part of the Vanderbilt fortune when Fredrick Vanderbilt died.

The extra bathroom on the second floor

Overall, this experience was fantastic! The history that you learn (way more than what I put in here, wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone) is part of an era in the United States that we should all hear. The extravagance of the mansion is something that you just don't see anymore, it was the last of it's kind. So if you live in the Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, or Rhinebeck area and you have not been to the Vanderbilt Mansion yet, you need to get there. You will not regret it!

The kitchen in the servant's quarters

Getting a Bang for Your Buck

This post is probably going to come as a shock to many readers but the next place that you should check out for a good deal in Poughkeepsie is the Dollar Tree. Yep, you read that right, the Dollar Tree. Located on Rt. 9, past the mall and next to Petco is the Dollar Tree. I know that it's pretty common that these dollar stores get a bad reputation for a lot of things: 1. crappy merchandise 2. limited selection of merchandise 3. most things aren't actually a dollar, they're over by the time you add tax in. Well, fear not. None of these concerns will ruin your shopping experience here.

I have never been one to shop at places like this just because it was never something that crossed my mind. Then a good friend of mine took me to the Dollar Tree and I immediately changed my mind. The place is massive and literally has anything and everything you could potentially need. Most of the stuff isn't brand name stuff but they do stock some brand name merchandise as well. But even the non-brand name things are worth what you pay for them.

I have now done shopping here for kitchen stuff, garbage bags, frozen food, snacks, drinks, holiday decorations, Halloween candy, picture frames, everything. Literally everything. I've been there with my house to buy part of our grocery list and just everyday house items and we got an entire shopping cart full of food and supplies for less than $100. A lot of things that you get aren't even a dollar, they're less.

So as tacky as you all may find it, the dollar stores are sometimes well worth visiting because you are going to get way more for what you pay. Get to the Dollar Tree soon if you want to get some good deals on those little things that you need!

Dunkin Donuts on Violet

So I need to apologize to everyone for the lack of blog posts of late...the end of the semester is approaching and I'm finding that I have less and less time on a daily basis. However, I have spent the last two days scouring Poughkeepsie to give everyone enough blog posts for the ones that I missed giving to you last week. To start of, a place that many might not immediately consider to be a "hidden gem" of Poughkeepsie: Dunkin Donuts.

Many know of the Dunkin Donuts on Rt. 9, it's kind of hard to miss with everything else that is going on around there. But, quite honestly, I find that if I'm really in the mood for a DD coffee, that is just a little too far to go from Marist campus. You need to take into account the lights, the traffic, and the impossible designated turning lanes on the highway. Add all of this together and it makes it pretty difficult to get a coffee before class. Sure, there is a Starbucks right down the street/across from campus but (at the risk of making enemies at Marist) I'm not usually willing to pay that much for a mediocre coffee...I personally believe that Dunkin gives you better coffee for a better price.

This brings me to my hidden gem, the Dunkin Donuts on Violet Ave. It's a bit off of the beaten path since many Marist students don't always travel on that back road, they usually opt for Route 9. But trust me, go to this Dunkin and you won't be disappointed. They make great coffee (I find that some make better coffee than others) and the staff is always exceptionally nice. The greatest part: there is hardly ever a line. I have been there at all hours of the day and the same is true no matter what time you go. This means that you are guaranteed quick service getting what you want.

The inside of the store is comfortable with plenty of tables to enjoy your coffee and food. They even have a fireplace inside that gives it a cozy feeling, no matter what time of year you go. So if you want some really good coffee, in a quick time frame, this is the place you need to be. To find it, just travel up Violet Ave (towards Stop and Shop) and it will be on the left of the street right after the abandoned bowling alley.