GREGWEST@delphi.com:Born in RedHook, Brooklyn in the year of who knows when, opened up his eyes to the tune of an accordion
Bard is in Upstate NY, about 200 miles north of NYC, 20 miles north of Poughkeepsie, 60 miles south of Albany. It faces the Catskills on the East side of the Hudson River (Woodstock is about 30 miles West in the mountains). Probably the easiest (and free) way to get there is to somehow get on the Taconic State Parkway north out of NYC (or south from the Thruway, near the Mass Border). Get off on the Red Hook/Rhinebeck exit, Rt 199 and head towards Red Hook (not the same one as in Joey, there are two of them in NY State), heading west towards the mountains. Bear right at the first light, go straight through the second. At this second light you're in downtown Red Hook and you should see a sign with a person in a cap and gown. I think people steal the little sign underneath that says BARD, but the straight ahead arrow should still be there. A few miles later when you're back in the apple farms take a right at the blinking yellow light at the bottom of the hill. Now you're on Rt 9G. From the Taconic to here it's about 10 miles or more. At the next blinking light take a left and you're in Annandale (Made famous by Steely Dan). The road forks in front of you...To the right is Bard, To the left is a gorgeous road, Straight ahead in the bucolic green triangle is a gazebo type thing which houses the PUMP, sans handle. There's another way to get there via the Thruway & Kingston on the other side of the River, but I'm not up enough on the directions to give them out (I know the Route Number for the exit is the same, but that's about it). While you're in the area you can go to the New Age Shopping Mall they named Woodstock. A map would guide you quite well. Summer in the Hudson Valley is the best season of the year...I wish I was there.