"Fearless" Over the Hudson River

#dji #hudsonriver #lyndhurstmansion
Meeting up for brunch with friends regularly in Nyack or Piermont abutting NJ's Palisade cliffs, I always marvel as I drive across the mighty expanse of the Hudson River on the new Mario Cuomo Bridge, which controversially replaced the dilapidated Tappan Zee Bridge a few years ago. Interested in big engineering projects, I've been taking a closer look with my drone after those get-togethers.
The miles-wide Hudson River is the pathway from the Atlantic Ocean into New York Harbor - "the best natural harbor in the world" - 30 miles to the south up to the Erie Canal 130 miles to the north, and then west on to Detroit, Chicago, and the Midwest. A hundred years or so before we built the Interstate system - bypassing the formidable Appalachian Mountains physically dividing our growing country - the Erie Canal, an engineering marvel, enabled previously-impossible trade to occur and build the economies of the Midwest and New York alike.
Meanwhile, not far away from the Cuomo Bridge in Tarrytown resides what's generally considered the finest example of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States - Lyndhurst Mansion. Featuring pointed arches, turrets, and gables, the proportions on it indeed look just right. Among its most notable owners was Jay Gould. It's very likely if you look up the word "notorious" in the dictionary, Gould's face would be next to it. Also, "scoundrel." Remember "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli? Basically, he was that guy but with railroads 150 years ago.. And so, given that no one wanted to be around him, he spent a lot of time at Lyndhurst. And he and his descendants spent decades and millions expanding, improving and beautifying the estate - including adding the bowling alley you might've seen on "The Gilded Age." That said, toward the latter part of the vid, I flew the drone over Lyndhurst, too.
Now, this drone is basically a remote-controlled mini-helicopter with a camera attached. It'll fly up to 35 mph and up to 1,500 feet high (for reference, the Empire State Building is 1,450 feet tall) until it needs to cool down. Its truly a miracle machine, but it's finicky. What you can't see in these videos is how easy it is to lose the signal when it's flying and there's any kind of physical obstruction. Or how windy it gets as this little gadget that weighs just over half a pound, or 249kg, struggles but somehow continues to deliver smooth footage. In more ways than one, trees are a drone's true enemy. I don't fret over it too much as it has a "return to home" feature, and it has sensors which help prevent it from bumping into things, free-falling, and smashing into smithereens.
That said, no photograph on the ground can compare to the bird's eye view you can capture with a drone. It's always like Christmas morning when I've gotten some new footage and excitedly pop the hard drive into my laptop to take a closer look at what it captured.
Finally, the music. It's Pink Floyd's "Fearless" - certainly among my favorites of theirs.
For a brief analysis of the song's genius, watch this scene from Richard Linklater's love letter to the 1980s - "Everybody Wants Some" - if you haven't yet: • Everybody Wants Some (...
"You say the hill's too steep to climb, chiding
You say you'd like to see me try climbing
You pick the place and I'll choose the time
And I'll climb the hill in my own way
Just wait awhile for the right day
And as I rise above the tree line and the clouds
I look down, hear the sound of the things you said today"
Enjoy!
#fearless #pinkfloyd #newyork #tappanzee #cuomobridge #cuomo #bridge #mariocuomobridge