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Trying to become raw is adventure!

Friday, February 25, 2011

I DID IT! ONE DAY DOWN!

Well, I did it!  I did a whole day! 

I had a nice salad for dinner.  It was good.  I had sun dried tomatoes and olives on the salad.  I didn't find a nice dressing, so I left it off and added a little olive oil instead.

I like the fudge balls.  I tried the cheese cake at one raw resturant.  It had too much lemon.  I am thinking tomorrow, I will play with the recipe.

I had fruit salad last night.  It kept me up, I had a hard time sleeping.



If you like historical hiking, you would love the spot off of Palisades Parkway.  It is exit 5 you have the view of NY.  Now, here you walk past the cafe.  You walk down, the walkway till the end, of the border of NY.  You walk through the woods.  You will climb down past the columns and a little waterfall.  It is sucha romantic spot, you keep climbing down.  Walk on the bolders to the right and keep climbing on the bolders till you get to the million steps up.

The Palisades cafe it very nice in the winter.  One day I was sitting by the fire place, reading a book drinking hot cocoa.  The snow started coming down.  It was the huge flakes.  It was the time before cell phones, so I couldn't get the picture.  It was breathe taking.  The moment was edged into my mind.

Here are some interesting facts about the Palisades Parkway



THE PALISADES INTERSTATE PARKWAY, A NATIONAL LANDMARK: In 1998, the National Park Service nominated the Palisades Interstate Parkway in its National Register of Historic Places.

In their submission for the inclusion of the parkway in the National Register, Susan Smith, Regional Historic Restoration Coordinator for the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and Kathleen LaFrank, Historic Preservation Resource Specialist for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, wrote the following summary:
The Palisades Interstate Parkway is exceptionally significant in the themes of conservation, recreation, transportation and regional planning for its role in the conservation of a significant endangered landscape, the development and promotion of recreation, and regional land use planning. The parkway is also significant in the areas of architecture, landscape architecture and engineering as an outstanding example of a post-World War II limited-access, scenic pleasure drive in New York and New Jersey. The period of significance recognizes the first major donation of land for conservation and parkway purposes in 1935, the continued acquisition of additional land over the next thirteen years and the construction of the parkway between 1947and 1961.The nomination also takes in several features that pre-date the period of significance. These have significance as they were reused or reinterpreted within the context of the parkway.

The Palisades Interstate Parkway marked the completion of a progressive and influential conservation project to preserve and restore the dramatic escarpment along the lower west bank of the Hudson River. Beginning in 1900 with the formation of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC), the states of New York and New Jersey commenced a cooperative effort to acquire and preserve a large tract of the Palisades that was threatened by quarrying operations. A small portion of the Palisades Interstate Park (approximately 3,000 acres) has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark in the theme of conservation. Over the next fifty years, the PIPC acquired nearly 60,000 acres of parkland and developed a complex, influential and nationally significant conservation and recreation program.

By the late 1920s, one of the PIPC's most important concerns was the strip of land atop the escarpment, which remained in private hands and was increasingly threatened by burgeoning suburban development in the New York City metropolitan region. Based in part on recommendations contained in the
Regional Plan for New York and Environs, a comprehensive regional planning study undertaken during the mid-1920s, the PIPC concluded that the construction of a parkway along the top of the cliffs was the most efficient, economical and permanent way to preserve and maintain the Palisades in their natural condition, "providing a convenient and safe means for people, while passing through, to see and enjoy the natural beauties without damaging that which they have come to see." Although it took the commission twenty years to acquire land and finance construction, the parkway was completed with its original goals and design standards. Described by its planners as a "continuous park" for pleasure cars, the Palisades Parkway combined conservation efforts with recreational, regional planning and transportation initiatives. The parkway provided metropolitan New Yorkers with convenient access to thousands of acres of parkland; it was planned as a major link in a recreation-transportation corridor that stretched from the southern tip of New Jersey to Bear Mountain State Park; it served to complete New York State's regional system of parks and parkways in the Hudson Valley; and it was an important regional planning initiative, encouraging orderly suburban growth while directing development away from the most fragile and scenic areas and preserving them for public benefit.

The Palisades Parkway is also an outstanding example of its type. Its design embodies the definitive characteristics of the limited-access scenic pleasure drive, repeating and improving upon the features of the parkways developed over the course of the first half of the twentieth century. The parkway is defined by restricted access, the elimination of cross traffic, a broad landscaped right-of-way, fully separated driving lanes at different elevations, generously banked curves, crisp sunken roadways defined by mountable curbs, contrasting tones and pavement and curbs, and connections to scenic and recreational attractions, both on the parkway and in the adjacent parkland. The design of the parkway is based on concepts developed by park personnel, regional planners, engineers, landscape architects and philanthropists. Among them, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. played a pivotal role in donating a significant amount of land and money, and facilitating the complex political process that brought the project to completin. Those sharing primary responsibility for developing the concept, route and design of the parkway include Major William A. Welch, a nationally known engineer and park designer who served as the PIPC's chief engineer for twenty-three years, the various planners and engineers of the Regional Plan Committee (including Jay Downer, chief engineer for the Bronx River Parkway), the well-known engineering firm of Amman and Combs, and the influential landscape architects and parkway designers Clarke, Rapuano and Holleran.

The Palisades Interstate Parkway is regarded as one of the finest examples of its type. It has been cited for its excellence by critics and historians, and has been called an "outstanding example" and a "triumph of understanding engineering� technically brilliant in design." Retaining a high level of functional and design integrity, the parkway continues to meet the goals of its designers.
This 1998 photo shows the northbound Palisades Interstate Parkway at EXIT 19 (Seven Lakes Drive) near the northern terminus at Bear Mountain, New York. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)
CURRENT AND FUTURE IMPROVMENTS: According to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), the Palisades Interstate Parkway carries approximately 60,000 vehicles per day (AADT) through Bergen County and southern Rockland County, dropping to approximately 30,000 vehicles per day near its northern terminus. The NJDOT and the NYSDOT perform joint maintenance and construction work under the supervision of the PIPC.
Between 1999 and 2001, the NYSDOT, working under the supervision of the PIPC, rehabilitated the parkway from the New York-New Jersey border north to EXIT 10 (Rockland CR 33). The $54 million project included laying down new pavement, replacing the existing concrete ("Jersey") barriers with decorative stone-faced barriers, installing new natural-colored guardrails, and posting new MUTCD-compliant signs.

The following long-time projects have been scheduled on the Palisades Interstate Parkway:
  • Work to complete the rehabilitation of New York State's portion of the Palisades Parkway - from EXIT 10 north to the Bear Mountain Circle - will not begin until at least 2013, according to NYSDOT estimates. The $60 million project would include rehabilitation and replacement of the pavement and bridges, construction of new approaches and shoulders, relocation of drainage facilities, and additional operational and safety improvements.

  • The Port Authority still plans to build new ramps between the lower level of the George Washington Bridge and the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Currently, access to and from the parkway is only available to the upper deck of the bridge. Originally scheduled for construction between 2005 and 2009, this project has been postponed indefinitely.
  • The NYSDOT still plans to build a $6.5 million, ten-foot-wide bike path along the parkway right-of-way in Rockland County, though it was postponed from its original 2005 start date.
This 1998 photo shows an original parkway lightpost at Bear Mountain State Park. These wooden lightposts, which were used at the parkway's southern terminus and at parkway service areas, were removed in later years. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)

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