Station/Boat Location~
USCGC WIRE (65')
In the heart of the Hudson River Valley. It is also home to ANT Saugerties.
Date there~
June 1996 to June 1998
Weather~
Spring and summer kind of run together. Warm and humid, air conditioning is necessary. Winters are cold and icy and it can snow as early as October and as late as April.
Military facilities~
None locally. You can drive south to West Point which is about a 50 minute drive.
Medical~
At the time we lived there it was Standard, but it was changing over to Prime (1998). I drove to Newburgh, NY (25 minutes on the thruway) for my medical at the air national guard base there. I also was seen at Keller Army Medical Center (West Point) for things like mammograms. Not sure if you would be able to be seen at these places now.
Housing~
No government housing and they were in the process of phasing out leases in 1998. The housing market is slim for house rentals. It is possible to find apartments both in older houses and in a few modern type buildings. House rentals that I would consider adequate are generally over what BAH is allowed for the area so be prepared to pay out of pocket for your utilities. My opinion of adequate is city/town water and on a sewer line. There are a lot of wells in the area and our experience with well water was shall I say, less than a good one LOL! To me the only drawback to living in this area is the housing situation. I have several friends (civilian and one that is a realtor) that still live there and they say the housing situation hasn't improved much since 1998 - if anything, its harder to find housing than it was then.
Shopping~
Kingston (next town over from Saugerties) has plenty of shopping. There was a mall with Old Navy, Macy's, Lerner, etc. A Walmart (which I believe was upgraded to a Super Walmart), Sam's Club and Staples. A lot of restaurants (chain type). You can drive south to Poughkeepsie (30 minutes or so) to a big Galleria type mall and north to Albany (50 minutes or so) and there is a huge mall (and surrounding strip malls) there. Woodstock, NY also has lots of funky shops and galleries. DH always bought my Christmas and birthday presents there and thus I have lots of really neat sculpture (wall and ceiling hangings and candle sticks) and jewelry.
Fun Activities~
Hiking, skiing, lots of historical mansions on the Dutchess County side of the Hudson River, just about anything that you can think of to enjoy outdoors. Movie theaters at the mall. Woodstock, NY (home of "The" Woodstock) is about 20 minutes west of Saugerties. There are plenty of things going on there especially in the summer. We went to outdoor theater there (for a donation) and took picnics - it was usually Shakespearean. A lot of the 60's musicians have summer homes there and you can usually always be guaranteed of at least one summer outdoor concert put on by one or more of them.
Child Care/Schools~
No help here, we didn't have children yet when we were there.
Adult Schools~
I took a lot of classes at the Culinary Institute of American (Poughkeepsie, NY). They offer weekend classes for adults in all types of cooking areas. I know there are community colleges and SUNY (State University of NY) schools in the area, but can't recall which ones.
Additional Info~
It was one of our favorite stations. It was unexpected for us since we were originally stationed in New York City and when they closed down Governors Island, DH's ship was change of homeported to Saugerties. We actually chose to extend an extra year there.
Jobs were a little hard to come by. It will simply depend on what your skills are. Kingston, NY is the county seat of Ulster County (Saugerties is in Ulster County). I was able to find a fairly good job in an attorney's office - I'm skilled as a legal secretary/paralegal. Of course, remember, the salaries aren't as high as they would be in a larger city.
Homeport NY
USCGC WIRE (65')
In the heart of the Hudson River Valley. It is also home to ANT Saugerties.
Date there~
June 1996 to June 1998
Weather~
Spring and summer kind of run together. Warm and humid, air conditioning is necessary. Winters are cold and icy and it can snow as early as October and as late as April.
Military facilities~
None locally. You can drive south to West Point which is about a 50 minute drive.
Medical~
At the time we lived there it was Standard, but it was changing over to Prime (1998). I drove to Newburgh, NY (25 minutes on the thruway) for my medical at the air national guard base there. I also was seen at Keller Army Medical Center (West Point) for things like mammograms. Not sure if you would be able to be seen at these places now.
Housing~
No government housing and they were in the process of phasing out leases in 1998. The housing market is slim for house rentals. It is possible to find apartments both in older houses and in a few modern type buildings. House rentals that I would consider adequate are generally over what BAH is allowed for the area so be prepared to pay out of pocket for your utilities. My opinion of adequate is city/town water and on a sewer line. There are a lot of wells in the area and our experience with well water was shall I say, less than a good one LOL! To me the only drawback to living in this area is the housing situation. I have several friends (civilian and one that is a realtor) that still live there and they say the housing situation hasn't improved much since 1998 - if anything, its harder to find housing than it was then.
Shopping~
Kingston (next town over from Saugerties) has plenty of shopping. There was a mall with Old Navy, Macy's, Lerner, etc. A Walmart (which I believe was upgraded to a Super Walmart), Sam's Club and Staples. A lot of restaurants (chain type). You can drive south to Poughkeepsie (30 minutes or so) to a big Galleria type mall and north to Albany (50 minutes or so) and there is a huge mall (and surrounding strip malls) there. Woodstock, NY also has lots of funky shops and galleries. DH always bought my Christmas and birthday presents there and thus I have lots of really neat sculpture (wall and ceiling hangings and candle sticks) and jewelry.
Fun Activities~
Hiking, skiing, lots of historical mansions on the Dutchess County side of the Hudson River, just about anything that you can think of to enjoy outdoors. Movie theaters at the mall. Woodstock, NY (home of "The" Woodstock) is about 20 minutes west of Saugerties. There are plenty of things going on there especially in the summer. We went to outdoor theater there (for a donation) and took picnics - it was usually Shakespearean. A lot of the 60's musicians have summer homes there and you can usually always be guaranteed of at least one summer outdoor concert put on by one or more of them.
Child Care/Schools~
No help here, we didn't have children yet when we were there.
Adult Schools~
I took a lot of classes at the Culinary Institute of American (Poughkeepsie, NY). They offer weekend classes for adults in all types of cooking areas. I know there are community colleges and SUNY (State University of NY) schools in the area, but can't recall which ones.
Additional Info~
It was one of our favorite stations. It was unexpected for us since we were originally stationed in New York City and when they closed down Governors Island, DH's ship was change of homeported to Saugerties. We actually chose to extend an extra year there.
Jobs were a little hard to come by. It will simply depend on what your skills are. Kingston, NY is the county seat of Ulster County (Saugerties is in Ulster County). I was able to find a fairly good job in an attorney's office - I'm skilled as a legal secretary/paralegal. Of course, remember, the salaries aren't as high as they would be in a larger city.
Homeport NY
