Comments on the Weather: My Side of the Mountain

Last week we took our first vacation away from the big city and into the wilderness that is the Catskills. As soon as we left White Plains (about 30 minutes north of New York), everything changed completely. Towns like Tarrytown, formerly known as Sleepy Hollow, and Hyde Park, home of the the Vanderbilt estate, all sit along the Hudson. To add to the spirit of adventure and to avoid toll roads, we decided to take some of the back roads. We didn't realize that this would double the driving time, but it let us see some of the cutest farm houses and summer cottages. If we ever end up staying out here, we just might have to get one for ourselves.

We spent most of our second day hiking. It's nothing like hiking in Colorado or Utah, where you spend the majority of the time above the tree line with amazing views, but the Hudson Valley has its own beauty. I think we both agreed that our favorite part of the trip was hiking to a waterfall where we swam and sunbathed. It was glorious.

Other than hiking, we spent a lot of time eating. We had great pizza at a place where our waitress just happened to be a Mormon girl out from Wallsburg, Utah who had moved there while her dad worked at one of the dams. Random. Then our last day, we found out that we would pass the Culinary Institute of America on our drive back, so we decided to do lunch there. I'm kicking myself now for not taking pictures of this meal because there is no way to describe everything-truffle soup in puff pastry, rack of lamb, bass with pureed eggplant. The best part was when my dessert came out on a bed of herbs and dry ice, which they then poured tea over so I had scented herbal tea vapors swirling around the table as I ate.

Coming back to the heat and humidity on Wednesday was a rude welcome back, but I'm glad we made it upstate and now know how easy it is to do when we need a little escape.