Mountains bridges boats

Friday. Finally some good good weather. A lovely morning to check Walkway over the Hudson off the long list of to-do's.

It first caught James' and my attention back in the fall on what turned out to be its opening day. 

A train bridge built in the 1870's that has recently been restored and turned into a walkway with an incredible view.

On the other side we restored ourselves with yummy BLAT's (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato wraps with chipotle mayo) at Lola's Café.

Saturday was set aside for mountains and nature and stuff. We drove up 44/55 in search of beautiful sh*t. Look out!

At the Mohonk Preserve visitors center we copped out and took the 10 minute nature hike where the parking lot is just out of view the whole time. But we saw some nice stuff AND caught some bonus points in the shape of this guy:

We kept driving up the mountain and stopped to watch some climbers. And I watched the people watching the climbers.

We got ourselves all the way to Ellenville for food. We had been recommended a restaurant which will remain unnamed. Maybe our expectations were too high or maybe the food was just crap, either way, Ellenville - been there - done that. 

Then we thought we would just swing by the Mohonk Mountain House, climb Skytop and go home. What - are you crazy? You can't do that! You have to pay $25/person to enter the grounds and besides - it's after 4.30pm so you can't even do that. No no and more no's. We just went home and enjoyed the reverse view with a fine box wine. Thank you. Thank you very much.

 

I've been keeping a sushi making kit in the house since we moved in and for some reason car-mountain-hiking brought out our Japanese sides and we got to making rolls.

Sunday. Brunch today was had at Bywater Bistro in Rosendale. Absolutely lovely, good prices and an impressive garden. 

Then on to Kingston and the harbor. We'd done enough sightseeing from the car and it was time to take a new approach and we boarded the Rip Van Winkle for a 2 hour cruise south on the Hudson. It turned out to be a refreshing afternoon with some history sprinkled in !

We took in our last meal on the patio - cheeses and breads and wine, checking out another spectacular sunset...

or what...

This is a bluebird in flight.

He's supposed to be our state bird but we all think he is doing a lousy job of representing. Yesterday was the first time we saw him and he was in a hurry to get away. We think he should be cutting more ribbons and shaking more hands.

We said goodbye this morning to the folks and although sad I'm glad we had such a great time and I feel like they went home with a piece of Clintondale in their hearts!