Museum Mile Festival in NYC, aka the Sport of Waiting In (I mean, On) Line!

June 10, 2015
New York, NY

The Met after dark

In NYC, summer is the season of festivals, and many of them are free for the taking.  Last night was the annual - and free - Museum Mile Festival, a block party of sorts that takes place on the Upper East Side of Manhattan right on 5th Avenue, covering the blocks where such famous museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim reside, in addition to several lesser known museums.  I had read somewhere that this is quite a popular festival, and being New Yorkers as we now are, we thought we had better go and check it out and be part of the fabric of NYC on a Tuesday evening.

Upstate New York Roadtrip: Part 3 - the Catskills

May 26 - 31, 2015
Tannersville and surrounding areas, NY

Giant Ledge

After several busy days of sightseeing (and a lackluster shopping trip to the local outlet mall), based out of our characterless Hilton Garden Inn south of Poughkeepsie, it was time to relocate to the Catskills!  

Upstate New York Roadtrip: Part 2 - Hudson Valley

May 24 - 26 , 2105
Fishkill/Poughkeepsie and surrounding areas, NY

A new installation at Storm King Art Center

Upon rolling into the Hudson Valley early Sunday afternoon, we went in search of lunch. Finding nothing in Ossining, we continued on to the tiny town of Peekskill, where we stumbled upon a small collection of restaurants with sidewalk tables and umbrellas. We chose the pleasant-looking Division Street Grill, where we were treated to odd/bad service from an older guy who told us that he lives in the city in a rent-controlled apartment he inherited from his grandmother for which he pays about $650/month (!!!) and comes up to Peekskill on the weekends to work (but apparently, mostly to shoot the shit with his friends and acquaintances, in our estimation anyway).  The warm duck salad we shared was delightful and the low-key atmosphere was a welcome change from the frenetic weekend brunch scene in the city. 

Upstate New York Roadtrip: Part 1 - Long Island

May 23 - 24, 2015
Islip and surrounding areas, Long Island, NY

We're not in Manhattan anymore!

As planned, we recently ventured out on a driving tour into Upstate New York for nine days over Memorial Day week.  It was our first trip of any length since moving to NYC over three months ago and we were excited to see what our new home state had to offer.  The areas just north of the city (referred to as Upstate New York by anyone who lives in New York City), specifically the Hudson Valley which runs along both sides of the Hudson River, connected by several bridge crossings, and the Catskills Park region just to the northwest of the Hudson Valley proved to be positively beautiful, with lots of leafy trees, green grass, misty mountains, rivers and waterfalls and we packed a lot of sights in on our driving adventure.