Fall Foliage in the Hudson Valley/Catskills, NY

(I consulted Iloveny.com to put together much of our itinerary.)

Our Itinerary (October 3-5, 2009)

Saturday, October 3

Pre-planned:

-Drive-by sights on the way to Saguerties, NY
-Tarrytown
-Sleepy Hollow
-Nyack
-Garrison
-New Windsor
-Newburgh

We left early in the morning so that we'd have plenty of time to stop in some or all of these places but we had a little bit of a problem with our GPS. Basically, it took us three hours in the wrong direction so we ended up adding a lot of unintended time to our road trip. The only reason we stopped in Newburgh was to fill up the gas tank.

We arrived at Barclay Heights Bed & Breakfast sometime in the early evening. We didn't have a lot of time to explore Saugerties before it got dark but we did take a quick drive around. By the way, Saugerties is where Jimmy Fallon hails from. It's a very small town and to be honest, there's not a lot going on.

That being said, we were really happy with the B&B. All of the rooms are themed (we stayed in the Forest Room) and very nice. The breakfasts were also delicious. We filled out little order forms the night before and stuck them in their inbox. My only complaint was the location because as I mentioned previously, there wasn't much to the town center. For that reason alone, I probably wouldn't stay in Saugerties again. But I don't want to take away from the actual B&B, which was lovely.

Sunday, October 4

Pre-planned:

-Bethel
-Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
-Arkville
-Hunter
-Bear Creek Restaurant & Recreational Park
-Haines Falls
-Kaaterskill Falls
-Hurley
-Woodstock

Nothing was too far away from our home base and the scenery was just gorgeous. The foliage colors were probably two weeks before their peak and the air was nice and crisp. It was also refreshing to drive around on roads with little to no traffic. I liked being in the "country".

We parked the car at an overlook and walked a little ways to see the Kaaterskill Falls.

Shortly after we continued our drive to Hunter and stopped to take some pictures near the Bear Creek Landing Restaurant and Recreational Park. I wish we had stopped to play mini-golf. It looked like a nice course.

We spent some time at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts where the real Woodstock Festival took place. They had some kind of crafts show going on at the time and a corn maze that we walked through with kids less than half our age...  That's where we had lunch, which consisted of hot dogs and burgers.

On the way back to Saugerties, we drove through Woodstock, the town, which is about 15 minutes away. As you might imagine, it's a huge artist community. I wish we had stepped out of the car and walked around.  It would have been a good place to get a souvenir or at least, window-shop.

The day wasn't over yet so we decided to see Opus 40, which is something of a sculpture garden. I'm glad we took a look around, though the price was steep when compared with how much time it takes to look around - not much!

Monday, October 5

Pre-planned:

-Hudson
-Olana State Historic Site
-Livingston
-Fix Brothers Fruit Farm
-Red Hook
-Hyde Park
-Vanderbilt Masion
-New Paltz
-Minnewaska State Park Preserve

This was a really nice, relaxing day. We visited the Olana State Historic Site, which had a unique look for a building in the middle of the New York countryside.  I don't think we were able to go inside the building but we did spy some very cute chipmunks nearby and enjoyed watching them in all their cuteness.   

We also went apple-picking at Fix Brothers Fruit Farm. We didn't pick many. I think we just did it for the novelty of the thing. Neither of us had been apple-picking before.  I didn't really get much out of it but I liked getting acquainted with their sweet beagle.

We had lunch at a fantastic hamburger joint in Red Hook. I wish I could remember the name of the place but it was on the main drag.     

We did a guided in-house tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park. It was very modest for a mansion. I think the owners called it their "cottage". The views of the Hudson River were wonderful. It must have been nice to live there during the summers under the shade of their gigantic trees.  

New Paltz was a really cute little village. It had a college town feel to it and it was very artsy. We stopped in at a coffee shop for some hot chocolate and pastries and then continued on toward Minnewaska State Park Preserve, which had beautiful scenery.  There weren't many people around but I did observe an artist sketching and other people preparing for a hike.  I wish we had had more time to explore.

Looking back on this entry, I had a lot of unfulfilled wishes!  I'd definitely want to visit this part of New York again. It was really pleasant and deserved more than just a couple of days. I think we missed out on what makes this part of New York special, which is that it's slow-paced.  Because of our limited stay we didn't have a lot of time to just sit around and soak up the ambiance.  Next time.