Thursday, April 10th, 2008
Today, Laura and I had to bring Holly the dog to the vet. She had to have her teeth cleaned and some minor surgery. The vet had to put Holly under (not down, as Rob mistakenly thought today), so we had to burn about six hours of the day. Since we live an hour away from the vet, we decided to head up to Millbrook, NY for a visit. It got to be about 68 degrees and sunny today, so it was the perfect day for a little road trip.
Millbrook is a nice little town in Dutchess County. It has some farms and a nice little main street. I’m sure many people would like it if you brought them there. Believe it or not, I actually know someone who grew up in Millbrook. It must’ve been fun.
Anyway, The first thing we did was to cruise down Main Street. We parked the car and walked down to a little park at the end of the road. Paul would know the name of it. I’m sure he’ll write a comment for me.
I gotta say, it is a very nice park indeed. We walked up the zigzag sidewalk and then back down. Of course, I had to stop to take a few pictures.
There was a nice bridge over a small pond. The pond waterfall wasn’t running though. I am going to write someone a letter about that.
I call this the “chair of thought.” I sat in the chair of thought for about 30 seconds…just long enough for Laura to take this photo of me. I wanted everyone to know exactly how smart I can really look.
After we were done with the park, we walked up and down the main street again to check out all the little shops. I think the town is quite content with itself. Everyone looked very satisfied. That’s a good feeling if you live in a little town. We found a good restaurant to eat in, but they weren’t ready to serve until noon, so we decided to go to the Trevor Zoo at the Millbrook School. This has been on our agenda for some time and we figured it would be a great thing to do before eating lunch.
On the way to the zoo, I pulled over to look at a horse. Then, I thought to myself that a picture of the nearby farm would be a good thing to show my loyal readers. That would be the picture above.
As we drove down the road, I realized that we were coming upon the Millbrook School itself. I had no idea that it was a fancy private school. I was picturing those plastic slides like they have in the backs of some nursery schools. Um, not so much. After we parked the car, we took a stroll up the road because I saw some purple flowers I wanted to take a picture of.
Now, I didn’t know what to expect with this zoo. I even went as far as telling Laura that I didn’t want to go because I feared it would be just some pig in someone’s backyard. She expressed to me how important it was for us to go, so I agreed. This is the second time that I was wrong about someplace and she was right. The first time was Block Island. Boy was I wrong about that one. You know, it really hurts a guy’s ego to be wrong twice in a relationship. Good thing it was only twice.
As we walked up, we saw a nice waterfall and a bridge. It was the entrance to Trevor Zoo. Oh, how neat. It looked much bigger than I thought it would. After we went in, we saw how many animals they had.
They had birds and turkeys…
…and they even had this big bird that wouldn’t put its wings down. I guess he was getting some sun. We also saw rabbits and lemurs, a deer and a bunch of other stuff. There weren’t many people there, so it was really pleasurable. That, mixed with the nice weather was really making this a day after all.
This is just a great last shot I took of the Millbrook School from the Trevor Zoo. Obviously, I am on the other side of the pond.
After we left the zoo, we headed back into town for that lunch I was telling you about. We ate a nice meal and headed out to our next destination…the Millbrook Vineyards & Winery. At this point, it was about 1:30PM, so we were spreading things out nicely.
We rolled up to the winery with some wine tasting in mind. Good thing in was a Thursday in April, because there were only a few people there.
We paid $14 for the both of us to taste seven wines. We also got to keep the wine glasses we drank out of. To follow our tradition, we bought a bottle of wine before we left. I guess that’s what people do. I think we got a Cabernet. I am not such a huge fan of that type of wine, but Laura seemed interested, so again, I agreed. I know, I know…yes, I am a catch.
I thought I would throw those last three shots in there. I had to do something while we were waiting for the tasting guy. Besides, I was trying to show off my “angles” to my lady.
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Posted in Food & Drink, Spring, Travels | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 10th, 2007
If you are reading this post, you have probably seen Mount Beacon (Beacon Mountain). Maybe you didn’t even know you were looking at it. Just doing a Google Search surprised me…there are so many people interested in this mountain. Here are some interesting links…
- Beauty atop Mount Beacon
- Gateway to Mount Beacon Park
- Save the Mount Beacon Fire Tower
- Mount Beacon Amateur Radio Club
- Mt. Beacon Incline Railway
I always knew there were a bunch of radio towers up on the moutain, but I was not aware of how many people love this place. I once new a guy…yeah, I knew a guy who used to ride a quad up Mount Beacon. Boy, he told me it sure was a difficult ride. The bottom was easy to get up, but once he hit the old ski slopes, it was nothing but huge rocks. That is pretty hard terrain for a quad.
I have heard many stories about Mount Beacon, but I really don’t know what to believe. Here is what I do know…the mountain offers a view over the City of Beacon, NY. There are radio towers, among other towers at the top of the mountain. There are also some old fire towers up there too. It offers some really great ATV riding as well, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Here are the rumors that I heard, which may very well be true. You can see New York City on a clear day. There used to be an old ski lodge at the top of the mountain with ski slopes going down the face. There was a trolly type thing that used to get pulled up the mountain. Who knows…
One of the most interesting things to me is the reservoir at the top of the mountain. I have some photos of that below. Well, what am I waiting for? Let’s see the photos…
See, I told you there was a reservoir on the mountain. This old broken down sign tells us that the reservoir holds 125 million gallons of water.
This is a view across the reservoir to one of the old fire towers. This particular one is towards the back/side of the mountain and is not as well known as the one people generally talk about at the front of the mountain.
This is a photo of the Mt. Beacon reservoir dam. Yeah, this holds all the water back, so don’t jump on it.
This photo is a view from the top of Mt. Beacon. This view overlooks the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and the Hudson River.
This is a photo taken from the same spot as the last one, but looking more North up the Hudson River, towards Kingston, NY.
Do you have any fables, myths or truths about this mountain? I would love to hear them.
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Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
Usually, I try to finish up what I am doing at about 10:30PM and hop in bed to read for about a half hour. There have been times when I intended to do that, say to myself, “Oh yeah, one more thing” to then look up at the computer to see the clock read 2AM. Whoops.
Lately, I have been very good. Partly due to my new book, “Wobegon Boy” by Garrison Keillor. Let me tell you why.
A few years ago, Saturday nights were a much more popular “going out” night for me than they are now. Every so often, while driving in my car, I would be flipping through the channels on the radio to hear this very odd radio show. I never quite knew what it was…a guy talking, people singing…kind of like a variety show. I found it very interesting, but never listened long enough to quite get the name of it. I used to refer to the show as the one with the “Story Teller Guy.” I told everyone I knew about it.
After moving to the new house a little more than a year ago, I began listening to NPR (National Public Radio) a lot more. The station I listened to comes in much clearer here. Well, just as luck would have it, at about at 8:30AM, just as I begin driving across the the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, I began to hear the same voice as the Story Teller Guy give a short narration of the day’s importance on poetry, called the Writer’s Almanac. It took a few times listening to be sure it was him, and then I got curious and did some research.
Well, apparently, this man’s name is Garrison Keillor and he hosts “A Prairie Home Companion,” usually on Saturday nights. I began to listen more and more and when 7PM hit on the right night, I made it a point to get in my car for a drive. This past summer was a great one for cruising around with the radio on listening to the program. There was lots of haze and humidity…perfect for a drive at dusk with all the windows open. I tried to keep my hair a little longer than usual just for the sake of it blowing in the wind. Who knows how much longer I will have it.
Listening to this show had become one of my favorite things to do. If I missed it, I would stream it on my computer through their website. Give it a try, you might like it.
The season closer this year was held up the Berkshires at Tanglewood, one of my favorite places under the sun. Laura and I made plans to go to the show. It would be like a dream for me to see it live.
Saturday night came and went, and for some reason, we didn’t go. We didn’t talk about it…we just didn’t go. I don’t know why. Sometimes, things like this just happen. We did talk about it a few days later and decided to go up the next weekend to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform. We did and it was like magic. I really enjoyed laying on the blanket on the lawn listening to the music and looking at the stars. Everything was perfect…the food, the wine, the candles and the music. It couldn’t have been a better night. If I could, I would go to every show Tanglewood offers every night. Next summer, I am sure that Tanglewood will see a lot more of us.
I told my mother how much I enjoyed listening to Garrison Keillor, going to the Berkshires and…well…drinking wine. To my surprise, a few days later, I found a small package in my mailbox. It was the book, Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor. Thanks mom.
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Thursday, September 7th, 2006
Every year, towards the middle of August, Laura and I venture to the Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel in Cold Spring, NY. This is one night a year we really, really have a good time. It reminds us of the culture in this world that we miss so much by focusing on work, day in and day out.
Last year, the show offered “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” I am not going to attempt to give a review of the show, as I am sure there are people out there who could write much better than me. Here is one from the Utah Shakespeare Festival. What I am going to try to do, is to sell the show and experience to you, and hopefully my photos can do that. You really do deserve a unique night out like this.
I have to say, the whole experience is a good one, from the drive over the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, through Beacon and down along the Hudson River into Cold Spring. It’s a beautiful ride. Continuing through Cold Spring and finally arriving at Boscobel is a pleasant surprise every time. The parking at Boscobel is even nice. The lots are shaded by trees and tucked back from the road. There is about a quarter-mile walk from the parking lots to the tent area and the mansion.
The gardens are especially nice on a cool, clear evening.
I always spend a good amount of time browsing around the gardens, getting good ideas for the future. I seem to forget that the fun is right around the corner. It is kind of like stopping and getting attached to the first ride you come across at an amusement park. You can’t stop there. I eventually snap out of it and wander onto the lawn.
This has got to be one of my favorite places in the world. Just being among people who are having such a good time with their wine and food makes me forget all about every day business. It reminds me a little of “Alice in Wonderland…”
We usually walk around for a while and wait for them to sound that the show is about to start. We have yet to set up camp and relax with our food and wine. This is a definate for next time.
When we hear them asking us to take our seats, we make our way to the tent to enjoy the show!
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