Spotlight: Upstate New York

I spent my Thursday in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York.  I visited the towns of Rhinebeck, Kingston, Saugerties, and the famous Woodstock.  The scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly, and I love spending time there seeing my accounts.  The Hudson River runs between Rhinebeck and Kingston, so I drove the bridge that links the two towns a couple of times yesterday.  Looking down at the water from how high up I was, I caught sight of some of the biggest boats I may have ever seen, traveling between New York/the Atlantic Ocean and wherever the Hudson River leads.  It really gets thoughts going of how life used to be, when everything was boated or put onto a railroad (rail tracks run right along one of the banks of the river).  Sounds so much harder of a life at first, but the more I kept thinking about it, the simplicity of it all actually seems so much easier, juxtaposed to our modern way of communicating, living, working, etc.  Don't you sometimes agree?

A little bit of cool trivia about the area that I've picked up on over my past few visits:

:: Kingston, NY was the original capital of the state of New York.

:: Franklin Delano Roosevelt once lived there, and his house still stands as a museum now.

:: Woodstock of '69 was actually not held in the town of Woodstock, but rather on a farm about 45 minutes of a drive from the town called Bethel Woods.  Regardless, the town of Woodstock seems to be quite proud of its legacy and definitely plays into the reputation a bit.  

Before I left town, I made a stop at the New World Home Cooking Company, which I had been into in the past with friends and totally loved.  (On my last visit there, I sat next to John Varvatos at dinner!)  New World is famous for their Creole String Beans (recipe here, for all you foodies), which are made "Blackened Style".  I couldn't pass up the chance to grab some of those and one of their awesome salads for dinner before I made the 2+ hour drive back to the city.  If you're ever in the area, I totally recommend stopping in here!