Tag: #travel

  • Visiting a Farmer’s Market

    We’ve been going a little stir-crazy in the City of late. Due to an awful illness that ran through the family over consecutive weekends, school soccer matches, and unbreakable playdate commitments, we haven’t left New York City in close to two months. We were all getting the itch to leave the confines of the Five Boroughs. Finally, this past weekend, we put our collective foot down, and decided that this Sunday, we were getting in the car and driving out of town.

    So, we went to the Farmer’s Market in downtown Beacon, NY.

    I like visiting Beacon, for many reasons. First of all, it’s just far enough away from the City to make the drive feel like you are getting out. The town is beautiful along the Hudson River, and about twenty years ago, when I first visited the place with my soon to be wife, we both thought that this would be a great place to live. (Until we found out that homes there go for like $500k to million. And that was back in 2008!) Though living there really isn’t an option anymore, it is a place that we still enjoy visiting. Oh, and they have a rather cool disc golf course in town.

    I should have taken pictures, but I didn’t think of it.

    There is a very simple pleasure of going to one of these farmer’s markets. We’ve done the ones in Tarrytown, and Cold Springs, not to mention the big one in Union Square, as well as a smaller one in Harlem. I’m never sure what I am expecting when we go to these, but I have it in my head that I will find something that will inspire me to cook a huge meal. And that sometimes happens, but the wife is way better at looking at produce, and then thinking up all the things she will be able to make.

    What ends up happening is that the kid buys some little piece of jewelry, and I buy mushrooms, while the wife goes and finds stuff for us to eat, like risotto balls, and homemade doughnuts.

    It took us about an hour to dive up there. We walked around and shopped for an hour, and then took an hour to drive back to the City. We take the lazy way home, driving down 9D, which takes along the Hudson the whole way, but also cuts through forests, and goes up and down the steeper hills of the valley.

    This was the day trip that we all needed. We weren’t gone too long, and we didn’t go too far way. Just enough to feel like we got away for a bit.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Trains, Planes, and Roadtrips

    (Into this house we’re born…)

    I like the train. See, the kid’s soccer team has started practicing not too far way from the Metro North tracks on Park Ave. The team mets up in the early evening, so all the trains going by are for the rush hour heading out of the City. I’m not saying that I want to commute out the City everyday, but I do miss riding the train for work purposes. A long time ago, I would occasionally take the Long Island Railroad (L I Double R) out to the college I used to work for. On those days, I would be heading in the opposite direction of everyone else; They were coming into the City, and I was heading out. The train was sparsely filled with people, and I got a bit of reading done, or journaling. Other days I would just enjoy watching the City unfurl around me, and give way to Nassau County. It wasn’t the happiest time of my life when I was riding the LIRR, but it was a time that allowed me to be introspective.

    I hate airlines. Flying sucks, and it is not enjoyable. No matter which airline it is, they all blow. Flying today is worse than being on a crowed bus at rush hour. When we make vacation plans, the flying portion of the trip is equal to a hammer being dropped on my foot for three to four hours. The seats suck, the boarding sucks, the nickel and diming sucks, and the other passengers also suck. It’s amazing how the airline industry took something as fun and exciting as flying, and made it uncomfortable as a root canal.

    I love driving across America. And if I have a choice, I will always choose driving over flying. I like highways, and interstates, and roadside attractions. Dinners that are open late, and gas stations that have amazing local restaurants in the back. I like the sound of 18-wheelers passing you on the other side of the highway. I like naps in the backseat, and wondering what is around the bend. I love seeing America, who we are, and how we do things. I love yelling “moo” out the window at cows, and singing in the car. I love moving and discovering.

  • Another Rainy Monday

    Another Rainy Monday

    You know, exactly two weeks ago, I was sitting at home on a rainy Monday, writing about it being a rainy Monday.

    And it’s another rainy Monday.

    Just like I did two weeks ago, I pushed through the wet weather, and did the family laundry. It’s a chore that I agreed to; my part of the deal in being the stay-at-home dad. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but needs to be done. I folded laundry while watching MST3k on PlutoTV. The act made me want to take a nap, and gave me pause to reevaluate my conclusion on the latest season of the show. Perhaps I was too critical.

    The sky is still gray, but the rain has subsided. The temp is mid-forties, and I have a sweater on. I should be reading a book.

    Or I should be contemplating about the coming of Spring?

    Or I should contemplate the strange desire I have to put on shorts, but still wear a sweatshirt? That look, it makes me think of New England Summers. It warm and cool at the same time. It might get up to 76, but when the sun sets, it drops down into the 50’s. That sounds like an ideal summer to me.

    Yet, to get there, Summer that is, I have to make it through this Spring. And it is Spring around here. All the trees have started to bud, and the daffodils have popped out in the parks. It even feels a little more upbeat around the neighborhood. Like a slightly better mood, or maybe people are being optimistic to the change in season.

    For now, I have a gray sky and an under-construction condo-tower to look at. I would like that nap, but I have to get the kid from school, so no rest for the lazy.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Rain, Overwhelmed Already, and Frozen Turkey

    ( We’ve got stars directing our fate…)

    You know what? We got rain in NYC. In fact, we received two days of rain. Being that we went, like, two months with any rain, this feels like a blessing. The rain also helps put out all the brush fires that have been happening in the parks all over the City. No lie, it has been very strange to smell smoke, like camp fire smoke, everyday for the past two weeks. Though this rain is appreciated and needed, we are still in a severe drought, which is still a perplexing situation to be in for the Northeast. Growing up in Texas, going two months without rain wasn’t an uncommon thing. Normally, the rain stops at the end of July, and if we were lucky, picks up again in September. But around here… This is odd.

    Yup, yesterday I had my first feeling of being overwhelmed with the Holidays. I started thinking about all of the events, shopping, cooking, and planning we need to do for the next two months, and… overwhelmed. I wanted to go back to bed. I wanted to watch bad tv and eat ice cream. I wanted to shut off the lights and listen to the City. I wanted it to be April. No, no, no… Can’t do that. Too much to do.

    Speaking of which… There is a frozen smoked turkey in my freezer. When I open the door, that sweet wonderful smell of Texas mesquite comes rolling out, and it reminds me of BBQ’s as a kid, especially the ones in Summer. That is what is in my freezer, and I cannot wait until I can thaw that bird and warm it in the oven. Have I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?

  • Talking to Friends

    I had a friend come in town the other day (We’re back to doing that again. Awesome!) and we planned on going out to get a drink and talk. “You’re going to sit and talk?” my kid asked. “Pretty much.” “Why?” “That’s what grownups do.” She shook her head at me, “That’s boring.”

    Now, my wife’s birthday is coming up, and you know what she wants more than anything? To go out with friends and talk. Minus a husband and a kid. Our daughter was again disappointed that this is what her mother wanted to do on a birthday. “All you do is talk,” the kid concluded.

    She’s not aware that she does talk a lot, as she talks to me and her mom all the time. Soon, my kid will start talking and communicating with her friends constantly. I’m trying to value the conversation time I have with her, because it’s a cycle; she’ll form those life long important bonds and enjoy just talking to friends.