The Great Outdoors

Inspired by our kayaking, wine-tasting, peach and apple-picking, and generally very un-Manhattan-y adventure up the Hudson Valley with Nancy a few weeks ago, Eric and I broke the Manhattanites' Creed yesterday and took another venture off the island.

After a failed attempt to do this last weekend (monster blisters and a man-cold brought us down), this Saturday we tied on our hiking shoes, boarded MetroNorth towards Port Jervis, and headed out in search of fresh air. Our journey took us first to the great "junction" of Secaucus, New Jersey (look- don't even THINK you can buy a magazine there- the only thing for sale there is donuts.) Then we sped past towns like Suffern (of Sex and the City fame- you know, "sufferin' in Suffern"...), Garfield, and my personal favorite, Ho-Ho-Kus. Although the towns leave a bit to be desired (particularly if you would be in the mood for, say, all you can drink brunch), the scenery only continues to get more beautiful the further you travel.



We finally arrived at our destination: a quaint little town called Tuxedo. We stepped off the train into a rockin' farmers market (complete with Banjo Man, Mozzarella Man, and Pickle Man) and realized fairly quickly that we really didn't know how to get to this alleged state park. The directions "behind the train station" turned out to be not quite specific enough. Strange.

Luckily, Eric is unafraid to ask for help, so someone told us to go over the train tracks and then keep walking. Helpful?

Luckily again, those directions weren't half bad, and after a few minutes of walking past some cute houses and some very strange houses (imagine a giant stuffed panda, a small teddy bear, and a headless torso having tea in someone's front yard, and you'll basically get the picture), we stumbled across what looked like it could be a hiking trail and (hooray!) some other hikers with (hooray!) a little better plan than ours.


We were instructed to follow the little red dots on the trees and head on up- as long as you could see the red dots (or blue dots, or red lines, or some other symbol), you were on a trail. Good enough for us!


The hike took us through some amazing, varied terrain and to several beautiful vistas. We found only one dud of a trail (don't go on the Flying V trail- b.o.r.i.n.g.) and never got lost! Success!







We wound our way back down the trail and, like good Weekend Warriors, grabbed a hard-earned beer at the local watering hole- the Taverna Tuxedo (sadly, it was too early in the day for any salty locals to be watering)- before catching the train back to Organized Chaos (the city).



It was a fantastic new adventure, and one that we hope to take a lot more often. The leaves were just starting to change and the air beginning to cool- this adventure is sure to have a reprise as we delve further into the East Coast's most magnificent season of the year.