Friday, September 27, 2013

Traveling Upstate for Trees, Trails and Apple Cider

Let's put the debates about what counts as Upstate New York aside. Or, hey, why not include them for a taste of the local culture?!

Lured by promises of rivers, forests, rolling mountains and hiking trails, we left "the City" at the end of August and caught a bus to a rural hamlet. Here's a picture of the trestle, the town from the town and the trestle from the town, in that order.



The place delivered on all counts. Right next to a scenic trail that stretches for many miles in each direction, a short walk into town (a real Main Street with a few dozen buildings) and worlds away from last month's urban bustle.



Early fall brought baskets of apples to the local farmer's market and regaled us with sweet apple cider.



The contrast between this month and last is the most striking between any of our two stops so far. Just compare these pictures to the previous post.


Now we've tested our new shoes in the concrete jungle and the woods. This would've been a nice place to spend early fall, to watch the leaves change and enjoy the harvest. But we've got plans. Plans that will have us traveling all night just to get to...

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Elbowing our way through the crowd in New York

It's been too long, I know. But we have our reasons... we got sucked in by New York!


Day or night, north or south of Times Square, it really does look like everyone's here. The heart of it all, as it were. So much humanity. So much hustle round every corner.


Food, culture, that urban America that dwarfs our previous travel destinations. It lives up to the hype. And the memories.


Memories? Yep. We were last here about a decade ago, and left with a lot of love for the place. This time around, "the City" ate up half of our leisure time retracing old steps to beloved favorites, the other half exploring new sites.




We put many more miles on our shoes. Feeling the burn, we finally invested in some real long distance kicks. The new beauties (his and hers) helped us walk as far north as Columbia, as far south as Battery Park and the financial district, and most everywhere in between.


When did we sleep? Good question. I don't recall. Haha, but in all seriousness, we got into the most relaxed groove we've had since Mexico. Still loads of work (just a tiny bit less than last month).


If you've been with us since Cozumel, you're aware of our international wifi concerns. We've been on the hunt for an affordable wifi solution that could keep us data-hogs super connected, Skyped and VPNed while abroad. Our next goal was to take this party to Europe. (Keep in mind that we work M-F 8-7 Pacific time, wherever we are in the world!!)

After purchasing and playing with a few fancy antennas (including a big old Turbotenna raygun), browsing for Boingo hotspots, and reading T&Cs of global mifi devices, Europe got nixed. That all happened in the last couple weeks. Shed some tears for us as we delete our travel spreadsheets. Then get excited as we decide what's next!