Hyde Park (NY), New York City, and stops on the way home!

It feels so good to be home at last! The Sunday before I left Carol and I drove to the Hudson River Valley area of New York. We toured FDR’s home in Hyde Park, which was very interesting, and I learned a lot about him and Eleanor. I did not know that they were fifth cousins! Nearby was a home of one of the Vanderbilts, so we also stopped there. I found this one to be much more beautiful and grand. I thought it was huge, but the guide told us this was one of the smallest Vanderbilt mansions and everyone used to refer to it as “uncle’s cottage”; however, I certainly did not think it was a cottage. The view of the Hudson River was amazing, something that was lacking from FDR’s property. We stopped for some drinks and desert in Rinebeck at Beekman Arms Inn, the oldest inn in America. The dining area was very cozy and the man who sat us said last year when Chelsea Clinton was getting married nearby, they had a cocktail party there. He also gave a sheet of the history of the inn. Here are some interesting facts: opened in 1704, during the Revolutionary War George Washington and Alexander Hamilton stopped there, and it was frequented by the Roosevelts.

On Wednesday I met up wit my friend Bethanie that I met at the University of South Carolina, who lives in New Jersey. I woke up early, drove over an hour to Waterbury, CT, and took a train to Grand Central Station. It has been a dream of mine to arrive in the city via Grand Central, so I was so glad I could do it since I do not know if I’ll have a chance again. The first thing we did was take the subway to the lower east side to try and watch Gossip Girl (one of my and Bethanie’s favorite TV shows) being filmed. We found the trailers and the building, but unfortunately they were filming interior shots, so we knew there was a good chance we wouldn’t see anything. We found a restaurant nearby and both had delicious pizza. After lunch we decided to go back to the building they were filming at and wait and see if we could see something. There were about five other girls also waiting. After being there about 20 minutes we saw one of the actors, Chase Crawford, walk into the building. Unfortunately he did not stop and he was walking so fast I barely recognized him and did not have time to take a picture. Nevertheless I was so excited, since it was one of my goals to see Gossip Girl filming, even though I didn’t actually see any filming. We waited about another 30 minutes to see if he came back out or if we saw someone else. After that we walked along Bleecker Street, then took a train to a coffee shop in Long Island City, called Communitea. We went out of our way to this coffee shop because it is where they filmed a few episodes of Gossip Girl (for those of you who watch the show, it is the coffee shop where Vanessa worked). We both got seasonal drinks that were delicious! After that we took the subway to Rockefeller Center and saw the Christmas tree, 30 Rockefeller (visited the NBC store inside), and saw the ice skaters. It was so packed and it was only a Wednesday! I cannot imagine how busy it is on the weekend! We then walked along 5th Avenue and looked at the holiday window displays, which were so amazing! When we reached 60^th we walked over to Dylan’s Candy Bar and split a frozen hot chocolate at the café upstairs. We then had said goodbye in the Lexington Ave subway station, so I could catch my train at Grand Central and Bethanie hers at Penn Station.

After my two finals on Thursday I packed up and Friday morning I left to go pick up my mom at the Albany airport and head home. Friday night we had dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Cleveland. It was my first time eating at one and it was so loud! Saturday we stopped in Chicago at the Christkindlmarket, a little market that had lots of Christmas decorations and ornaments from mostly European countries, especially Germany. We also passed Macy’s window displays and they were really cool!

So now I am finally home! And I will be here for a little over two weeks. I do not know the next time I will post, but it will probably be a little while...

Visiting the homes of Mark Twian (Samuel Clemens) and Harriet Beecher Stowe

Last Saturday Carol and I went down to Hartford to visit the Mark Twain House (really Samuel Clemens) as well as the house of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The houses are located next to each other, but each has its own visitor center where you buy tickets individually. Both houses were decorated for the holidays and the guides told us what this time of year would be like at the houses. I learned more from the tour of Stowe’s house, but I personally liked the Mark Twain House because it was more architecturally beautiful. If you are ever in the area I recommend you stop for both tours (the Mark Twain House is more popular) since these authors are so important in American literature. In between tours we had lunch at Tisane Coffee and Tea Bar, which is located a few minutes drive from the houses. They had a full lunch menu that was amazing and the best chai latte I have ever tasted.

That night Rob and Carol treated me to dinner in Northampton at Eastside Grill, which was very popular, but extremely delicious!

It has been unseasonably warm here lately – the last several days it has been in the 50s. Yesterday it rained all day, but I kind of wish it was snowing! Today has been colder and windy, and the next few days are supposed to be colder, but not enough to snow. This is my last weekend! Lots of studying for finals will be happening!

Emily Dickinson's House and Rhode Island

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week and the semester is almost done! Last Friday I spent the afternoon with Carol in Northampton and Amherst. After lunch at a small café in downtown Northampton, we drove to Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst. We took a 45-minute tour of The Homestead, where I learned about one of America’s most famous poets. Did you know that only one photograph was ever taken of her and it was when she was about 16 and a half? I was surprised that we only got to see 4 rooms (parlor, library, her bedroom, and her sister’s bedroom) even though the house was huge.

Saturday morning Kelley and I woke up early to drive to Rhode Island. In Providence we met up with two of her friends who go to school there. We walked around the downtown area and saw the river, Wickenden Street, and Brown’s campus. I had higher expectations for Wickenden Street, which I thought would be a cute street with shops and a few restaurants, but was just kind of an average street with a lot of restaurants. While they went to lunch and walked around more, I visited the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Museum. It was huge and felt kind of like a maze because of all the different rooms on each floor. They had artwork from the Greeks, famous painters like Monet, and some by RISD students.

We then drove to Newport, which was about 45 minutes from Providence. It is a really pretty drive because you go over two bridges (one of which is really high) and see the ocean and city. The first thing we did was walk along Cliff Walk, which is a paved path along the ocean that passes The Breakers (previously the Vanderbilt’s summer home, now a historic landmark) and other mansions. All of Newport was pretty windy, but walking on Cliff Walk was extremely windy. While Kelley and her friends walked along Thames Street, which has several stores, I went to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It was amazing and I spent almost two hours there.  They had exhibits on the history of tennis, Arthur Ashe, Andre Agassi, women’s tennis, and much more. When I was done we drove the Historic Ten Mile Drive, which goes around the city and offers beautiful views of the ocean and gorgeous mansions. We happened to do it while the sun was setting, which was beautiful.

Newport was by far my favorite over Providence. I feel like I could spend more time exploring Newport because driving around I saw lots of streets with restaurants and shops and I love looking at mansions, so I could spend more time doing that. I don’t really feel like there was much more to do in Providence. Something I do wish I could have seen was WaterFire, which wasn’t going on while I was there. Check it out here - http://waterfire.org/about-waterfire/welcome. It sounds amazing!

Spending some unexpected time in Madison

I am so glad I was able to go home for five full days! But the major downside to going was not being able to see a taping of Anderson Cooper’s new daytime talk show in New York City, which I had tickets for.

Wednesday and Thursday I ran some errands, worked out, and played tennis with Mom. For dinner Thursday I went to Tempest, a restaurant that opened a few months ago downtown, with Dad and Tyler. It is an oyster bar and they have their oysters flown in everyday, which is extremely rare to see in a restaurant in Madison. The atmosphere was really cool – we sat in a “shell” in the bar area – and the food was delicious. I had four oyster, three of which were fantastic, and razor clams, a new dish to me that was long strips of clams.

For lunch Friday I went to The Great Dane with Dad, Tyler, and Tyler’s girlfriend, Heather. That night Mom, Mark, Brittany, and a friend of the family, Bobby, went to a corn maze. I had really wanted to do one for weeks, so I was really excited to go. It only took us 58 minutes and it was in the dark!

Saturday morning I woke up early to visit one of my favorite coffee shops, Firefly, near my Dad’s house in Oregon (a suburb south of Madison). I then visited the Farmers Market, the last one of the season, to pick up some cheese curds and a spicy cheese empanada. That afternoon we went to the Badgers football game, where they killed Purdue, and later the Badger men’s basketball game, where they also won.

Sunday we went to Daisy’s Café for brunch and had a relaxing afternoon. I had dinner with my Dad’s side of the family at Bunkey’s that night. The next morning I woke up at 4:15am and Mom drove me to Milwaukee, so I could fly back to Boston.

I learned the hard way, but always check rates for parking at airports! I am quite mad about how much I had to pay for parking at Logan Airport and I should have looked online for other options.

Even though I went to Madison and will be back in only 11 more days and saw some of my family just 3 days before, I am so glad I was able to go. It was really good to spend time back home.

Montreal! Plus some unexpected events...

This weekend I got to see my family and visit a different country! Thursday after my history midterm I drove 3.5 hours to the Burlington, VT airport to pick up my grandma, mom, brother, and sister. It was raining when I left and as I was driving through southern Vermont I noticed the rain had changed and it took me a few minutes to realize it was snowing! This didn’t last very long and when I got to Burlington it had stopped. 

We made our way to Montreal, stopping at the border for only about 15 minutes. After finally finding the hotel on a tiny street, we walked around and saw the Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame Basilica. Our hotel was located in Old Montreal, which felt like walking around a European city because everyone was speaking French, the building were old, and had cobblestone streets.

On Friday we walked more around Old Montreal and stopped at the Museum of the Bank of Montreal (kind of cool, especially for those who enjoy collecting money like my brother), History Center of Montreal (very informative and interesting – I recommend stopping if visiting the city), and Bonsecours Market (mostly expensive clothing and art stores, but some souvenir shops). In the afternoon we drove around the city and stopped at Juliette et Chocolat, which was located on a very busy street so at a stoplight me, Tyler, and Brittany jumped out of the car and bought hot chocolate while my mom and grandma drove around. My mom drank a dark hot chocolate, which she said is the best one she has ever tasted. We then drove to Mont Royal Park (if you say Mont Royal fast it sounds like “Montreal”!). The top offered an amazing view of the city. The Park, along with the whole city, has bicycle trials and there are places to rent bicycles every few blocks (like B Cycle in Madison and other companies in various cities). We then made our way to St. Joseph Observatory and by the time we got there it was dark outside, but it looked amazing lit up.

Saturday we toured Notre Dame and I was stunned with its ornate beauty. Next, we drove to the Biosphere, not to be confused with the Biodome, which is next to the Olympic Park and has replications of four ecosystems. The Biodome looks somewhat like the ball at Epcot, but doesn’t really have anything to offer except its looks. We then drove to see the Olympic Park (Montreal hosted the 1976 Olympics), but there isn’t anything to do there except take an expensive tram ride to the top to see a view of the city, which we got by driving up Mont Royal. Since we heard we had to try some bagels, we stopped at a popular bagel shop called St. Viateur, which is located on a street by the same name. We could smell the bagels from a block away and they were so delicious and fresh. Next we went to an art museum and toured the free permanent collection. For an early dinner we ate at Sir Winston Churchill Pub, which is supposed to be a popular eatery, but I didn’t think it was anything special. The food wasn’t that great and they didn’t have much of a beer list (the drinking age in Québec is 18). That night we went to see the Notre Dame lights show which was cool, but was more of a history lesson than a light show. I would recommend doing this first because they show the altar in a very dramatic way that I think would be a really cool way to see if for the first time. They also let you tour the basilica for 15 minutes after, so you don’t have to pay twice to see it unless you want to spend more time and take a tour from a guide.

After walking around Old Montreal little more on Sunday, we drove back to Burlington and lunch on Church St before I dropped them off at the airport.

Little did I know that while I was up north in Montreal, Massachusetts got pounded with snow. As soon as we crossed the boarder on Sunday and my internet started working, I got emails from Westfield State saying power lines were down and classes were cancelled until Wednesday. I didn’t know what to do because I did not want to go back to campus. I called Rob and Carol to see if I could stay with them, but while they did have a generator they were quickly running out of gas to fuel it and all the gas stations were closed. I then decided to drive to Saratoga Springs, NY to stay with Amanda because she did not get any snow. It was a beautiful drive through Vermont (I have now covered all of Vermont I think) and I got to take a (free) ferry from Vermont to New York. Shortly after I crossed into New York it got dark, so unfortunately I couldn’t see the Adirondack Mountains as I drove through them.

I spent several hours of my first day of cancelled classes doing homework and writing this post at Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga (Amanda had work and classes all day). For a Monday this place is pretty busy and I got one of the last available tables even though this place is huge for a coffee shop. They have a good drink menu and even had a few seasonal flavors, but I was most impressed with the several bagel sandwich options, kinds of bagels, and cream cheese flavors.

Tuesday afternoon I found out that all classes for the rest of the week were cancelled! So I decided to go home since I didn’t want to stay on campus and it would be pretty expensive to travel around for 5 days, plus I would have to go by myself. That night I slept at Kelley’s house and early Wednesday morning I drove to the Logan airport in Boston. Now I am in Madison!

Day trips to The Berkshires and Litchfield Hills

Friday I set out on a solo day trip to the Berkshires – the county in Western Massachusetts that is known for its beautiful mountains. My first stop was Mount Greylock, which is the highest peak in Massachusetts. It was a stunning drive up the mountain, which is 3,498 feet above sea level. At the top I was very surprised by how cold it was. It was a very chilly and windy 46 degrees and I was freezing in my fleece North Face jacket. I had to wear my hood because it was that cold! The top offered a breathtaking view of a town below (I’m not sure which one). At the top there was a lodge with a café and even a few guest rooms. I was very surprised by the amount of people over 50 I saw hiking on the mountain. Good for them!

Next I went to Williamstown, which is up in the Northwest corner and just miles from New York and Vermont. It is home to the liberal arts school Williams College. I stopped for a little at Tunnel City Coffee, which was fairly busy. It had a great selection of sweets and an average sized selection of coffee drinks. The downtown area that the coffee shop is located on is called Spring Street and is about 3 blocks long. It did not have many restaurants and stores, but it did have a North Face store.

I then stopped at Berkshire Outfitters in Adams to rent a bike. The shop is located only 300 yards from the Berkshire Bike Path, which is a beautiful, flat path. I joined the path about 2.5 miles in and biked to the other end, which was roughly 8.5 miles. It took me 45 minutes to reach the end at a somewhat fast speed. At the recommendation of the guy who rented me the bike, I stopped at a place just off the trail called Whitney’s Farm. I got some hot apple cider and a pumpkin doughnut.

On my way back to Westfield I took a road called Mohawk Trail (Rt. 2) that goes east-to-west in a part of Massachusetts called Pioneer Valley. I read somewhere that this is supposed to be the best fall foliage drive in Massachusetts, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Also, part of the trail was closed, which I knew about in advance, due to water damage.

On Sunday I explored Northwestern Connecticut, known as the Litchfield Hills with my roommate Kelly and Brittany. This is the part of Connecticut that inspired the town in the TV series Gilmore Girls, which I am a huge fan.

Our first stop was Litchfield, which had a tiny downtown with upscale stores and just a few restaurants. Next we drove through Washington Depot, the actual town the creator of Gilmore Girls said was the inspiration for Stars Hollow. From my research beforehand I knew there wasn’t anything special about it, so I don’t really know how this town was the inspiration for such a vibrant fictional town!

 

The Elephant’s Trunk Bazaar in New Milford is a huge flea market that takes place every Sunday from April through November. There were rows and rows of random items and antiques. Downtown New Milford consists of a block of shops, a movie theater, and Bank Street Coffee House and a few other streets with restaurants. At the coffee shop I got a pumpkin pie chai and Brittany got chaider (chai and apple cider). We both LOVED our drinks. Something that I had never seen before and seemed really “small town” was the “Buy Your Friend A Drink” board. I didn’t really get the small town feel the short time I was walking around the downtown, except for the restaurants I passed, which did look like places locals eat.

We were all getting hungry, so for lunch we stopped at Villager Restaurant in Kent. I read online that this place is very popular with the locals. When we walked in we were waiting by what looked like a host’s stand, but when one of the waitresses passed us and said “there’s an open table over there,” I realized this is one of those places you seat yourself. The food came fast and was good. We walked down Main St. though the main part of downtown, which was about 2 blocks and had a few restaurants and shops, to Belgique Chocolatier. Here I had the most rich and delicious hot chocolate I have ever had. And the whipped cream on top was the best I’ve ever had. This was our most favorite town because there were several people out and about and it had beautiful views from the downtown.

Next we visited The Sharon Audubon Center Trials. This had a lovely garden, pond, trails, and even an aviary! There were several birds that were rescued because of injuries and wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild. We saw a bald eagle up close, which was incredible.

On our way back we drove through Salisbury and Norfolk, which were supposed to have cute town squares, but there was anything special about them. Close to the Massachusetts-Connecticut boarder there was an amazing scenic stop. I had never read anything about this and it is truly a gem and a must-see for anyone in the area. It is located on Saville Dam Rd. near Barkhamsted.

A Weekend Off From Traveling (but I did go new places!)

After last week’s long post about my eventful trip to Vermont, this post will be much shorter because I decided to take a weekend off from traveling. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t visit new places! The midpoint in the semester is approaching so this weekend I was busy with papers and studying for exams.

On Saturday my friend Brittany, who I met through my roommate Kelley, took me to a small bakery in Russell, one town over from Westfield. The Bread Basket looked like a little log cabin house, where the front half had shelves with jams, canned fruit, and pastries, and the back half was a kitchen. They had homemade clam chowder, which we both got. I also bought a maple twist pastry that was amazing.

That night I went to Britney and Baylea’s apartment and we went to Friendly’s, which was my first time. Friendly’s restaurant is a very popular chain in the area, so it was place I had to eat at. They have good food for great prices and (for a limited time I believe) have $5 menu in addition to their regular menu. Friendly’s is known for their ice cream and I had a pumpkin pie sundae, which had pumpkin ice cream, piecrust chunks, marshmallow crème, and whipped cream – it was delicious!

On Sunday I visited Amherst (the “h” is silent I have learned), which was about a 45-minute drive. It is home to Amherst College and University of Massachusetts. It had a small downtown with a few stores and restaurants. I spent a few hours at Rao’s Coffee, which was very busy and at times had no open seats. I did not think this coffee shop was anything exceptional, but it did have an extensive selection of baked goods and sandwiches.

The leaves are at their peak where I live according to this website http://www.newenglandtimes.com/new-england-fall-foliage/ne-fall-foliage-tracker.shtml that I check almost daily. However, as I write this and look across the quad most of the trees are still green! This coming weekend I have two day trips planned and I am very excited to see more leaves!