Woodstock, NY in a Weekend
Let me start by saying that even in the 30 degree weather, Woodstock was absolutely beautiful. The air was crisp and fresh and totally cleansing.
That said, everything to do was closed! Which is why we cut our trip off a bit early. Avi could only spend so much time in the car and hotel room.
We did though eat some fabulous food (Woodstock is refreshingly veggie friendly), take a mini-hike, and I had my first reiki session at the hotel's ayurvedic spa (which was amazing!).
Thursday night we ate at New World Home Cooking whose menu was pleasantly laced with seitan options. To be honest it wasn't the first place I'd run back to, but it was just the right thing after such a long ride. We shared some seitan wings and then I had a seitan cutlet sandwich (basically I seitaned myself out for the month).
After dinner it was already past Avi's bedtime, so we headed straight to the hotel to hit the sack. The Emerson Resort was in Mt. Tremper just a short ride from the town of Woodstock and it was an oasis of luxury in the middle of rustic rural land. We stayed in the lodge part of the hotel and it was the perfect amount of clean and nice and comfy and log cabiny.
The next morning we had a greasy breakfast at a country kitchen type place where Avi had the biggest pancakes of her life. We roamed the town a bit then went to visit some friends who recently moved up there from Brooklyn. Their new home was on an amazing piece of land and the six of us hiked out the back of their house down to a beautiful river and it's bank. Sophie )our shih tzu) was in all her glory. I couldn't believe how she maneuvered all the crazy rocks with her tiny legs, but she did it with a huge smile across her little face!
After working up a hunger we all went into town for lunch at Oriole 9 which was an organic, local type restaurant. It was so so kid friendly and Avi and I both had the most amazing lunch. Mine was a lentil soup with garlic toast and I ordered a hearts of palm, avocado, and crispy chickpea salad. Oh and I ordered a side of falafel too. Hey, I'm pregnant;) It was all amazing. Check it out:
After a family nap time I hit up the spa for a reiki session which I wasn't sure if I believed in, but totally blew my mind. To start it's amazingly relaxing which I totally needed. Beyond that, when she concentrated her energy on my belly, there was such crazy movement in there like I haven't yet felt. I wasn't sure if I was conjuring it up, but when I was done she was like: woah! That baby was kicking away like crazy, huh? Pretty cool!
That evening we went to dinner at Peekamoose Restaurant which was the best meal we've had in a while. Richie was totally blown away. We had an amazing vegan dish of local veggies piled on top of each other in a sweetish broth of sorts. So amazingly yum! It totally made us happy. You know those kind of meals?
After dinner we were pooped and headed straight back to the hotel to bed. On the way home (or to my parents' home I should say) in the morning we hit up the Bread Alone Bakery where I went a little crazy and bought a local apple cinnamon loaf, a whole wheat sourdough loaf, 4 raisin rolls, a cinnamon thingy, and two iced teas for the road home. Everything was scrumptious.
In the end, we had a really nice adventure and were glad to be home in the end of it!