After taking two epic road trips last year, I was eager to take more this year. Maybe a Christmas season trip up through Vermont before darting over to Maine to see my cousins. Maybe I could follow that up with a late February/March trip to the Deep South: Alabama and Mississippi. Unfortunately, those were not to be. These days lifes plans frequently get changed and not for the better. In October I developed a back injury that made sitting down or walking for prolonged periods very painful. The anticipated road trips of my imagination drifted away like so much smoke.
However, I was determined to go somewhere and do something. By February, I realized that for the time being I would have to live with this injury and do what I could regardless. I decided to drive two hours upstate of here and discover a section of New York that I have never been before. Catskills on one side, Hudson River on the other. With this being the turbulent 20s not even that would be a foregone conclusion as a monster snowstorm was slated to hit during our stay, over a foot of snow predicted. I was up for an
We managed the drive in just under two hours before Mom and I arrived at our hotel in the town of Saugerties. I decided it best to rest my back before venturing out to see the historic local lighthouse. It was important to see it now before the snow closed in because apparently there was a long nature walk in order to gain access to it. This probably ruled Mom out, but she was game to give it a go anyway.
The parking lot was fuller than I expected. It turned out that a lot of locals liked to do the walk at the end of the day. We started up the trail together, but the ground was very slippery with mud and large puddles. This was not going to be Moms day and she headed back to the car for a read. I however plunged ahead. Sometimes there was a boardwalk, but most times I had to pick myself a treacherous path through the slop.
With back along the path, it was difficult to figure out how to pass one another and who should go first. One man looked down
at my sneakers and remarked, Hey. Your shoes are still white. Not for long I replied. The masked faces of the past two years had vanished off this trail and everyone seemed to be in a good mood as they smiled and said hello. It felt like things had turned a corner.
By the time I reached the lighthouse I had the whole place to myself. The red bricked structure had been built in 1869 and served as a functioning lighthouse along the Hudson River until 1954. It stands on a spit of land jutting out into the water. The river was now frozen along the banks and was filled with chunks of ice. In the back was a deck which was shaped like a ships prow pointing up the river. In the distance was a modern tanker still hauling goods along the river. A vital part of the supply chain I imagined.
When a mother and her two noisy sons finally arrived, I figured it was about time to head back and check on Mom. On the way back I passed only one couple as it was getting late. Sunset on and the day was
coming to a close. My back had survived the walk in decent shape. A small victory not to be overlooked. It wasnt quite dinner time, but we felt like getting it out of the way so we headed straight to the restaurant.
The Tavern at Diamond Mills was perched above an impressive waterfall which we made sure to check out before entering the restaurant. Inside we also lucked into a window table in full view of it and the old bridge in the distance. The whole hotel and was built using the site of a 19th Century paper mill. I had the traditional tavern burger, but the highlight of the evening was the fruit and cheese plate. It consisted of harvest moon cheddar, a block of parmesan, and a hunk of bleu cheese. Alongside the cheeses were dried apples, cranberries, bread and crackers. Wait theres more! There was also a vat of hot cheese fondue and dish of honey. We made a project of figuring out the best flavor combinations.
