J & J's Big Adventure

My husband and I are both very busy people in the summertime.Technically, you could say we're busy all year, but the nature of our work (he being a contractor and me being a photographer) adds an extra level of crazy to our summers. This year, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary, and 20 years together, and I decided that we needed to get a weekend away. I had photographed 5 weddings already and knew I had a bunch more to go, so the weekend of August 12th was a nice little break in between for both of us. I had photographed a wedding in Fleischmanns last year and thought that the area looked nice, so when I googled Bed & Breakfast and the River Run popped up, I was charmed by the photographs and decided that's where we were going to stay! On our way to Fleischmanns, Jake surprised me by stopping at this little cemetery off of Route 206. Now, you may think we're weird, but we both love exploring old cemeteries. It's hard to explain how strolling through a cemetery can be a recreation, but I think it goes beyond morbid curiosity...we love to look at how beautiful the old stones are, read the names of the people that were on this earth before us, and just enjoy the serenity of the quiet place. So we started our weekend with a stop at the Windfall Cemetery in Tompkins.

It's a very small and pretty cemetery surrounded by an old weathered stone wall and lush plant life.

And inhabited by many snails. 

After a pleasant drive through Delaware County, we checked into the River Run Bed and Breakfast, our home base for the weekend. Jake explores the sitting room below.

The charming dining area where we had a delicious breakfast each morning.

We decided that before we set out in the car again, we'd walk up and down Main Street to check out the sights of the town itself. Our first stop was a small museum of the history of Fleischmanns that held many curiosities and historical information.

We also stopped at a small art gallery and were introduced to the works of Alfredo Santos who made Fleischmanns his home for a time. His work and his story are very interesting; you should look it up. We also stopped in another small gallery showing the photography of Alan Powell. The whole area is pretty artsy, which of course Jake and I loved. We stopped in another small shop and bought some earrings to bring home for our daughter, and just walked around, checking out the sights.

We went back to the River Run to get some suggestions from Ben, the owner, on where we should go. He drew us a wonderful hand drawn map and gave us some great ideas on things to check out.

First stop: Union Grove Distillery in Arkville.

Jake ordered a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, which was vodka, strawberry sryup and rhubarb juice, and I ordered a Hot & Dirty. What's in a Hot & Dirty you ask? Jalapeno infused vodka, and pickle, olive and pepperoncini juice.

I don't know what I did with the map, so I don't remember exactly where this is, but there is a waterfall on private property that you can't visit, but you can see it from the road.

Then onto the Old School Baptist Church in Roxbury, and Vega Cemetery.

If it looks like an instrument, Jake will play it.

Driving through the town of Roxbury, we saw a sign for Kirkside Park, and I'm glad we stopped because it was so beautiful, and we had the place to ourselves!

Right next to the park was this amazing English Gothic style church, the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church.

Leaves are changing already...

After stopping at Roxbury Wine & Spirits for a couple of bottles of wine, we headed back for dinner at Oakley's Woodfired Oven and Grill for pizza and wings. Later that evening we enjoyed drinks on the porch. We played Scrabble late into the evening with a couple from Brooklyn and listened to music on the lovely wrap around porch. What a great first night!

It's been a month now, so of course I can't remember where this was either, but Jake and I took a nice mile long hike to view another waterfall after breakfast the next day.

Back to the River Run again for a quick break before an absolutely amazing lunch at Bebert's Condiments and our trip to the Town Tinker Tube Rental in Phoenicia.

I can't get over the beautiful stained glass.

Not shown is our tubing adventure down the Esopus River courtesy of the Town Tinker which was a Class II whitewater adventure, I must say! I did get thrown from my tube and I did think I was going to drown for a minute! But there was no false advertising, they are very honest about the rapids! I did enjoy the thrill overall! This statue looks on in disapproval at our wet shoes we left on the front lawn to dry after our trip down the river.

The we took a drive to the quiet town of Halcottsville to just walk around and see what there was to see, followed by a fantastic dinner at Goatie White's.

After another restful night, we said goodbye to our cozy little room and headed home. We were sad to go, and we left trying to figure out the next time we could come back!

And when we got home, we found that our daughter had done all the dishes! The perfect end to the perfect weekend!