My Weblog: It's Just Really Nice Here

As a connoisseur of great places to go, I feel compelled to write a bit about our trip to Hudson, NY a few weekends ago. Hudson is absolutely the bomb-diggity and we always have such a great time while we are there and our latest escape from the city was no exception.

The cool thing about Hudson is that it has a great small-town feeling for those of us wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of NYC, but still has some cosmopolitan aspects that save it from being a one-horse town. The main street is filled with antique shop after antique shop after antique shop, each specializing in different periods – with amazing art, furniture, clothing, and knick-knacks. Unfortunately for Rusel and I, it’s all a little bit out of our price range, but still so much fun to look and get ideas.

And once we’re all shopped out on Warren (the main street in town), the city boasts two of our favorite thrift stores – a great local Salvation Army and a Goodwill. For many of you who have coveted Rusel’s ‘N SYNC t-shirt (Krista!), this is where that little gem was purchased a few years ago.

There’s also a spattering of great galleries, in particular the John Davis Gallery.We always make a point of heading in there as soon as we arrive and their shows are usually interesting. The space is the best part, however. He has the main storefront, a basement and then a back building that used to be a mill or something like that but now houses even more art. I told Rusel that once we buy our house in Hudson, we will become friends with the gallery owner and he can hang some of Rusel’s stuff (if he’s not too big by then).

We always stay at the Country Squire Bed and Breakfast, with Paul at the helm. He’s a super sweet and nice guy and the rooms are impeccably decorated and always clean. It never fails that at breakfast in the morning, served family-style on a big, antique table in the dining room area, that we meet other interesting folks. Paul usually sits with the guests as well and tells them about things to do in town, the book that he is working on, or local gossip.

Once we’ve worn ourselves out in town (which, to be honest, takes a while because there's so much to see and do) and are itching for some green, we usually drive out into the lush countryside that surrounds the small town and go on a hike, or just drive around and take pictures (Rusel), or pick flowers (me). If we’re feeling ambitious, we cross the Hudson River, which lies to the west of town, and head up into the Catskill Mountains. So gorgeous!

The cool thing about Hudson, and the American Northeast in general, is that there is so much history everywhere. It’s fun to imagine all of the wealthy New York City socialites heading up to their Hudson River estates for the summer back in the day. Although the area has had its ups and downs economically, it is definitely experiencing an “up” time as a tourist destination. I particularly love that so many people have bought homes in Hudson and are restoring them…and of course, I have my eye on a few for when we hit it big.

Another cool thing I was able to learn about before we went up was this amazing blog about Hudson: The 12534. (Thanks, John!) Rusel and I usually roll into town without a plan and not really knowing what events are going on, so it’s good to have a place to go to find out what is happening. The town is so vibrant and filled with artists, ex-city people, longtime residents….just a cool mix of my sort of peeps.

Our trip was over way too soon and back to the city we drove, which is only about two hours depending on traffic and depending on whether or not you get an emergency phone call from work and need to speed home and get pulled over for a ticket (Rusel). Hey, I thought that there were no emergencies in advertising?

Regardless, we were pretty much on our way home anyway so it wasn’t too big of a deal and the officer was pretty nice as he wrote out the ticket. If you don’t have a car, a train goes there directly if you live in New York City. It's also a short hike from Boston as well. Highly recommended to head up to Hudson, although in some ways we feel as if it is our little secret….so don’t tell too many people, okay?