Time to get out of Dodge and I decided to take a short weekend adventure on Route 28 through the Catskills with the Zirkel the World (www.zirkeltheworld.com).
So we left the city about 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and headed off to Route 28 to visit Phoenicia, Margaretville, Andes and Roxbury (with an overnight in Roxbury-more about that later) and then on Sunday left Roxbury before lunch and went ahead to Woodstock, New Paltz and then back to the city early Sunday evening.
So our first stop on Route 28 through the Catskills was Phoenicia.
Yup, that’s Phoenicia.
It’s a very peaceful three block town with lots of Tube Rental places which looks like a fun thing to do when the weather gets warm but not quite yet!
Then after about an hour in Phoenicia it was time to get back on Route 28 and head to Arkville for breakfast at Jack’s.
Jack’s was a great roadside stop and their cinnamon muffin was awesome!!!
Now back on Route 28 to Margaretville…
Margaretville is a lovely, lovely, peaceful town but when we got there it began to rain gently and I headed for a building for some refuge that turned out to house The Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce (www.centralcatskills.com) headed by the very lovely Carol O’Beirne, it Executive Director. I learned a lot of things about Margaretville from Carol and was particularly impressed by the amount of networking available to Margaretville residents and the development of the arts both by professionals and students as well!
Way to go, Margaretville!!!
And now you guessed it! Back on to Route 28 and onto Andes!
But, by the time we got to Andes, the rain was so torrential that we all decided to drive through Andes and check out the town by “car”LOL!
And so that’s what we did and then we got back on 28 to what was my favorite place which was really, really nice and that was the town of Roxbury.
Roxbury is also where we spent the night at an unbelievably unique type of motel(where each room has a different theme!) and it was called The Roxbury Motel (www.theroxburymotel.com)
So let’s check out the place and take a walk to Room 5 where I stayed the night.
Yup, when I walked in, I thought OMG, where am I?SoLOL It definitely was a new visual experience for me but it was fun nonetheless!
Well, that evening for dinner we went to Peekamoose, a restaurant and tap room in Big Indian, New York-yup-you guess it-right on Route 28.
Peekamoose was like a 5 Star, very sophisticated Girl Scout looking restaurant and they even had a roaring fire outside where they provided marshmallows and sticks to roast them. The meal and the service were fabulous and I wound up having a 12 ingredient salad, grilled squid and homemade vanilla ice-cream A great meal to end a lovely day!
Next morning we hung out at the motel which also offered full spa services and then hit the road and headed for the town of Woodstock.
Now, I thought that the town of Woodstock was where the original famous Woodstock Music Festival took place but it wasn’t and I finally got my history straight!
Michael Lang who was the organizer and promoter of The Woodstock Festival had all the tickets printed up to have this iconic music festival held in town, but at the last minute the town board said “No” to the festival.
Well someone had an uncle who had a farm in Beth-El, New York called The Yasgur Farm and that is where the festival was held.
But Woodstock, the town is really lovely. It kind of reminds me of Sag Harbor, New York where you have many quaint shops, restaurants and art galleries but all with that 60’s look and feel.
And so now back on Route 28 to our last town which is New Paltz, home of The State University at New Paltz.
I found New Paltz to be a typical type of college town with lots of young kids, easy and price friendly places to eat and lot of what I like to call “trinket” shops!
Well, all good things come to an end it was time to get back on Route 28 and head towards the city.
So we got back about 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening and it was a perfect 48 hour adventure.
So thanks Theresa Zirkel of Zirkel the World for making it such a fun 48 hours on Route 28!
