Greetings, all.
We are back from Highland (it's a small town in Ulster County in upstate New York about an hour 20 from Manhattan). We had a very nice time. It was simple and relaxing and we had a very happy time. We took the train from Grand Central and arrived at Poughkeepsie around 12:30. We went with our (Anthony's) cousin to the house. It's a very nice place with three bedrooms and a new kitchen and lots and lots of open space. The property is very rocky (Michael is doing some landscaping to even out the area) but beautiful. After lunch some of us went on a hike. There are a few pictures but I don't have them. If/when I get them I will post one or two. It was a two and a half mile walk through wooded area ending up at the Hudson River. We sat at the river and talked and looked at the sailboats and relaxed. Then we walked back to the car and drove home. Anthony had just woken up from his 2 hour nap as we arrived back at the house. I guess he needed the sleep after the long week on Long Island.
We had a marvelous dinner of steak, burgers, potato salad and a wonderful cucumber salad. We ended the meal with a Snickers Cheese Cake and fresh fruit to make it seem less decadent. We then played games while the three younger ones (one is 10, another is 15 and another is 17) went downstairs to watch Spy Kids 2.
I was worn out by 10:30. Walking that way is completely different from walking in New York City on level ground and going up and down stairs. I fell into bed and slept through until 8am! I'm usually up by 6:15 but it felt great to sleep in.
We had planned on going to the Ulster County Fair today but it rained all day (of course when we got in the car to return to the city it stopped raining) so we just had breakfast and lunch and continued our relaxing day talking and laughing and having a great time.
One set of guests left around 1:30 and we left around 2:30. Traffic was heavy but not terrible and we were home by 5pm.
I have to go to work tomorrow but I have had a wonderful day and a half weekend so I'm ready for the next five days.