A departure from my usual food content, this post highlights some of the beautiful sights from a recent week spent in the Catskills.
For the last four summers, we (my mom, step-mom, step-sibling, brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, fiancé and I) have had a family tradition of renting a big house somewhere and spending a week’s vacation. These trips to Provincetown, Rhode Island, and the Adirondacks are our trips from previous summers, and this summer we chose a house in Saugerties, NY, right on the border of the beautiful Catskills mountains. So while this post really has nothing to do with food, I couldn’t help but share some of the incredible sights we saw, and maybe inspire someone else to take a trip to this gorgeous region of New York State.
SAUGERTIES LIGHTHOUSE
The Saugerties Lighthouse sits at the mouth of the Esopus creek where it meets the Hudson river. It was constructed in 1869, and today stands as a historic site, museum, and a bed and breakfast (where I definitely want to stay at some point). While the red brick lighthouse is a beautiful sight by itself, I think my favorite part of visiting this lighthouse was the nature trail that brings you there. The trail is a mix of boardwalk-style walkways, hiking trails, and beach-front trails. It serves as a nature preserve for some of the species indigenous to the Hudson Valley region. You cannot access it at hightide tide, as it runs through the marshes and wetlands that border the Hudson, but if you catch it at mid-or-low tide, it is a truly beautiful little walk.
KAATERSKILL FALLS
Kaaterskill Falls is considered to be the tallest waterfall in New York State, and it’s one of the most iconic sites in the Catskills. Thomas Cole, of the famous Hudson River School of Art, immortalized the falls in one of his most famous paintings. Washington Irving (writer of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and headless horseman fame) chose the forest around the falls as the site for Rip Van Winkle’s long sleep. And there are countless legends surrounding the falls, from those of the Catskills gnomes (when you hear thunder in the Catskills, that’s them bowling at the falls) to indigenous Mohican legends of the falls being the resting place of the creator.
There’s definitely something magical about Kaaterskill falls, and when you experience them for yourself you can see why they’ve been immortalized so often. You can make the Kaaterskill falls hike as easy or as hard as you like. There are dozens of trails there, and an easy one brings you from the parking lot to a lookout where you can see the falls from high above. For those who are willing, you can also make the trek down to the falls themselves, and while not especially hard, this trek is a test of endurance on the way up (there are a lot of stairs). There are also plenty of other trails through beautiful forests, and even camping.
OPUS 40
Opus 40 is the creation of sculptor Harvey Fite, and it sits on 63-acre piece of land that encompasses meadow, forest, and bluestone quarry. But the main attraction at Opus 40 is a 6.5 acre sculpture that Fite created by hand stacking pieces of bluestone. This huge sculpture is both an homage to the nature that surrounds it as well as a testament to the capability of mankind. It’s the perfect place to spend a morning or afternoon (or even bring a picnic lunch), reveling in the beauty of both the natural world and the human mind and ingenuity.
These were just a few of the things we did on our week-long trip to the Catskills. We also ate some incredible meals, one at Annarella Ristorante and one at the restaurant in Hotel Kinsley in Kingston. And our week culminated in my dad’s traditional pizza party at his house. While I didn’t take any pictures there this year, you can see some of my previous posts about this pizza party here and here. And since this is a food blog, I’m linking below to a few of our favorite pizza recipes that are staples of this party!
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