brianwood

Got back early this AM from the NYC/Ulster Country trip.

Its always so nice to be back in the city, especially when its only for a few days and I rush around, hitting all the food spots, snapping a few rolls of photo ref and meeting up with people for drinks. Wise freelancer that I am, I arranged a meeting while I was in town in order to write the entire trip off on my taxes. Stayed in Williamsburg for the first couple days, and boarded Amtrak for the trip up the Hudson to the Rhinecliff-Kingston station.

I love Amtrak. I seriously do. Train travel in general, I guess, and this route is one of the best ever. The tracks are literally laid on the banks of the river, and if you sit on the left hand side, its an hour and forty mins of great scenery the entire way up. Very relaxing, kicking back in the seat with a book.

We borrowed a friend's car and spent the next three days driving all over and around Rhinebeck, New Platz, Kingston, Woodstock, High Falls, Hurley, Rosendale, and Saugerties.

Checking out a house for rent for laughs:



I got a good feeling about Saugerties, despite the fact we literally missed a shooting by about 3 minutes. It's got excellent used book stores, which is a sort of benchmark test I use to determine how well I like a town. The influence of city people and tourists is pretty clear everywhere we went, from high priced restaurants to high rents and B&B costs to weird little boutiques that fit in more in the West Village than a rinky dink little upstate town. But this was just a trip for fun, not to decide about relocation. I've spent time in this area when I was much younger, and I just felt I needed to reacquaint myself with it.

Yesterday had us waking up in Rosendale to 8 inches of snow, driving to Rhinecliff, getting on Amtrak to Penn Station, then the A train to JFK, then 7 hours to Oakland, then a cab back home in the wee hours. I imagine it'll be a few days before I fully readjust.

Tonight's Ted Leo at GAMH.

More pictures when I get the Holga roll developed.