Wilderness!

Although I am certainly getting to like New York more and more as time goes by and finally starting to get a feel for things, I still think you can only have so much concrete, so many taxi horns, so many breaths of bus exhaust before you really can use an escape. A chance to remember what quiet sounds like, what clean air smells like, what fresh, cool creek water feels like on your bare feet.

This weekend my lovely friend Louisa provided me with such an opportunity. Little did I know, small town USA, with its cute little houses and little tiny shops was just a short train ride away.

We boarded New Jersey transit (though we ended up in New York) from Penn Station early Sunday morning and headed off on our hiking outdoors adventure. Forty five minutes later or so we got off in Sloatsburg, one stop past Suffern for all you Sex and The City fans, and headed on our way. A short walk through town and we found our trail and headed off into the woods.





We spent the day hiking through Harriman State Park, which was beautiful! We hiked along this lovely little stream that reminded me a lot of Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis. and then made our way to a huge lake. I was almost tempted to go for a swim, but didn't quite take the plunge.



We had a little picnic by the lake and then made our way back to the train station, stopping along the way for a much deserved ice cream and nice cold beer. Back in the city by about 6:30, still not believing how different things are just a train ride away!