Travel and art seem to go hand in hand, so today I share two very different works, in two very different places, that trigger very different emotions. Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Calais commemorates the leaders of Calais who volunteered to be executed to spare the city of Calais during the 100 Years War between England…
Category: New York State
A Mind-Altering Mansion Crawl
No matter how many houses of the rich and famous I visit (with the George Eastman house in Rochester, N.Y. probably being my favorite), I still feel a little strange traipsing through someone else’s home, no matter how long ago it was abandoned or ‘donated’ to a historical society. Do I really need to know…
Note from the Brawny Sherpa: A Visit to the Bedford Oak
I grew up in a place called Bedford, N.Y. It’s a small town with old schoolhouses, old churches, old historical halls, old courthouses, even a grazing field for swine and cows. But the best thing about this town is the Bedford oak. The tree dates back to the 1500s. There are many paintings and pictures…
Dining Before the Revolution in North Salem
There’s just something alluring about having dinner in a low-ceilinged dining room with peanut shells on the floor and a fireplace and ancient-looking wooden beams holding everything in place and rippled views from the antique glass windows. That this place—Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish in North Salem, N.Y.—has good food, too, is just a bonus….
How We Want Woodstock
Watching Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2012), I remember how I’d like my ideal life to be, full of Jane Fonda as a hip grandmother, happily cluttered houses fostering free-range chickens, and women with whom to howl at the moon whenever it happens to be full. I wonder whether I’d be as uptight as Catherine Keener…
Tis the Season for Reflection
Another year, not enough travel! I’d hit the road all the time if my checkbook would let me. But I am grateful for all of the places I have been so far and to have goals about where I want to go in the future. For the present, I am grateful to be able to…
Are Witch Hunts Good for Tourism?
The Bashful Adventurer visits destinations historically associated with witches and witch hunts. Have they been good for business?
Visiting Mount Kisco’s Invisible Church
It’s easy to cruise right past the tiny little cemetery at the corner of St. Marks Place and Main Street in Mount Kisco without noticing the Revolutionary War-era grave markers. Situated just across and down a bit from Friendly’s at the corner by Conte’s Fish Market, on the way to the bagel store and T.J….
An Unlikely Way to Spend a Weekend: A Visit to Horse Country
Attending a horse show at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, N.Y.
If Only All Truck Stops Were as Good for You as Bedford’s
Continuing my attempts to time travel, I stopped by Truck in Bedford Village, N.Y. on a hot, humid, too-bright-to-be-experienced-outside Sunday afternoon. Honestly, I wasn’t there for the healthful food—and there is plenty of that—but for the Mexican Cokes, margaritas, and air-conditioning. That there were locally grown veggies in my enchilada made it all the better….