A Day at Bear Mountain

On a recent weekend, Josh had one day off of work, and since one day isn't long enough to do anything too crazy, we thought we would go out somewhere and go for a hike.  As the day approached though, the forecast said it was going to be in the mid 90s on that day.  Maybe I'm a wuss but thats just too hot to hike in my opinion.  So we revamped our plans and decided to go to Bear Mountain.

Bear Mountain State Park is on the Hudson River, a surprisingly short distance from Manhattan and Jersey City.  It took us about 45 minutes to get there.There is hiking, fishing, paddle boating, swimming and even a museum and zoo.  On the outskirts of the park are Fort Montgomery and Iona Bird Sanctuary.  This is the view of the Hudson and Sanctuary and Fort (bottom photo) on the way up to the Park.  Breathtaking.

When we arrived, we were shocked at the amount of vehicles.  We actually had to walk about 20 minutes to even get to the main part of the park because we had to park so far away.  We noticed a lot of busses and a large population of Latinos.  I assumed it was because it was Puerto Rico Day but apparently inner city people are bussed out to get out of the city every Saturday.  It looked like a great time, with big picnics and pot lucks, music and even a church service in Spanish.  We headed in to the Bear Mountain Inn, a massive and beautiful building with guest rooms and I think the largest restaurant area I have ever seen.  We decided to grab brunch and had no idea what we were in for.  

The brunch buffet was one huge room just full of pretty much every food haha.  It even had ice sculptures.  There was normal brunch food; bacon, sausage, potatoes, scrambled eggs, donuts, pastries, fruit as well as a waffle bar and omelette bar.  Then there was a whole seafood section with Oysters and shrimp.  there was a station with prime rib and a ham and some more buffet bar with a variety of chicken, fish, beef and potato dishes and then of course a dessert station with Canollis, carrot cake, cheese cake, and cream puffs to name a few.  Not only was this buffet massive, everything was delicious and hot and cooked perfectly.  I think I had 4 plates!

After we stuffed ourselves to the gills, we thought it would be a good idea to go back out in the heat and take a walk.  The path around the lake is actually paved and very nice.  We didn't have to go very far and we ran out of people and it was lovely and quiet.  The lake is absolutely gorgeous.  With a treed mountain, lots of rocks and calm water.

There is a huge field as well that has a carousel and was filled with kids playing al sorts of different sports, this is such a great place for families to spend the afternoon.

And the drive home isn't bad either!  Bear Mountain is a great place and quite a little gem right outside the city.  I would say though that if you can go on a week day or a bit early or late in the season it might not be so crazy.

Fab Friday Faves 9.4.15

Happy long weekend Friday chicas! For the first time in quite a while I am excited about a long weekend because Josh might have more than one day off on a long weekend for the first time in forever!  Josh's parents Steph and Steve are coming on Saturday for a few days so I will have some much needed company as well.  We have a few fun things planned and it is always nice to see family.  Anyway, I hope you all have a great long weekend and we will see you next week!

 1. Last Friday, I went to get a tattoo.  I hadn't really told anyone (other than Josh and Miranda) that I was going but I was really excited.  I had been planning on getting a little tribute to my Jinxer for a long time and it was finally time.  I went to Village Tattoo NYC on Bleeker Street (pretty cool to say I got a tattoo on Bleeker Street too) after quite a bit of research and seeing that almost all of there reviews were raving 5 stars.  Turns out they were super amazing and friendly.  My tattoo is small and actually one of the simplest ones Jimmy had ever done, but I absolutely love it!  If you are wondering it is on the outside of my left knee.

2. Last weekend Josh and I drove up to the Catskills to go camping.  The area is breathtaking and wasn't even crazy busy.  We found a spot to camp right on the Esopus River on the outskirts of Phoenicia, NY in the Phoenicia Black Bear Campground.  We tented out, did some hiking and just enjoyed some nature and sitting by the fire.  Sunday we drove into Woodstock and wandered around there for a bit.  Such a fun little town!

3. My baby brother started his first day of grade 11 this week.  It totally blows my mind that he is soon going to be 17 years old. Isn't he handsome?  He also got some ballin' new rims and tires on his truck last week.

4. While in Woodstock, NY we stopped in at Woodstock Cupcakes voted the best cupcakes in the country and they were.  I got the The Johnny Winter- vanilla coconut cake topped with coconut cream cheese frosting and lots of coconut.  Josh got the Joe Cocker- vanilla buttermilk cake topped with caramel buttercream frosting a drizzle of caramel and a sprinkle of sea salt.  AMAZING.  We also brought home one of their Pretzel Hippie Chipper Sandwich Cookie, voted the Food Networks best cookie in the country made of chocolate chip cookies with a pretzel twist sandwiched with a peanut butter truffle filling.  We waited a day to eat this and I really wasn't expecting it to be SO UNBELIEVABLE.

5. I ordered some Sperry's last week, which I love and have wanted for ages.  I got them from 6pm.com, one of my favorite websites out there.  I got them for $31 and they are regular $78.  Unfortunately, when I first got them they had sent the wrong color so I called and they paid the return shipping and had me my correct pair in not even two full days.  They are so comfy, I love them!



Today I'm linking up with:

Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife
Lauren @ Style Elixir
Tif @ Bright on a Budget
Christina @ Carolina Charm
Amy @ {The Farmer's Wife}

Across the Brooklyn Bridge

On what had then been the hottest day of the summer so far, I decided to go and take a tour of the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo with Free Tours By Foot, a great tour company that really is free and you pay what you think the guide deserves.  Right up my cheapness alley!  The tour started in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and I was already sweating my butt off when I got there so I knew I was in for it!

There were about 20 people in my group, from all over the world, once everybody was herded up we got going with our NYC native tour guide Dante. It was quite obvious he knew every part of the city like the back of his hand.  This is the view from the start of the Bridge.  

This is One Beekman Tower, a 76 story residential apartment building.

Walking across the bridge.  Seriously it was so hot I was sure I might die.

The plaque on the Bridge support telling when it was built, etc.  (It was completed in 1883 by the way).  It was built mostly by immigrant workers that were forced to go down under the water to use pickaxes to break the bedrock.  Many of the men got really sick from the Bends.

Me, amazing somehow looking like I'm not sweating my ass off.

A view of the Manhattan Bridge from the Brooklyn Bridge.  The Brooklyn Bridge is 5, 989 feet long and 277 feet high.  It is made of Granite, Limestone and Rosendale Cement.  The wires that you see each have about 5000 hair width wires inside those as well.

*Fun Fact* Manhattan rented out the vault under the Manhattan anchorage to fund the construction of the bridge.  One of these vaults was used to store wine because of its perfect temperature.

Love Locks on the Bridge.  These have all recently been cut off so that the bridge doesn't fall down. It is actually illegal to do this in NYC if any of you reading this think its a good idea.

The Bridge cost 15.5 million dollars to construct which is about 380 million in todays money.  27 people died during the construction and many more were injured or got sicknesses from building it.

I'm sure everyone has seen the bridge in pop culture, but some more famous appearances were in I am Legend, Gangs of New York, Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and Godzilla.

After a boiling eternity we made it across the Bridge.  We started walking down towards Brooklyn Heights, One of Brooklyn's most affluent and historical neighborhoods. It was here in 1776 that George Washington smuggled his defeated troops across the river saving the nation from British conquer.

Our first historic stop was Plymouth Church built in 1849.  It was known as the "Grand Central" of the Underground Railway because of the number of runaway slaves that it sheltered.

This is a statue of Henry Ward Beecher, a world famous abolitionist preacher that preached here.  That is Lincoln in the background since he abolished slavery and actually came to hear Beecher preach.

We continued walking and came across a few famous places.  This house was built in 1825 and recently sold for 10.5 million dollars.  We also walked by the home where Truman Capote lived while he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's.  It recently sold for 12 million. 

The house at the end of this street "Cranberry Street" is where scenes from the movie Moonstruck were filmed.

This is 24 Middaugh St., was built in 1824 and is an example of what most of the houses in Brooklyn heights looked like at that time.

This building is the NY State Supreme court.  Pretty unassuming in a residential area.

Walking down to the Brooklyn Promenade you can see already the amazing views.  Too bad there is so much construction underneath that make it crazy loud!

A view of Lady Liberty on the muggy, hazy day.

Of course if you didn't know, the Jehovah's Witnesses have their headquarters here and it is also where "The Watchtower" is printed.  It is one of the largest buildings in America.

We then made our way back over to the Bridge area to explore.  The area has beautiful cobblestone streets and used to be very industrial.  All the old buildings are being converted into community arts centers or retail properties.

One of my favorite places for photos in Manhattan.  Because the day was so hazy it is hard to tell but the Empire State building lines up perfectly in the anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge.

We explored DUMBO a bit and walked along the waterfront under the bridge.  Passed the carousel and the cray little house made of different colored glass.  I know it is an art installation but I have never actually stopped to look at what it is.

The tour was about three hours long and I learned a lot.  You have to understand that i actually did this tour almost three months ago so some things have slipped my mind haha.  This was our tour group.  

After the tour I needed to cool down so I stopped at the famous Shake Shack (on the same street as the most famous pizza place in NYC Grimaldis) for a burger, fries and a beer.  I am not sure what it is about Shake Shack burgers but they are the most delicious fast food type burger ever.

Then I was on my way home.  I got on the train at High Street this time... and made it home.  Next time I will wait for a cool day but I do highly recommend the Free Walking Tours!  I think it makes the guides really put some effort in to their work!