Sometimes you just need to take a day off from everything. I don’t do this nearly as often as I should, but whenever I do, I find it so fulfilling.
Husband and I recently celebrated our third wedding anniversary, and we have a tradition of taking the day off work to spend together (as opposed to spending it separately, with me in hours of commuter traffic and him behind a desk for 9 hours straight). Our first anniversary, we spent half the day moving dirt from the back garden to the patio area we were building up. Our second anniversary, we bought patio furniture. This year, we were determined to step it up a little, so we decided to take a daycation – go on a day trip somewhere nearby that makes us feel like we’re “away,” but not so far away that we dread the drive home when we have work the next day.
We decided on Cold Spring, NY, which is where we got engaged. Our favorite ice cream place, Moo Moo’s Creamery, is there, and while that alone could be reason enough for us to visit Cold Spring, the rest of the town is pretty darn cute. It has lots of antique shops, stores, cafes and restaurants, and one of the best views of the Hudson River, if you ask my opinion.
We went up in the late morning and got there around lunchtime, so we parked and decided to eat at Hudson Hil’s Café, a farm-to-table place that is always packed when we try to go there on weekends. We were able to snag a seat outside (love eating al fresco!) and watch the town go by as we had a nice, relaxing lunch. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the food we ordered; I was too busy scarfing it down. Everything on the menu at this place sounded amazing – especially their breakfast menu, which is served all day. I was totally tempted to get something breakfast-y when we arrived, but since we had had a hearty French toast breakfast at home, I went with the salmon BLT. It was fresh and delicious, and my husband ordered the fish tacos, which were messy but oh-so-good. We saw a scrumptious-looking selection of pies in the case inside, but we declined to try some because we were saving room for ice cream later in the day.
After lunch, we wandered up and down the Main Street, poking our heads into the antique shops and other little stores that were open. A lot of chic (and perhaps slightly overpriced) boutiques have popped up there in the past few years, so we mostly did a lot of window shopping. However, I did score a great find in one antique shop. I’ve been looking for a simple vase to put fresh and/or flake blooms in, and this one is pretty close to one I’ve been eyeing up on Pinterest.
Eventually, we had wandered around long enough to be ready for ice cream. (Though, really, I could have eaten ice cream immediately after lunch. The words “I’m so full” rarely have lasting meaning with me.) We meandered down to Moo Moo’s and had our mountains of ice cream – again, I forgot to take pics because we got a seat on a bench in full sun, and the ice cream was melting fast. I had peanut butter ice cream and shortbread cookie ice cream, and my husband had fig and vanilla Thin Mint (zomg, so good!). We also discovered a park right near the water, and we spent some time exploring that as well. It had some awesome views of the Hudson River, which is basically my favorite river of all time. (Can you have a favorite river? Is that a thing? Oh well. I do. Just like my favorite lake is Serpentine Lake in London. Apparently, I have a strong attraction to bodies of water.)
Once we were home, I puttered around the garden and cut some fresh lilacs for my new vase. Turns out that this little vase looks good just about anywhere in my house – even next to Husband’s Nintendo DS case.
And that was our daycation. It was only a few hours, but it seriously felt like we had spent weeks away. We came home happily tired and full of food and love, and it was completely rejuvenating. My brain is constantly on overdrive these days as I try to revise my novel, work on submissions to agents, work on the blog – and manage a full-time job and whatever else life throws at us. Which, actually, was a lot around that time. It was so nice to be able to not think about anything else for a little while but what was immediately in front of me – nice husband, food, scenery, and more food.
What are some of your favorite daycation places to visit?
Stay tuned for the decadent breakfast we had that morning — Anniversary French Toast!
