The day started off with me deciding to go for a run on the boardwalk - I ran it end-to-end in 39:58. A personal best! After a shower, we headed out, gassed up the Jetta, and headed northward to NJ.
A short 1 hour and 40 minutes later, we pulled up to an idyllic spot, the Apple Valley Inn (www.applevalleyinn.com). We were greeted by the owners of the inn, Lauren and Leigh, and were immediately shown to our room, which was gorgeous and had its own fully functional fireplace!
We also were informed that we were the only guests that night, so we had the whole of the house to ourselves. The house is incredible - built in 1831 (but newly renovated), has a bunch of rooms, including a lounge to relax in, and (of course) the beautiful dining room.
After dropping our stuff off at the room, we headed out to explore the surrounding area. The inn actually is on the border of Northern NJ and NY State - so we headed up back into NY. We went through a lovely town called Warwick and stopped for lunch.
After lunch and a walk around town, we headed to an artsy village called Sugar Loaf. We bought a few things here and headed back towards the inn.
On the way back, we saw the sign for the Applachian Trail...so we decided to stop and go for a walk.
After a 2.5 mile walk, my waddling wifey had just about enough...so we headed back to the inn to relax for a bit, then went out for dinner - at a pub in Warwick. They were super nice and even gave Angela a Mother's(-to-be) Day Rose!
After dinner, we had a little walk around the beautiful property surrounding the inn. After 10 minutes of that, I think Angela (and baby) could walk no longer, so we headed back to the room to settle in and watch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy (best show on TV!) and drifted to sleep.
We woke up this morning to the smell of bacon cooking. I cannot describe to you how GOOD that was! We went in to breakfast - OJ, strawberries, fresh homemade banana nut pancakes, bacon, banana muffins and lemon-poppy cake. I swear to you, it was the best breakfast I have ever eaten (Angela agrees heartily!). It was EXTREMELY hard for me to decline a second helping, even though it was offered several times - I am still around 20 lbs from my goal after all!! Before we left, we chatted to Lauren and Leigh about the area, being vets, and their cat Calvin. Our picture was taken (below), and we were VERY sad to leave. It felt like we had made friends as well as had a relaxing day away from home.
So, despite getting stuck at the George Washington Bridge for an hour in traffic, it was still an incredible day away. We fell in love with the area - there were farms (including cows, sheep, alpacas and horses that came right up to the roadside), hills, wineries and tiny villages everywhere. It felt like the UK...felt like home. All being well, we hope to move up there in the next few years or so. In the meantime, however, we shall return to the inn when we can...hopefully sooner rather than later!
BONUS PHOTO - We are now doing belly-shots every 2 weeks instead of every 4...so here is the 30 week belly-shot!:
1 comment:
Picturesque!
I think we were stuck on the GW Bridge at the same time as you, but headed in the opposite direction.
Nice belly :)
Post a Comment