Mohonk—Day 1

Okay, peeps.

Surprise! (*Visualize my jazz hands.)

The hubby and I are away on a vacay—sans kiddos!

(*Pause for a moment of reflection as this amazeballsness—yup, it’s a word—sinks in.)

So...

1. I lurv my kiddos.

2. Like crazy.

3. And for nearly six years, we didn’t leave them once for a vacay.

4. And then, last year, for our 15th wedding anniversary, we escaped to Pebble Beach, and it was gorgeous and surreal and wonderful (both the location, and having some time to explore, just the two of us.)

5. So here we are, nearly a year later, doing it again.

:)

I was sooooo harried leading up to our departure yesterday, and sooooo nervous and anxious that something was going to foil it that I didn’t post beforehand.

But now, we’re here, and you’re in on our adventure!

So, heeeeeeere’s where we are!

That is an actual picture I took today, from our actual hike, on our actual vacay away (redundant?), and it’s been such a stunning, adventurous day, that I’m about to post a gazillion-billion pics.

But first—two things.

1. So many people have asked where the heck this is and how the heck we decided to go here. So, lemme tell ya.

It’s a privately owned, 149-year-old Victorian mountain home (now resort) in the Hudson River Valley of New York.

And I first learned of this place when I read a book that was inspired by the author’s visit here. And then, just a few short weeks after I read the book, the hubby got a random online link with a handful of undiscovered, amazing vacation locations, and this was one of them.

Though I don’t think it’s so undiscovered, since it’s received a bunch of awards from Condé Nast and Travel + Leisure, like #1 Resort and Spa in the United States.

I mean...sold!

2. But.

Just so things don’t all scream easy-peasy-perfection, lemme just be real for a second.

The arrival here was not so great.

Largely because I came down with what I would have assumed was the flu—if I hadn’t received a flu shot—a mere 18 hours before our flight out.

Oye.

So—fever, chills, body aches, crazy sore throat and congestion was not an ideal way to kick things off, and I was pretty much whining whyyyyy me, and whyyyyyy now?!

But.

I dosed myself up, powered through (pretty foggy-brained for our flights. And I even shrugged it off when the first flight was delayed in departing upon landing (lightning) and we had to full-on Home Alone it (translation: run like maniacs through the airport) from one end of the longest terminal in the U.S. (seriously, Detroit) and through two others, in order to make it onto our second flight (wheezing and sweating).

And I even shrugged off our rental car snafu, upon our destination arrival, when the SUV smelled like an ash tray and we had to haul luggage back and forth until we found a happy-smelling car.

But the final straw was arriving at the mountain house in the dark (therefore, without majestic, sweeping views) and heading to our underwhelming hotel room, just a couple doors down from a lively (translation: loud) dining hall, without a TV in it, full of doilies and flowered wallpaper, thinking: did we make a massive mistake?? Ugly truth: I was picturing cabin/woodsy chic, not...my grandmother’s spare bedroom, which is what we got.

I mean, trips ain’t cheap.

And time away is hard.

So we were laughing and panicking a bit last night.

Until we woke up this morning to the unparalleled gorgeousness of this area, and learned many things:

1. The rooms don’t matter, because you come here for the environment (meaning: the outdoor environment). I mean, hands down breathtaking.

2. We switched to a better, cozy, room this evening, six stories up, with a beautiful lake view, no flowers on the walls, and a fireplace.

3. We got a TV (yup, they have ‘em, and we deserved one after our outdoorsy day).

4. The food is amazing. I mean...tons of local and scrumptiousness.

So. Panic passed and the day was incredible.

We spent it doing all sorts of things we can’t do with young kiddos. A three-mile, guided, brisk, mountain hike. A four-mile, guided mountain bike trek (mountain biking!), and a couple more miles of trail wandering, with oddles of meals thrown in.

It was amazing. And our muscles are weary. But all that activity meant we got to eat about 76 desserts today, so, yay!

And now, the caveat that I will not be taking a ton more time on the trip to post words, but I adore pics on vacations (and the hubby does, too), so enjoy these and hopefully more as we explore so more!

:)