Finally made it to Hudson NY!! I was somewhat disappointed. The center of town has cute shops/galleries/restaurants mixed with boarded up spaces that are hopefully being restored. Lots of potential but not there yet. 2 or 3 blocks off the main street the housesare in bad shape, but 2 or 3 blocks the other way they are beautiful and well maintained….I hate that! Interesting fact is that we say a building named Etsy (same font of Etsy logo and all) peeked inthe window –building was closed- and did see ‘crafty things’ I wonder if this is their headquarter…that would be so cool. This town looked just a little better than Beacon but to me Beacon has a much better main street, better taken care of it seems.
Great place to eat Breakfast/lunch – from farm to table- is Grazin – only serves breakfast on the weekend…all organic and you can taste the freshness!
Tivoli – was a cute village If it was up to me I would move there in ajiffy. But we have the commute to consider, I really think is longer than what everyone is saying…definitely want to go back and check out the real estate here.
Red Hook/Poet’s Walk- didn’t have to see the center of Red Hook but I didn’t want to miss Poet’s Walk and take a break from driving all day long! how lovely! I wishI could have a house to wake up to that view! And the little guy loved listening to the birds and picking up fuzzy caterpillars we found along the way…Magnificent, will visit again.
Rhinebeck – Ideal! It was busy on a Saturday. The downtown is well take care of. The houses near downtown are all so beautiful and withcharacter. There is an apartment complexthat is walkable to town and looks very well kept. Ate at Matchbox- the owner Sam was so welcoming, definitely has his sales pitch spot on! He will tell you he’s seen you before then go on talking about his bakery in NY blah blah blah, very entertaining… but the food was great, his red velvet is supposedly Oprah’s favorite we were tempted to try it but Hubby has bad memories of red velvet sowent for a choco-chip cookie sandwich with choco in the middle and dipped in choco YUMMERS! Soup was great and hubs had a Hot dog, onion rings and thelittle guy had handmade potato chips and mac n cheese- very good food indeed! Tasted fresh. Sam raved about the ‘only coffeehe seels at his shop’ not that great, Bustelo kicks its butt anytime ( from a espresso hard core coffee drinker’s view). Again, would really love to get an honest opinion on the commute, it just seems like it would he horrendous to do even if its 10x a month. But definitely a beautiful charming town, well maintain will be researching on real estate.
Stayed in an Inn called Le Chambord in Hopewell Junction- DON’T STAY THERE! Superold and run down, free breakfast was cold meat/cheese cereal and ‘fressh’(frozen and rebaked) breads..Not worth it unless you are desperate like we were for just a one night stay. Staff was friendly though.
Newburgh (city vs. Town)- City of Newburgh – SCARY!!! How sad it has the best views of the rivers I have seen on our trip. I wouldnever ever think about moving here. My friend lives about 10 min away in the Town of Newburgh by a golf course, it isday and night but the ugly part is too close to comfort, plus I have to think of the schools/opportunities there will be for my little guy. Wanted to visit the Brewery though but it opened at 12 and we were there early in theam. Went to an apple picking farm, what a fun time we had. But the city of Newburgh really scared the hibijibies out of us. If we had cash money available would deftinely take advantage of the restoration going on and purchase a few brownstones and restore but cant do that right now, we are trying to get the heck out of NJ!
Washingtonville – didn’t see much but went to the Brotherhood winery for wine tasting, great stuff!! But its commercialize, I like my small family ownedno gimmick wineries not your mass produced science project wine J but got me some none the less, the Port (18%alchohol!!) and a Riesling that is supposed to be the ONLY American wine at theWhite House. Not bad at all.
Nyack – I didn’t have this on the list but the hubs suggested we check itout. The houses look very nice, thedowntown was very lively – a little more busy than Rhinebeck and for my taste. And you can sense the NY rush/fast paceattitude in people. But might look into this place more because the commute to thecity might be better for the hubs. Anyone has suggestions, please send my way. Maybe they have farm areas we can see, willdo more research on this one.
Oh we also visited Bronxville, beautiful place but a bit snobbish for my tasteI think. If I had 5 million dollars I would buy a house on ‘top of the hill’. We got lost there and that’s where the 0.05% lives
There were are no visible street names to the narrow 1 way 1 car streets so only the secluded and privilege that lives there knows how to get around.
That’s it for now, will keep you updated – thinking we should look intoWestchester more, any suggestions?
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Update on HV visit/plan
I know 1 hr is not enough but we have sooooo many little towns on the list, we want to scope out the areas so that when we see a town we like we can spend more time there. Plus we have been researching the towns local websites and you kinda get a feeling of the vibe of the town. We need to decide by November because our lease is up then and I really dont want to spend another year here..I will die! We are looking for an "Asheville-ish" town but close to NYC so that the DH can commute and we can hang out on the weekends also...so any suggestions you have seen would be appreciated 
