A Weekend in Upstate New York

Thought it’s time to dust off the old blog…

I’m here in New York for the fourth (!!!!!) time in 9 months. New York is basically like a second home for me right now, and I even might be getting used to that urine smell in the subway. Almost…

Pat and I arrived bleary-eyed early on Friday morning after taking the red-eye out of San Francisco. After a nice long nap in Nicci’s cave, we headed to Yankee Stadium. Honestly, I could care less about the Yankees, but they were playing our beloved Giants, so that was worth a venture into enemy territory.

How did my beloved Giants do? Well, as to be expected this season, they lost. Lincecum was doing quite well, keeping it at a 1-1 tie until he loaded the bases in the 7th. Kontos came in for relief, A-Rod came up to bat, and well, all I can say is that guy must have been on his ‘roids, because with one swing of the bat, we were down 5-1.

The beautiful moon was the only redeeming point at this point in the game…

Despite the loss, we still had a nice time. Yankee Stadium, though not as great as AT&T Park, does a good job of keeping the feel of the old ballpark with new amenities. There’s a small museum in there that does a good job of paying tribute to old greats like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Also, it was great to see many SF Giants fans there, with the orange fans mixing in with the navy blue. All in all, an almost perfect night.

Later that evening, our friends drove us to their place in upstate New York. After a late night Friday, we woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday to drive 3 more hours to the little town of Cooperstown, quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We took a delicious pause in the town of New Paltz, where we had brunch (Trailblazers + Sergeant Peppers – the peppers = Deliciousness!) The winding drive to Cooperstown was absolutely beautiful, with rolling green hills, barn houses, silos, sheep and cows. (Sadly, no photos – I was too busy trying to keep the Sergeant down). After this beautiful 3 hour drive, we ended in Cooperstown.

So why were we in the middle of this town in the middle of nowhere? Well, it’s been Pat’s lifelong dream to go the National Baseball Hall of Fame here. This baseball museum was very classy, with artifacts from America’s favorite pastime on display.

On display: Lincecum’s jersey, and the sign, shoes, and cap commemorating Matt Cain’s perfect game

Sculpture of Babe Ruth in the Hall of Fame. What’s amazing is that everything here is carved out of wood!

After the museum, we headed for dinner at a local brewery and then headed on the long drive back to Wallkill. By this time, the sunny skies that greeted us in Cooperstown had now turned to rain, lots and lots of rain. The kind that makes visibility very low, especially at night. Thankfully, we had a PD (professional driver) in the lead and an experienced Massachusetts BMW driver following. We made it back in one piece.

Sunday, the rainy skies cleared leading to beautiful blue skies. After a very relaxing morning, we did more countryside driving to Ryan & Lisa’s meeting. After that, it was time for dinner. Ryan told us we had 4 choices:

1. Mexican (Me: “meh”)
2. German (Pat & Nicci: “meh”)
3. Pub Fare (Pat, Nicci & Lisa: “meh”)
4. Italian (Everyone: “meh”)

We were just about go with the majority rule and head to #1, when Ryan came up with his best idea in the 11th hour … A steakhouse. Not just any steakhouse, but a steakhouse in an old flour mill with a distillery next door. The excited voices all around told us that we could find a meal that all of us could finally agree on.

This steakhouse, called the Tuthillhouse at the Mill, did not disappoint. Most of us ordered the ribeye, and what came out was 20 ounces of perfection: perfectly seasoned with salt, pepper and herbed butter, with a slightly charred outside and melt-in-your-mouth juicy interior. Perfection. It was soooo good, that I didn’t even stop to take a photo.

Tuthillhouse at the Mill – amazing food in amazing surroundings