Hudson River Valley (September 2015)

My spouse and I visited the Hudson River Valley for the third time in late September 2015. We enjoy this part of the state of New York because it is only a 2+ hour drive from our home, which we sometimes make on less-traveled back roads to enjoy the scenery and weather. This time, we stayed for two nights (Friday and Saturday) in Fishkill so that we could visit nearby Beacon, including Bannerman Island. Beacon is a cute small town, with a main street that houses shops and restaurants. The main street has two distinct parts; however, and it would be a bit of a walk from one end to the other. On the river side of Main Street is a train station and a small dock area. On this visit, we also visited Rhinebeck and the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. And still so much remains to see and do in the Hudson River Valley that we will surely return!

Hotel:

• Hampton Inn Fishkill Link to my review

Restaurants:

• Cafe Amarcord Link to my review
• Terrapin Link to my review
• The Vault Link to my review

Activities:

• Bannerman Island Tour Link to my review 
• Walkway Over the Hudson Link to my review

Easton PA: Leaf Cigar Bar and Lounge (September 2015)

My spouse and I dined at Leaf Cigar Bar most recently on a Sunday afternoon in late September 2015, although we have dined there several times previously since the establishment opened in 2012. Leaf is open daily for lunch and dinner. Reservations are available via telephone or using the Open Table reservation system.

This restaurant is a bit difficult to locate, so be sure to create a map or use your GPS. It is located in an industrial park area, which may confuse prospective guests.

We have only ever dined on the patio of this restaurant, although we have stepped inside to speak to the hostess and to use the restrooms. Because we are not smokers, it would be difficult for us to enjoy a meal indoors, even though the restaurant does what it can with its exhaust system. Indoors, in addition to the bar/dining room area, is a lounge area, where smokers can relax in Barcaloungers while they enjoy smokes and drinks. The third part to the building accessible to patrons is the Famous Smoke Shop, where you can purchase cigars and other smoking paraphenalia. (The rear of the building contains warehousing for the business and is not open to the public.) The restaurant seems to have designed the patio to accommodate plenty of outdoor dining, because the concrete patio features many square tables, each with four chairs, that can be joined together for larger parties. A burgundy umbrella tops each table, and the patio itself is surrounded by low plants and foliage that buffer it from the parking lot.

When Leaf first opened, the restaurant offered different menus for lunch and dinner, but currently, it appears that a more all-day menu is offered, although a few items are not available until after 4:00 pm (such as the meatloaf, which did not make sense to us because a meatloaf sandwich is available anytime). We attempted to order an appetizer called the “Cuban Cigars”, but our waitress informed us that the restaurant was sold out of them (pork, ham, Swiss, and a pickle wrapped in a spring roll). We wondered whether the “Cuban Cigars” were not a housemade item, because the regular Cuban sandwich was still available, which used many of the same ingredients. Instead, we shared the calamari as an appetizer, followed by the cheesesteak (served “wit or witout” Whiz) and the “Bat Out of Hell” (sandwich made with bacon-wrapped meatloaf). We shared a pumpkin raisin bread pudding as a dessert, which first arrived without any housemade ice cream as promised on the menu (and the ice cream was definitely necessary, because the pudding was extremely dry), and overloaded with golden raisins. The menu sections are cleverly named: “Quickies”, “The Cauldron” for soups, “Rabbit Food” for salads, “Beefcake” for burgers (which are cooked “Bloody As Hell”, “Burnt to a Crisp”, or “Pink and Tender”), “Pub Jobs”, “Stuck In the Middle” (for sandwiches) and “Epic Mealtime” (entrees like the meatloaf that are available only after 4:00 pm).

We like to sit on the patio at Leaf, and the location provides a meandering drive from our home, so we will return when the weather is nice.

Fishkill NY: Hampton Inn (September 2015)

My spouse and I stayed at the Hampton Inn Fishkill for two weekend nights in late September 2015. We made our reservation online using the Hilton website. The fall weekend that we visited (even though it was not peak foliage season) sold out most of the hotels in the Fishkill area. (We had to use our Hilton HHonors Diamond room guarantee to secure a room.)

This hotel is located in Fishkill at a busy interchange of I-84 and Route 9. The intersection is also home to several other hotels (including Ramada, Hilton Garden Inn, Marriott Courtyard, Holiday Inn Express). There are several restaurants nearby, as well as a movie theatre (all walkable although you need to cross some busy highways). The hotel offers plenty of self-parking in an open surface lot, including dedicated handicapped spaces as well as parking spots reserved for Diamond members.

The lobby area of the hotel contains a small business center area with two computers and a printer. Also located in the lobby is the dining/lounge area, with banquette seating and both regular tables and a high-top communal table. The breakfast area is separated by sliding doors when not in use. The indoor pool is located behind the front desk on the ground level. Although we could see into the pool area (it had some regular chairs, lounge chairs, and a handicapped lift), we could not enter with just our room key. A posted sign indicated that guests needed to visit the front desk to sign a waiver before entering/using the pool (something we have never seen before in all of our travels). Unless it is some sort of state law, it seemed like an unnecessary inconvenience, and therefore, we saw no one using the pool the entire weekend. This property does not feature an on-site fitness center, although it offers complimentary access to one located less than a mile away (called All Sport Fitness Center).

Our room was located on the ground/first floor of the four-story building and featured typical Hampton Inn décor: king-size bed, lounge chair and ottoman, desk and chair, bureau holding a mini-fridge below and a flat-screen TV on top. The bathroom was typical Hampton Inn issue as well, and supplied towels, hair dryer, and toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, mouthwash). Wi-Fi is complimentary.

Rates include complimentary breakfast, which featured the usual Hampton Inn fare: scrambled eggs, breakfast meat, waffles (make-your-own), oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, bagels/bread/pastries as well as water, coffee, tea, and juice. On weekdays, a grab-and-go breakfast bag is available if you are in a hurry.

The Hampton Inn Fishkill fit our needs for a short trip to the Lower Hudson River Valley – we visited Bannerman Island from nearby Beacon (a 10-minute drive) as well as the Walkway on the Hudson in Poughkeepsie (a 15-minute drive) – and we had a satisfactory stay.

Poughkeepsie NY: Walkway Over the Hudson (September 2015)

My spouse and I visited the Walkway Over the Hudson on a Sunday morning in late September 2015. Officially, this state park is open from 7:00 am to sunset, although we did not notice any gates that would bar entrance at other hours. The handicapped elevator operates within those official opening hours but not to their full extent (check the website). The Walkway opened in October of 2009 (after a 16-month renovation), although the bridge itself was first opened/used in 1889.

We thoroughly investigated the website for the Walkway prior to our visit because we wanted to explore the provisions for mobility-challenged. Even though we entered the address for the area of the bridge with elevator access, when we drove there, we could see neither a parking lot nor the elevator itself. Only partially handicapped at the time, we were able to park in one of the regular public lots for the bridge and walk half its length (to just past the elevator). Parking was a little difficult on the day that we visited because a charity walk was set to begin about one hour after we arrived. Some limited street parking is also available. Permanent port-o-potty restrooms are available near the parking lot, which are handicap-accessible. (There were additional truly portable restroom facilities on the day that we visited, but we think that they were just set up for the walking event.)

The bridge is 24 feet wide, which accommodates many walkers at a time (also joggers, families with strollers, people with pets, bicyclists, etc). If you choose to walk from one side of the bridge to the other (Poughkeepsie to Highland), the walk totals 1.28 miles long miles (one-way) over the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge. At a height of 212 feet tall, it is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. We read that some people choose to walk the bridge in a loop – they walk over the Walkway Over the Hudson on the outbound, and then hike down and return to Poughkeepsie via the (Franklin D. Roosevelt) Mid-Hudson Bridge (or vice versa) so that they can enjoy even more scenery. Guided tours and a mobile tour app are available if you require more information, although placards with photos and accompanying text are placed are various intervals on the bridge that explain more about it.

We enjoyed our visit and would return at different times of the year to enjoy the changing scenery. We recommend talking a walk on the Walkway Over the Hudson, but we suggest getting there early in the day so that it is less crowded.