Hudson Valley – as we venture

For over fifty years this Art Center has been a welcoming guest from all over the globe. I’ve been to Storm King in the past and in the wake of social distancing norms, this was a must do weekend activity. There are over 100 sculpture installations throughout the property, but the Center’s dramatic landscape of farmed fields, woodlands, lawns, native grasses, wetlands, and water are also a sit to behold. The landscaping is extremely thoughtful and I couldn’t help but be impressed by invitations to enter areas indicated solely by strategic paths, low cut grass or gravel paths, like breadcrumbs. There is something for everyone. If you choose to look at the sculpture from a far you will surely cover more ground, but you can easily walk 20K steps, either way there are fantastic photo opportunities at every turn. There are also designated picnic areas near each parking lot, so you can take a break and enjoy lunch overlooking the scenery.

Currently, tickets are based on timed entry and in turn there wasn’t clustering of people in the parking lots or the lunch areas. This park is opened rain or shine and throughout the fall. I highly recommend reserving your tickets as soon as possible. This is truly a majestic place that beautifully encapsulates the union of art and nature.

Storm King Art Center

I’ve gone hiking less than a handful of times in the past 5 years. I would describe myself as someone who likes the outdoors, thanks to summer sleepaway camp. I guess other indoor activities were on my agenda like brunch, bars, movies, shopping, and museums. If I am really honest the fact that I would be out late on the weekends didn’t make hiking any more appealing. Alas, the times we are in has encouraged me to join step challenges, which in turn got me back into me hiking. I use AllTrials app, which provides the driving directions to the hiking trials as well as a real-time trial guide. It was really simply and I love the fact that each trial is rated in terms of difficulty and includes user comments. In the beginning of lockdown I gave myself the goal of hitting 10K steps a day. Hiking knocks my step challenge goal out of the park. I track all my activities with the Garmin vívoactive HR watch and all my activities feed to the Garmin Connect app on my iPhone. It’s motivating to visually digest my weekly activity levels. As we transition into a new season, I know that hiking will be a lasting activity. (Dare I say, PSL is here).

We choose the Blue Hill full loop. It requires work, but the view at the top is beautiful and the way down is surprisingly flat allowing for moments to recover and eat.

Having been hiking in Cold Spring, NY via Metro-North Rail before, I knew this was a good option because the town is so adorable. I opted to drive, which would give me the ability to not only hike, but to walk around the town and browse the shops. #suporrtsmallbusinesses

I am happy to report that the shops in the downtown area were all opened and people are wearing masks.