Catskills

In Autumn, so many people go to see the leaves change colour in certain parts of the states that the locals have a name for them – leaf peepers.
So Simon and I decided to go for a peep of our own and I am so glad we did.

It really was spectacular.

I would be the first person to point out that we have Autumn in England too, and the leaves change colour and we are marvelous, but really, this was so much better.
The leaves were so many different colours, from lime to pink, and because the sun was shining they literally looked neon in their brightness.
From a distance the hills looked like they were on fire.

Here is where they fall down. They are called the Catskill Mountains, and I’m pretty sure we climbed up a couple of them in an hour or so, so not really mountains.
But the leaves distracted me from any complaints, they were totally worth the trip.

We stayed in a guest house called Breathe Inn, which is a bit overly hippy for me (we had breakfast all together, at one table, yuck) but was lovely.

As well as several lovely walks up and down hills, along streams and even up a waterfall, we pootled through the little villages, going to Antique shops and flea markets, which is pretty much all that was there!

We went to Woodstock, the actual original one, which was unsurprisingly full of hippies, and Saugerties, where we found an excellent restaurant called Miss Lucy’s.
It was so good that we had to share a pudding, despite being far too full to really be able to eat anything else.

I really have to apologise to America. I always thought it was crazy that so many people here don’t have passports, and half of them have never even left the state they live in.
But we were only in upstate New York and it was like being on holiday.
Even NY, which isn’t a very big state, has everything you could possibly want.
There are lots of beautiful beaches and it gets hot enough to be like being in the South of France, there are hills and pretty countryside for city escapes and there is of course NYC, all within about 3 hours drive.

I can see why people never leave!