Our Magic Trips to the Catskills
My wife and I love to visit the Catskill Mountains. We live pretty close to New York City so making a road trip to the Catskills is very easy. It’s only a couple of hours away. The trip always seems like a mini adventure to us. We start on the New York State Thruway (which does not have a great scenic appeal). But then in Kingston, NY we exit and that is when things get more interesting.
We hit route 28 and although it can be painstakenly slow due to various local town traffic, the quaint little towns that we pass are always neat. There used to be a lodge with a giant Kaleidascope on that route but it has become something else over the years. We never made the trek into there and no we sort of regret it since it’s gone.
Further up on 28 we pass the Esopus river. If you are unfamiliar with the Esopus, in the summer time, people go tubing down it. It’s kind of fun to pass over the bridge and watch as people are passing down the river. I’ve done it once myself and if you decide to give it a try, make sure you get there early enough to get a tube with a board underneath. That board protects your bottom from hitting rocks. If you get there too late in the day all of those tubes will be gone and you’ll be stuck with one without a board. If that happens you will pay for it the next day with your bottom being scratched from the rocks.
We travel 28 for about 30 miles and then we hit route 42. This is kind of like entering the Twilight Zone sometimes, especially during the winter, because the weather could be nice everywhere else but it always seems to be snowing on this road. But then again, it is an incline up a mountain so this will tend to happen when going up a mountain.
When we get back to the bottom of the mountain (it begins a gradual decline on the other side), we turn onto route 23. This leads us through Plattsville, Grand Gorge and finally to our typical destination, The Belvedere Country Inn. Learn More About this Great Country Inn by clicking on that link. It’s a great place to stay and the Gibbons family have become great friends. It has Cozy Rooms for the Entire Family and they will treat you like loyalty. They can also help you with your itinirary when visiting there as there’s lot’s to do in the Catskills. From the Baseball Hall of Fame, to Skiing in Hunter Mountain, to climbing the peaks of Mount Utsayantha, there is sure to be something for the entire family.
