Fall Weekend in the Catskill Mountains

This past weekend we took Mr. Duke to the Catskills for a fun filled fall weekend!

Our first stop was a late breakfast at the Art Cafe of Nyack where we both enjoyed a Sabich: a warm pressed pita pocket filled with boiled egg, homemade hummus, pickles, eggplant, cherry tomato and chopped red onion.  YUM.  We still can't get over it.

Art Cafe of Nyack

Continuing our travels through the countryside we drove to the top of Bear Mountain, a spot on the Appalachian Trail, where we fought our way through crowds of tourists for photos.  (More to be added later when Clay edits his pictures.)  We later learned Da and Dy had their wedding reception at Bear Mountain!

Then onto the Fiber Farm in the Catskill Mountains!  Instead of produce and livestock, this fiber farm sells angora rabbit, angora goat, and merino fiber products.  Here is the AirBnB listing.  This fiber farm is known as The Outlier Inn. The term for our stay there is 'glamping' (glamour camping.)  From their website:

One room cabin with two twin beds OR one full bed. Adjusted per request.

We are located on a farm in beautiful Sullivan County, close to Bethel Woods and the Catskill Park.

High-speed internet is Outlier Inn Guests.

There is access to a communal outdoor firepit, 6 burner stove and grill, a hot double outdoor shower and an outhouse.

There are many animals on the farm. Merino sheep, alpaca, angora goats, angora rabbits, alpaca, oberhasli dairy goats, chickens (running free so please leash dogs!), one cat and a dog named Lali! There is a greenhouse and vegetable garden with seasonal produce available for purchase. There is a pond here for the kids and doggies to go swimming in as well as the park and lake across the street.

There is a full-service recording studio on the premises outlierinn as well as a fiber-arts workshop space, where fiber from our Angora bunnies is shorn and hand-spun into winter accessories ambikaboutique. No animals are harmed in this process!

Guests are encouraged to explore the 12 acre property, relax by the pond, cuddle the bunnies, sheep, alpaca and goats (please ask how to turn off the electric fence), and go for a hike on the 6 mile rails-to-trails path across the street.

Our sink was behind the table, our bedroom the open door on the right.

Our bedroom with electricity and a heater.

The outdoor kitchen: sink, fridge, and grill around the corner.

The green house where our hosts shave their angora bunnies, plus a pug tail!

Our hosts installed this lake last year.

Outdoor double shower and sink, there was also an outhouse.

There was a  marketing team staying in the dome shooting a commercial for the Volvo seen above, it's 1 of 2 models currently in the USA.

Overlooking the butternut squash garden area towards the shaving shed/kitchen.

That evening we drove to nearby Ellenville, NY -- Clay enjoyed seeing how fast the Fiat could take us -- for dinner at Aroma Thyme Bistro, a Green Certified restaurant.  (Green certified by creating less waste, using sustainable resources, etc.)  Their menu isn't listed, probably because it changes so quickly with seasons and resource availability.  Clay enjoyed some delicious fish over vegetables and I enjoyed local organic sweet potato and yellow curry soup, a side of edamame and a local Hudson Valley Cider called "Naked Flock." Food photos are so embarrassing to take but:

After dinner we joined our hosts and all their other weekend guests for smores around the campfire :)

We enjoyed sleeping in and waking up to the sunrise, misty wet grass, and our clothes smelling like campfire. After getting ready for the day we headed to Catskill Harvest Market for breakfast and ended up purchasing locally produced scones, apple bread, roasted coffee, jam, honey, a pumpkin pie, a butternut squash, and an acorn squash.  It's very easy for me to go crazy in these places!

On our drive back to the farm we stopped by two scenic locations for Clay to take some pictures, these are my phone pictures:

Mr. Duke!!!

Returning to the farm we decided to hang around in the sun watching the day go by--

Check out time was at 2 pm so we packed up the Fiat and drove around leaf peeping and visiting West Point before dinner in Piermont, NY and picking up our foster dog at Newark's airport.  So there is our weekend!  I hope you enjoyed and I will do an updated post when Clay edits his pictures.  Also, more on Cooper the foster French Bulldog to come!