Westchester County, New York

Over the long weekend, some friends and I drove up to Peekskill in Westchester County about an hour drive upstate from New York City. We headed for the Blue Mountain reservation for a short hike. If you are a mountain bike rider, this is the perfect place for you as they have some good bike trails (7 miles). Once we reached the lookout point, a beautiful red tailed hawk glided past our nose as if to say “this is my territory!” In this time of year, there aren’t that many animals out, as they are in hibernation. 

Following the walk, we ended up at the Westchester Diner to pile on the calories that we had just lost. This place is just like the diners you see on TV or somewhat similar, they have the padded booths, the pastel colors and the shiny bright lights. The food was great, the portions are big and the prices were quite reasonable. 

On the drive back, we took a small detour to Croton Gorge Park, an impressive dam initially built to supply New York City. It was built and completed in 1842, and was the first large masonry dam in the United States. Around the dam is a park, which I would imagine would be a beautiful place for picnics in the spring, summer or autumn.  We also drove through Tarry town a quaint little town near the Hudson river. Trains from New York come all the way here – as we drove past I thought that maybe one weekend I will catch the train back and see what the scenery is like from a train carriage! 

I just realized that I have been to the Blue Mountains in two different countries (Australia and USA and drank the real blue mountain coffee in Jamaica) – There is also a Tari/ Taree/ Tarry town in PNG, Australia and now USA!!!