Getaways and vacations don't have to be pricey! I love to go on trips. Short ones, long ones, in-between- ones..
But the dollars start adding up and trips can be super pricey if you aren't careful.
We decided this year that we won't do the weekly vacation that we've done for the last 3 years. I've enjoyed our week-long trips, but wanted to try something different this year. Instead of one long trip, I began planning a few shorter trips that we could take throughout the year.
We took our first one in March when we went to visit my family for a few days.
Our second trip was for our anniversary last weekend.
Some of you all might not know this about me, but I'm super budget-conscious. Some people say that I'm cheap...but I say "thrifty" is more like it. :-)
I started trying to find places that are close to home that are also very cheap or even free.
So I requested a stay at The Parsonage House in Stone Ridge New York. A church in Stone Ridge has a home that they open up to anyone in ministry for free stays. We went there last year in May to stay for a week, but ended up having to come back after only half a night because of what I thought was Eliza's arrival. She ended up tricking us...and stayed in an extra week and a half but anyway....
The day that we were going to leave for Stone Ridge last week, I was going to teach the Ladies Bible study, and then we'd leave after and get to the house by about 9. Plans changed because earlier that day, I was returning a dvd to the library dropbox and as I hopped down the steps back to the van, I twisted my foot sideways and fell down the steps.
I managed to hobble in to teach the ladies bible study, but when I got home, I told Dan that I thought maybe we shouldn't go on our trip because I was in a great deal of pain.
He insisted that we go, and we finally left the house around 8, which made us get down to Stone Ridge quite late...almost 10:30pm.
I took these photos the day that we were coming home, which is why the beds are stripped etc.
The girls absolutely loved that this house has a shelf full of toys, books, crayons, etc for kids to play with. New toys are always so exciting. They especially loved the pair of red binoculars.
They loved sleeping in their "big girl" beds too.
Thursday morning, Dan made us oatmeal for breakfast, and I felt horrible not able to help with anything. I wrapped my foot, kept it elevated as much as possible, and hopped around on one foot.
Dan insisted that on this trip, he was going to use this roadmap to go everywhere we needed to go on our trip. :-)
Our first stop for the day was to CVS to buy some crutches. Thankfully, they had one pair in stock.
We drove down by the Hudson river and went to a woodworking shop where they hand-dug canoes etc. It was neat.
I have to say though, I was struggling with the crutches...My upper arms were in pain after using the crutches down by the river, and because I'd only eaten a little oatmeal in the previous 24 hours, I was feeling weak and in lots of pain.
Duh...should have just taken an ibuprofen, but I was trying to muscle through without any.
We went to eat at a diner for lunch, then went to Aldi's for a few groceries. Then we went back to the house where I rested. Dan took Gwen and Lucie to explore/walk in the neighborhood a bit and they came back all excited to show me their findings. So we all got in the car and drove to see some beautiful mountains, a cemetery, and the neat farms and old homes.
That night I woke up in terrible pain, was hallucinating, sweaty, and had un-controllable shaking. Homestly, I don't know why...I guess because of the pain? Anyway, I decided to take Ibuprofen and that cured me. From then on, I took ibuprofen when I felt the pain coming back. Made the rest of the trip enjoyable for me. :-)
Friday morning we went to the Minnewaska State Park. Loved seeing the view of this lake at the top of the mountain!
There was a large resort/hotel built where the visitors center is now, but I thought it was neat to see one of the original stone lodges that was built on the side of a cliff by one of the Smiley brothers (Alfred, I believe). I enjoyed reading about the twin brothers, who built a successful establishment resort where they maintained their Quaker beliefs of temperance and no card-playing etc.
After spending time in the visitors center, seeing the lake and surrounding mountains, we drove down to the Awosting Falls area. The sign said that the hike down to the falls was half a mile, so I figured I could manage it on crutches.
I was forced to go slowly and give myself a ridiculous number of breaks :-) Which is good for photo-taking.
Dan brought our picnic lunch, which we ate when we got to the falls.
Here's a photo of my little Lucie and I.
The waterfall was very pretty.
By the time we finished our lunch, the girls enjoyed “soaking their feet”, and we walked back to our car, Eliza and Lucie were pretty sleepy. They both took cat naps as we drove to the town of New Paltz.
We first let the girls play on a kids playground for about an hour, and then went to the historic district, a street called Huguenot Street.
The homes on this street were very old, and I was loving reading all the plaques about the original builders of each one. And also reveling in the fact that I was walking down a street where a young settlement first began.
Most of the gravestones at the church were written in French.
After that, we headed back to the parsonage house. On the way, we saw this adorable chapel near the Mohonk house (which we would have loved to visit…but for the hike to it and my foot).
Dan climbed the hill and took a few photos for me.
When we got back to the house, we ate dinner and then had a bonfire outside.
The next morning, we made breakfast, cleaned the house and did the laundry, and left by about 10. Stopped and took a photo of this lovely Bever House.
Stopped at the Kaatsbaan Reformed church where they were having a sale. We looked around, bought a few little things, and then a lady who was there showed us inside! It was very neat.
The church building is from 1732. I loved reading about it.
This organ was fully restored in 2013 and it’s a beauty. It’s up in the balcony of the church, which I thought was interesting.
We left there and came upon an antique mall! We had so much fun walking thru it. Dan has been wanting a buck saw and asked the man at the front desk if there was one. The man said no.
And low and behold, look what Dan found!!
We made it home safely, and celebrated the finale of our anniversary getaway with a store-bought cake—-my favorite! The bakery was closed for the day, so Dan improvised and tried to fashion the words “6 years and counting” with ice cream sprinkles. But he got tired of the meticulous placement of the sprinkles with a tweezer and I said “Let’s just eat it already!”
Oh and this was on the way home when we’d stopped for our lunch. We had a carton of ice cream we’d nearly finished but there was lots melted at the bottom. Give two little girls a straw and it got cleaned right up! :-)
What a fun trip!!! Even despite my foot. The crutches seem to have done the trick. Taking the weight completely off it was so important. It’s now only a little bit sore still.
Hope you all have a lovely week!
