Best Vintage/Pizza/Tacos/Books Upstate!

We are in Full Summer now.

It’s kind of like the opposite of book tour mode, where I only knew what was going to happen that day, and could only focus on the task at hand because it was such an overwhelming amount of travel/conversations/brain activity. Summer—this summer—is like looking at an empty calendar and being like, huh.

I have one kid at sleep away camp and one kid at day camp and the sleep away camp kid comes home and then it’s a lot of camp Tetris for the rest of the summer but also a lot of weeks where everyone is just kind of hanging out. For as long as I have had school-aged children, I have dreaded summer for this reason, this patchwork business, but my kids are old enough now that I’m kind of enjoying it? We’ll see. it’s still early-ish.

But anyway! Here are my top tips for summer, with a guide to the Hudson Valley, where we are spending most of our laziest weeks.

Use Your Children Against Each Other

Is this good parenting? Probably not! But the child at camp is a pickier eater than the one at home, and so we are making the one at home try as many new foods as possible! Look at what we can do without him!! It is working.

Go To The Movies

What are you going to see? It doesn’t matter! You need a sweatshirt because the AC is PUMPING. You can have a DRINK or a SNACK or even close your eyes for a minute if you need to. We have seen Rupaul’s EXCELLENT film Stop That Train (side note—are your children watching Drag Race?? They should be, you don’t have to teach them everything, the Queens can teach them many important lessons), the He Man movie (honestly not dissimilar to Drag Race), my husband went to see the Jackass movie, my husband and son went to see Toy Story, I literally don’t care, I will see anything, I love going to the movies, it’s quiet time in there. The live action Moana comes out on Friday and I will be there with goddamn bells on this weekend, you better believe it, I’ll probably see it twice.

Read A Book, Take A Nap

These activities can be combined. Best used on a porch couch. With a cat. I have been in a major reading slump this year, because I have been so busy and brain dead, but I’m hoping to read a good tidy stack this summer.

Have A Snack

You know I never go anywhere without a pound of raw cashews. The farm stand near my house also has these carrots that are like 12 pounds each and so sweet and crunchy and perfect, I could eat them all day long like Bugs Bunny. Look at this frigging carrot.

Add Water

Get the kids in the pool as much as possible. Get yourself in the pool as much as possible. Pretty sure all pool water is full of SSRIs.

Wear Fun Outfits

This is the time to really let the crazy out. Biggest muu muu, biggest hat, I don’t care how crazy I look, I am comfortable and protected from the sun.

Ok here is my HUDSON VALLEY SUMMER FUN GUIDE, extremely subjective and entirely based on how long it takes me to get there. This is a guide only for the things that I like to do because, listen, I’m just not swimming in a swimming hole. It sounds amazing, and I believe all of you that love it, I’m just personally not going to do it.

Best Ice Cream (Tie)

Cherries, Stone Ridge. Frozen custard, truly thick and gorgeous and delicious. The best. Everything else is good too. My children could happily eat at Cherries two meals of every day. Once I saw Rachel Weisz eating an ice cream cone there, I’m just saying.

Del’s, Rhinebeck. Another classic roadside stand!

Best Pizza

Ollie’s, High Falls. My fave fave fave. Great pizza, great salads, a nice orange wine, cool vibes, right across the street from Blue Heron Books, a good vintage store, and a bakery. Say less!

Lola, Kingston. This is a great spot for before or after you go to the movies. Pizza but also pasta. Everyone is happy eating at Lola.

Best Walk

This is the tricky part. It feels weird to me to drive something to take a walk. I just want to walk! But if you want to get in more than 200 steps in a day, you’re gonna have to drive somewhere to take a walk. There is the lovely Poet’s Walk in Rhinebeck, the many walks about the Minnewaska reservoir, the Rosendale trestle and the rail trail and 100 more. Like I said, this part is hard for me because I love to walk but I just want to walk out the front door. If you have good walks in the vicinity, holler at me. I don’t want to hike up a mountain. I want to be able to do it in my Birkenstocks.

Best Bookstores

So many! There is of course the venerable Oblong, with locations in both Rhineback and Millerton, there is Postmark in Rosendale, there is Blue Heron in High Falls, Rough Draft in Kingston. World’s End in Kingston if you have a comics lover!

Best Tacos

My younger son has decided that Upstate Tacos is the best restaurant in the world and so we are there 100 times a week. Are there better tacos? I wouldn’t know, we’re not allowed to go anywhere else.

Best Vintage Clothing

Lovefield, Kingston. My friend Darbie has the best taste in the world and I never ever ever leave without buying something.

Capital Vintage, Kingston. A delight, and right across the street from Lovefield, you have to go to both, it’s the law.

Clubhouse, Rosendale. On the expensive side, but I did just buy this vintage Levis skirt that is my new fave.

Antique Malls

Hudson—Giant! Overwhelming! Expensive! But irresistible!

Red Owl, Kingston. This one is like an indoor flea market, I always buy something, there is always some New Kids stuff somewhere and I am nothing if not loyal.

Newburgh. Big! There are two!

Okay those are all my interests!! See you there, literally, because I don’t go anywhere else. Happy summer! Give me YOUR food and vintage recs too!