Woodstock

Woodstock is beautiful. There are plenty of Hippy tie dye shops marketing Woodstock memorabilia, and the spirit of the 60’s is still very prevalent. We encountered some very colorful individuals who didn’t seem able to move past their drug induced haze, but we met even more lovely mellow and content people, just happy to be where they were with people who thought the same way…

The Inn on the Millstream was wonderful, clean, and fabulously located, though the bed was hard as a rock. But its location alone was worth the tossing and turning.

The restaurants, though more expensive than we expected, were delicious. We highly recommend Joshua’s http://www.joshuascafe.com/
and Taco Juan’s http://www.tacojuan.com/.

Saturday we found some really great books at “The Readers Quarry” http://www.readersquarry.com/index.html
Housed in this small out of the way cottage was the most interesting collection of books we’ve come across in a while. NYC used bookstores are usually free for all’s- with volumes spilling off shelves and multiplying in piles on the floor. Finding a specific book is nearly impossible, it really just a chance to find a book you didn’t expect to want but now can’t live with out. The Readers Quarry however is managed by a book seller who is quite selective and we couldn’t be more fond of her for that. Every shelf had an armful of antique and rare volumes. We poured over for these shelves for a few hours. The shop was clean and well lit, and there was that ever seductive musk of aged pages that we just had to bring home with us. I restricted my self to finding just one jewel, due to my recent need to vanquish all excess in my life, while Aaron brought home an armload.

I also found that Woodstock has a wonderful yarn shop “Woodstock Wool Company” http://www.woodstockwoolcompany.com/ where I was able to find some luscious yarns and buy some used Vogue Knitting magazines for only $2! The shop was spacious and well organized. If I lived in Woodstock I imagine I would be a frequent customer.

On Sunday we went on a long bike ride up through the back country roads deeper into the Catskill mountains. The ride was gorgeous. It was decided that deciduous forests are so much more beautiful than evergreen forests simply because of the luscious undergrowth that deciduous trees allow. We rented bikes from Overlook Mountain Bikes for only 20 bucks for 4 hours. The guys there were awesome and I highly recommend renting from them when you visit. ( and you just must visit- its so beautiful!) http://www.overlookmountainbikes.com/
We rode into the Catskills and past some beautiful country real estate. We found this amazing lake that was quite literally overflowing with water lily’s.

Back in Woodstock we also traipsed up and down several of the local streams whose quarried slate rock beds made for beautiful waterfalls. the streams were a gathering ground for early those seeking early morning meditations and children seeking refuge from the warm afternoon sun.

If you are driving through Vermont and want a nice town to hang out in for a few hours than Woodstock is a great little town. There are shops, restaurants, and nice streets to talk a stroll.

to see the Midnight Ramble with Levon Helm and friends on his farm

Lots of little shops in town but they all sell the same bits of useless tourist crap. There are a lot of little jewelry and trinket vendors outside as well, but nothing all that special.

The one place to visit here is the photography gallery on the main street. There was one particularly amazing show where a woman documented her year-long fight with cancer by taking a polaroid of herself each day.

Cold green noodles not at woodstock but nearby town

The atmosphere is quiet a change from average life. It’s not the place where the concert is from, but it’s the place that the name of the concert was based off of. :P (Yasger Farms, I think that’s how you spell it, is where the ‘69 concert was… a long ways away)

Anyhow it’s great, just mind that there are some old school punks that don’t take kindly to tourists… but they don’t bother you if you’re not in their way. :P And anyway they are an entertainment/aesthetic attaction for some.

It’s a great place… definitely go when they have the fairs going on. It looks like a lot of junk, but it’s good stuff at extremely low prices. (Don’t expect the stores to be so cheap.)