Who Knew Paradise Is Just 90 Minutes Away?

I had one of the best weekends of my life this past weekend. The boy and I decided to go away for a couple days to celebrate his birthday. He had heard of Mohonk Mountain House from a number of people — he heard it was really nice and had a great spa. Knowing almost nothing about it, we booked our trip in May for the weekend of June 5 – 7.

Since then, every time I mentioned to anyone — a coworker, a friend, my physical therapist, my aunt — that I was going to Mohonk, their first response was always, without fail,  “I LOVE it there!” It turns out that everyone I knowhas been to Mohonk at some point. And I had never even heard of it! And I expected no one else to have, either.

We drove up to New Paltz in pouring rain and horrible traffic. We had hoped to get an early afternoon start to the the trip, but that didn’t happen. As we drove through the winding roads, we began to really understand just how beautiful this place was — and get a sense of what everyone I know had told us about this place. We passed signs on the trees proclaiming the 140th anniversary of Mohonk Mountain House. Once we saw the house we were  enthralled — it is gorgeous and HUGE. It looks like a giant, old castle! We couldn’t even believe it.

We checked in and got settled into our room, which was old and cozy (no TV!) and had a balcony with rocking chairs. I was impressed — and I soon found out that rocking chairs are a major theme of Mohonk. They are EVERYWHERE! On the patios, in the common rooms, everywhere!

As we walked to the dining room for dinner I couldn’t help but feel I was stuck in a game of clue. There was a library, which we stopped in. Connected to the library, no joke, was the study. There was a billiard room.  A lounge? Check. Kitchen and dining room, obviously. I’m not exactly sure what a hall is, but I am sure there was one of them there.  Conservatory — probably.

We arrived in the dining room, which looked like camp lunchroom revamped. It was a very large, wood-paneled room with lots of tables all over. Dinner was a four course meal. We were to choose two appetizers, one entree and one dessert — each.  I was starving by the time we got to dinner so I ate up a delicious roll and decided to get just one appetizer, so as not to overdo it. I got theSeared Sea Scallops with Shiitake Mushroom Compote appetizer which was seriously the most delicious scallops I have ever eaten. I love when they’re cooked so brown on the outside! They melted in my mouth. My entree, Pan-Seared Halibut with Black Rice, Roasted Sun Gold Tomatoes, and Candied Olive wasn’t so great so I didn’t eat most of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Mohonk Chocolate Explosion – Chocolate SouffléCake, Chocolate Mousse, Cookie Crunch with a Passion Fruit and Cherry Sauce. Yes, I enjoyed it very much.

The old, creaky bed was surprisingly comfortable — and the pillows were fluffy and perfect! We woke up early to take advantage of the buffet breakfast before our spa appointments. I had a small triangle of french toast which wasn’t anything special and FRUIT LOOPS! I never eat sugar cereals — but it was there and I was on vacation! Delicious.

We made our way to the spa which was beautiful and new, unlike the rest of the house which was beautiful and old. The robe (on sale for $120ish) was the fluffiest, most luxurious spa robe I have ever worn. The lockers are fancy — no keys to hold, you type in a pin number instead! My reflexology was okay. Not amazing. I am glad I did it but I won’t be doing it again, at least not in a spa. I’d be willing to try it out in an Asian nail salon. I’d rather get my hot stone massage at the spa! Although the masseuse did tell me I was standing up straighter after!

When it was over I was taken to a special relaxation room with — you guessed it — rocking chairs. And a fireplace! I sat by the fire and drank the cool tea they gave me. They also gave me grapes. The room had tea, water and apples available as well. Outside was a warm mineral pool. It was the perfect place to wait for the boy to be done with his appointment.

When we left the spa we got dressed to go boating! The lake was incredibly beautiful. All the scenery really was! The boy and I got into individual kayaks and went out to sea. Kayaking is HARD. I had to keep resting my arms while the boy paddled along to the end of the river. I used this time to relax on the water. When we got back to the dock we hopped in a canoe together! I sat in the back and assumed the position of the steerer– a role with great responsibility, if you ask me.

The boy should have said in the back because he is a giant and his legs were all squished in front! Oops.

Once we got pretty far out in the water, we took out our books and read. It was the most relaxing read! I took a bunch of pics and just rested and enjoyed my surroundings. Here is the boy enjoying the book I got him for his birthday, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation.

And the lake:

After boating, it was time for lunch. Another buffet! I didn’t love any of the options but I did love my dessert of Cinnamon Bread Pudding — dessert french toast! With ice cream, mmmm… I didn’t feel so well after the meal so it became nap time. And what a glorious nap it was! I woke up refreshed and feeling a bit better. We picked up our helmets and went out to go mountain biking! Only we found out they close at 3:30 and it was around 5, so we put our helmets away and went on a hike to Sky Top Tower at the top of Sky Top Path, where you can see 6 states!

Mohonk Mountain House:

   

A couple sitting at the top and a little gazebo seating area:

  

Another gorgeous picture of the House, the lake and the path back:

  

The Sky Top  Tower. We climbed up to the very top of that tower:

  

The hike was gorgeous, with little old wooden benches at ledges so you can sit and enjoy your views. At the top, we saw mountains and farms  — it was stunning. And I saw a chipmunk. And deer. Naaaature, Goulet!

  

After the hike we decided to work out. I didn’t feel like being inside on an elliptical while it was such a beautiful day, so I decided to go swimming with the boy. The pool was indoors, but very open so you can see all the trees and sunshine around you. Uhhh. Swimming is HARD. How did I used to do it all the time when I was younger?? I ended up doing a combination of kickboarding (yes) and froggy back stroke (I believe there is a real name for this) and 30 minutes later we were done! I hope that was a good workout — what do you all think?

After showering and getting dressed it was time for dinner! I wore the shoes Missy gave me to dinner both nights. I’m glad I am getting use out of them! Here is a picture of me on our balcony (see the rocking chairs behind me!) posing in the shoes:

  

I skipped the bread this time and opted for two appetizers.  The Scallop Ceviche with Roasted Red Chilies and Cilantro wasn’t nearly as good as my seared scallops the night before, so I only had one. The Tomato and Crab Bisque with Eggplant Caviar, on the other hand, was likely the best soup I’ve tasted! It was rich and creamy and smooth and delicious. I didn’t even finish it, it was just so rich. Once again I wasn’t super impressed with my entree, Sautéed Snapper Fillet with Mango and Avocado Relish and Coconut Curry Sauce. I ate up the mango and avocado but hardly touched the fish. When dessert came I had a decision to make. I ended up making the wrong one.  I selected the Pecan Chocolate Chip Custard Pie with Dutch Chocolate Cream. I heard the word custard and thought – GOO! My favorite texture for food and dessert is goo, especially dessert. This is why I love tiramisu, mousse, bread pudding, etc. I just love mush. That’s why I love my little brother so much. He is mush.

But I digress. I chose the pecan custard pie because I pictured in my mind pecan flavored goo with pecans. Mmmmm. What arrived was a hard rock filled with chocolate chips. It wasn’t good. I regretted not going with my other option of Triple Chocolate Pyramid – White Chocolate Mousse with Double-Cream Chocolate Center and Milk Chocolate Sauce. Oh, well! That didn’t stop me from eating too much of it. Sigh.

We walked around after the meal and wound up outside on the porch where all the rocking chairs were facing a large movie screen. Ratatoullie was playing and lots of people were watching. There was a popcorn maker and you could go up and get popcorn whenever you wanted. The smell did tempt me, but I wasn’t eating more! We sat and watched the movie a bit, we had never seen it, and then walked around some more. We came upon an adorable bar with bar food on the menu! It looked great. We discovered lots of rooms and nooks and all different options for activities.

When we got back to our room I stepped on the balcony to a nice surprise — our room was directly above Ratatoullie! We could see the movie from our balcony! Somehow there was popcorn on the floor of the balcony, although I am not sure how it got there. But we didn’t stay and watch; I was tired. I needed to sleep!

The next day we skipped out on the breakfast buffet and instead picked up the continental breakfast in the Lounge (yes) and brought our bowls of Fruit Loops to the room next door where the French Open was playing. We sat down in time to watch a crazy man run onto the court with a sign and get tackled by security guards. Good stuff. We headed back up to the room to grab our helmets once again for mountain biking! We finally found the bike rental place and rented some bikes. As soon as I got on mine, I felt wrong. Not comfortable. Not relaxed. We started riding and got to a high uphill when I realized that the gears on this bike are not like the ones I am used to. I had no idea how to use them! After playing around a little I got scared because I felt like I had no control of my bike. I looked terrified and I wasn’t sure if I could handle all these steep hills. We decided to put the bikes away. Mountain biking, it seems, is not for me. Keeping in mind, of course, that I rode a bike for the first time in over 10 years a couple weeks ago on the flat, secure roads of Central Park. I think I need some more practice. 😎

After the bike fail, we went back to the TV room in time to watch Federer WIN! Woo hoo! Then headed to the gym. The boy went swimming again and I did the elliptical. We went back to the room to shower and pack and then headed out to my favorite meal – SUNDAY BRUNCH!

I was in my heaven. No joke. My heaven would be a giant Sunday brunch with pillows and sunshine. There was so much that I didn’t know where to begin! I was overwhelmed with goodness!

I went right to the breakfast foods sectioned and got a small waffle with bananas that were sitting in caramel and pecans that were sitting in a syrup. I got scrambled eggs, lox, peel and eat shrimp, lots of different types of fresh cheese. When I sat down, I tasted the eggs. Blah. Lox. Blah. Shrimp. Blah. I didn’t want any of that stuff. And then I tasted the waffle.

When given the choice, I always select either pancakes or french toast. I can’t even remember the last time I had a waffle. It was most likely in college when the dining halls had waffle makers and batter. And those weren’t very good.

So I took a bite of the waffle and my taste buds went CRAZY. It was sweet and perfect and amazing and delicious and better than any pancakes or french toast. It was small, but bursting with flavor. The caramelized bananas made it that much better. I couldn’t believe the flavor sensations in my mouth.

For the first time at a buffet at Mohonk, I stood up for a second plate. I also only ate one thing from my first plate! I knew I wanted another waffle but I was very curious about the dessert buffet. There was a chocolate fountain where you could make chocolate covered strawberries, apricots, marshmallows and some other things. I made a messy chocolate covered strawberry and took some of the items from the dessert buffet. I also took another WAFFLE — how could I not?

I didn’t like any of the desserts. They just weren’t that good. I took a tiny taste and discarded them. The only one that was good was the cheesecake but I could have that any time, so I didn’t eat it. The waffle was my dessert to my waffle meal! My second waffle was just as mouth-watering and incredible as my first one. I devoured it, thinking that it was better than any dessert could ever be. I was tempted to go for a third but I stopped myself.

And it was time to leave. Time to leave the other world that is just 90 minutes away from Manhattan. It’s actually a good thing we didn’t go mountain biking because we wouldn’t have had time for everything else anyway! Getting our car was a stresser. They told us it would be a 20 minute wait, so we went out back to the patio to sit on the rocking chairs. A squirrel was so close and jumping all over the chairs. We saw that squirrel the day before too — he has NO fear of humans! That scares me. We went back to the front to see if our car was ready but it wasn’t. There was a LONG line of cars and lots and lots of people waiting and people arriving and people leaving and it was overwhelming. Finally we got the car (about 35 minutes after we requested it) and were on the beautiful, winding road again.

The entire ride back we were on the lookout for the Modells and Sports Authority we passed on the way there. The boy needed to pick up some gym clothes. We got off the highway when we spotted them — in the Palisades Mall. I have been to many a mall in my day, but I have never seen anything like this one. They had every major store you can imagine — including Target, BJs, Home Depot, IMAX movie theater, regular movie theater, Dave & Busters, Bowling Alley, restaurants like Chevy’s, Chili’s, Friday’s, etc in addition to all the regular mall stores. I’ve never seen one location with so much STUFF in it.

We walked around and did some shopping and checked out the IMAX movies, but there was nothing we wanted to see. And then it was dinner time…. and I knew what I wanted. Since almost the day I met the boy, I have gone on and on about my love of the Cheesecake Factory. I just love it! And we walked past it as soon as we entered the mall and I knew I needed to go there — in spite of the $50 gift card I had withme for Chevy’s! There was no wait at all, which I’ve never seen at this establishment before, and before I knew it we were seated with the wonderful brown bread! I ordered my favorite item on the menu — it is what I used to ALWAYS get there pre-GI problems — the Cobb Salad. I decided that I would just not eat the lettuce. I missed everything about this salad, especially the dressing. It was so. worth. it. Wow. I missed this baby. We had started with the Lettuce Wraps which were great (sans lettuce for me, which really just made it chicken). But my salad… sigh. I missed it. It was hard not to eat the lettuce but I did it.

And then we were on the road back home — back to reality — and the incredible birthday weekend had come to an end.

I really want to go back there! I can’t believe somewhere so wonderful is so close to New York City. It really is crazy. They have a special this summer — if you stay overnight during the week (Sun – Thurs) you get a $120 spa credit for each night of your stay! I’d like to go early on a Sunday, have the whole day there, stay over to Monday and leave Monday evening. That way I’d get two full days and only have to pay for one night, only miss one day of work AND get a free massage!

The boy’s birthday was on Monday, June 8 — Happy Birthday!!!!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I finished Revolutionary Road. It started slow but got much better! Now I really want to see the movie.
Currently Reading: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything