The next week Franzi was in New York and Alex was in Detroit. It seems our travel schedules are perfectly synced so that we never spend a week at home together 😉
During the week, besides working Franzi ensured to organize everything for Alex’s birthday coming up on Saturday. Since we were away from home, she wanted to make it special and ensure it will be a great day! This went from getting some specialty IPA’s (Indian Pale Ale beer) to baking his favorite cake after a recipe from his mom. On Thursday, we had a not so pleasant surprise – it was raining heavily in New York and Franziska was at home working. Suddenly it sounded like the shower was turned on. When checking, it turned out water was pouring down our window on the inside!! Honestly, nothing surprising if looking at the construction of windows and how they are placed in the wall. Luckily Franzi could keep the damage to a minimum and our landlord promised to have the issue fixed beginning of the following week.
On Friday night we started the weekend with a cozy dinner at the Italian restaurant Via Della Pace. Now it was the big day – Alex’s birthday! We got up early and started off with a little celebration and presents. Franzi’s gift to Alex was a motorcycle trip to Woodstock including some pitstops.
So shortly after, we packed our bags and headed out. We took a little lunch break at The Whitlock in Katonah, NY and then continued to a Wolf Conservatory in Salem.
This center takes care of the conservation of different types of wolfs – the red wolf, the Mexican wolf and the grey wolf. It was fascinating to see these animals up close and learn about them and how endangered they are. The center has an “ambassador pack” which is composed of grey wolves who are used to humans. The caretakers have known them for over 15 years and they really know everything about them. However, no matter for how long wolfs live with humans they never lose their hunting instinct.
The wolf center took a little longer than expected so we had to drive quite a long highway stretch at the end, which caused a bit of distress for Franzi, who is still getting used to riding a motorbike. After a short break to collect herself, we went to Woodstock and arrived at our home for the night – a glamping AirBnb. We were out in the woods with no visible houses or lights around, just us and nature.
Once we relaxed a bit, we walked down to Woodstock for a Birthday Dinner at SILVIA. We sat on a beautiful terrace, tasted some great food and enjoyed life. Back at our camp place, we made a small medium-well working fire and then enjoyed the dark night – finally no more light pollution.
The next morning, we started the day with delicious breakfast pastry at Bread Alone. We met a nice couple from Greece, living in New York. They were also doing a motorcycle trip and gave us some recommendation four our next trip.
After feeling energized for the day, we made our way back home through beautiful backroads and impressive nature.
We stopped at the Ashoka Reservoir, one of the water reservoirs providing the high-quality drinking water to New York. Fun fact: the strong taste of chloride in the New York drinking water is not actually chloride, but fluoride. The government started adding it to the water in the 60’s to improve dental health.
Back home, we ended the evening with a beer and a wine at Tarallucci e Vino on 1st street.
