I know several people who have been to Rocking Horse Ranch Resort and have enjoyed it very much. It is in Ulster County. Without knowing your exact location “upstate” it is likely not to be a really long ride. Other things within an hour or so include West Point, Woodstock, FDR’s Library, lots of parks and hiking.
3 Likes
In Highland there is walkway (an old railway bridge converted for walking, and I think biking too on weekdays)…. now a state park.
The other end of this (and Midhudson auto bridge) is not too far from the Poughkeepsie train station. Daytrips to NYC possible.
1 Like
Thanks for the additional info. Even though I traveled between Albany and NJ often, I never really explored the area. I may have to look into going myself.
1 Like
We just did a lovely ladies weekend in Woodstock NY. Had lunch at the Culinary Institute, visited Eleanor’s house in Hyde park, walked around both Woodstock and Saugerties, etc. There are plenty of sites - Opus 40 park, FDR’s house, Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site - on both sides of the Hudson.
2 Likes
Don’t forget that is sounds like the OP’s kids (and the parents) like a very active outdoorsy or action packed vacation!
1 Like
Storm King Art Center? They have gift memberships. One can take the train from NYC. They have bike rentals onsite. Not adventurous but perhaps different.
2 Likes
Do your kids have any ideas or places they’ve dreamed of going? Could they give you these ideas at maybe Thanksgiving and you investigate them for cost and things to do and then pick one (or put them in a hat and pick one?). They may have a different idea than Quebec, like a cruise on the St Lawrence or looking for puffin in St. Johns.
My kids loved staying at the Lizzie Borden house and then doing other activities in Boston (Red Sox game, Kelly’s roast beef, Duck boats). They’ve walked all over NYC, rented the red bikes in DC and done their own tour of the monuments and stopped at the ones they thought would be interesting. Recently one went to Salt Lake City and had no idea what to do so I suggest the Mormon library for genealogy. They had a great time investigating BF’s family name and ‘proved’ he isn’t Italian but Hungarian! They went to the old Olympic village and loved it.
Oh, I just had another idea, though it in itself likely isn’t enough.
Last year, our family team, the Texas Rangers, won the World Series. And this was a year we were all together for Christmas. I surprised them and bought us all passes for a special tour of the stadium, including a pic with the World Series trophy. And then I gave ds1, who was short on gifts that year, a fat gift card to use toward merch in the gift shop. This tour included time throwing in the outfield. I actually cried, for a lot of reasons.
Anyway, is there a special family team that might do something like that? A bucket list item of mine is to go to the Little League World Series!
6 Likes
Kelly’s Roast Beef is great though I prefer their fried clams. My grandmother lived a couple of locks from the original location on the beach. We still try to get there when we are in the Boston area. I highly recommend folks visit (to keep this post on topic).
2 Likes
One summit sounds exciting. With so much glass, would someone with fear of heights be bothered by that?
Umm…possibly. There’s one part where you are effectively on a glass ledge (completely enclosed) but that’s an optional part that you can pass by - that would probably freak out someone with a fear of heights. I think the rest is manageable - there’s so much going on inside that you actually don’t need to look at the views/outside, though obviously that’s part of the usual attraction. If anyone has ever been to teamlabs Tokyo - it’s kind of like a much shorter/milder version of that,experience-wise, with views.
I’m impressed you can coordinate schedules with 3 kids to make this happen. How did the white water rafting you did work out? f a hit, you could make it an annual tradition.
1 Like
@Crosbylane - please do come back and tell us when you decide what you’re going to do.
3 Likes
Ha! It isn’t easy; especially since one is working professionally and living in NYC and the other two are college students on different calendars. That also adds the difficulty of coming up with options. The white water rafting trip I scheduled over Memorial Day weekend. That worked well and I could confirm with my oldest well ahead of time; we purchased her train tickets to take the train from NYC to meet us en route, where we picked her up and continued on. The rafting trip was an absolute BLAST! Worked out better than I’d even hoped, but I don’t think they want to do it again for a second year in a row, and it wouldn’t be novel.
1 Like
Will do, but I’m still stumped. I wish money were no object, lol. There are more variables this year, which make it more difficult. My 2nd is graduating college in May, so I’m hesitant to schedule something for early summer, not knowing what he’ll be doing/where he’ll be. I’m thinking about looking more into activities in/around NYC area between Christmas and New Years, only because I know they will all free then. BUT that timeframe limits choices, increases cost, and we’d have to board out dog, which isn’t available then. Sigh.
2 Likes
Any interest in one of the wild animal safaris parks? Are there any near you? The one near us has regular admission and then also extra safaris where they take you on a jeep into the interior. They also have an overnight where you can sleep in tents (they provide them) and wake up with giraffes nearby.
Not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s out there if it’s yours!
Or…an overnight sailing trip somewhere ?
Or…a long ferry ride someplace accessible by ferry?
And I think I already suggested hang gliding off the sand dunes in Nags Head / Kill Devil Hills?
2 Likes
If it’s warm enough and you go to old Quebec, you can zipline over the falls!
1 Like
Calendar alignment can be hard. Two years before our younger kid graduated from college, we told them both - “block out two weeks for graduation / family trip”. We wanted to take them to Europe, something we’d not done before. I feel fortunate we were able to afford that, but still it required advanced planning to make sure we all had the same window of time available. Extra bonus - son’s graduation day was husband’s 60th birthday.
3 Likes
That sounds wonderful, and I really hope to be able to do something like this is the next few years, but it’s just not in the cards right now, unfortunately. I’m trying to save/collect budget-friendly travel abroad info. now to plan ahead for that!