Saugerties, NY

Sometimes one choice can change everything. We set off for our labor day adventure by driving to NYC and meeting up with some good friends. The plan was to start driving towards Vermont, find a camping spot and explore, eventually meeting up with another couple the next day. We starting driving and a couple hours out, it was already the evening, and we decided to turn off at Saugerties, NY, a small town with a sign that stated it was one of the top ten small towns in America. We drove into an picturesque town with great shops and restaurants. We explored a vintage store, and we found a place to eat dinner. Because it was getting dark, and hurricane earl was still threatening rain, we decided to crash at a cheap hotel.

We went next door to Lucky Chocolates to get something sweet, and ended up meeting Rae, the owner. She was really funny and nice, and we loitered there, just talking and eating sweets. We were explaining to Rae about our situation, and how we were trying to figure out where to stay. She gave us some suggestions but we were trying to go on the cheap. Then she threw out the trip changing option. She had a couch and a sleeping loft if we could help her close and clean her shop, and wake up early in the morning to help her set up her stand at the farmers market. We were debating, and we were definitely in a spontaneous mood, and Rae was so nice we decided to go for it.

She lived right above her shop, so we brought our things in before we started cleaning. We first were greeted by her adorable jack russell effie, and then we walked into her apartment I think there were angels singing. We looked at each other in silence like "what did we get to deserve this?" Rae had designed a beautiful loft apartment that was breathtaking. 

We went back down and cleaned her shop the best we could, like little elves. After we relaxed on her scenic rooftop porch, and then headed to a blissful sleep. We woke up early in the morning to the smell of bacon, as Rae made us breakfast. We loaded up her truck and set up her farmers market stand. We explored saugerties, and went to the farmers market to hold tiny baby bunnies and Rae made us the best shaved ice we have ever tasted. It was amazing. We were so tempted to stay, but we had our adventure in Vermont waiting for us. Rae was so great, we are so happy that we made a friend and we might just find another Saugerties visit for us in the future. It jump-started our weekend in a great way. Thanks Rae! We will never forget it.

as usual, check out my flickr for more pics and captions with each one.