On the eve of the great Hurricane Irene, my boyfriend Will,* Amy and I headed upstate** to meet up with her boyfriend Chris and stay at his parents’ home in Red Hook. The countryside of the Hudson Valley enticed us. We did not go to escape Irene. No one believes me, but really, I was sorry to miss the action. And disappointingly, I hear we indeed missed some crazy times in the city. I hear the winds were so drastic that five umbrellas were turned inside out. I hear that that occurred in the borough of Manhattan alone.
from the train
While in Red Hook, we tried desperately to accustom ourselves to this “country” lifestyle our favorite city-slicking Amy Frost had warned us about. (I searched for the pond, horses and chicken coop out back, and instead was greeted by a pool, a hedge, and four or five other homes). I’m not sure if Amy remembers her humble Texan origins, but the neighborhood where Chris’ parents live looks like many a Dallas suburb, only without curbs, and with a few less fences around the backyards (so basically a suburb of Houston).
I will say, the quiet town of Red Hook did offer a certain quaintness with its single stoplight, and the quiet cemetery Will and I explored post-storm possessed a serenity perhaps attributable to the fact that our sole grave-visiting companion was the rain.
In fact, the walk we took after the storm can be described most accurately by the word “serenity.” All businesses had closed in anticipation of the storm, and few townspeople had yet emerged from their shelters. Outfitted with our raincoats and camera, we were free to explore a world entirely our own.
The Metro North train lines shut down on Sunday…something about fallen trees and mudslides. That was the train we had taken, the only train you can take from the city. On Monday morning we awoke to learn we were helpless to return to work that day, and that there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. A real bummer... We ended up renting a car and driving back that evening, tracing a two-lane road over and around the hills of the Hudson River‘s west bank.
*This may be a first-time introduction to Will for some of you. I haven’t written much since before we started dating at the beginning of June.
**If one has recently moved to New York, “upstate” includes all territory in the northern half of the state. If one has lived in New York more than one year but less than three, “upstate” includes all territory north of New York City. If ones has lived in New York three years or more (and especially if one has not often ventured from the island), the term “upstate” can include the Bronx, and perhaps even Harlem.
In fact, the walk we took after the storm can be described most accurately by the word “serenity.” All businesses had closed in anticipation of the storm, and few townspeople had yet emerged from their shelters. Outfitted with our raincoats and camera, we were free to explore a world entirely our own.
will in his rain gear
i in my rain gear
graveyard
graveyard
The Metro North train lines shut down on Sunday…something about fallen trees and mudslides. That was the train we had taken, the only train you can take from the city. On Monday morning we awoke to learn we were helpless to return to work that day, and that there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. A real bummer... We ended up renting a car and driving back that evening, tracing a two-lane road over and around the hills of the Hudson River‘s west bank.
sky after the storm
sky after the storm
sky after the storm /
contest for the cheesiest photo (yeah, that's a rainbow)
*This may be a first-time introduction to Will for some of you. I haven’t written much since before we started dating at the beginning of June.
**If one has recently moved to New York, “upstate” includes all territory in the northern half of the state. If one has lived in New York more than one year but less than three, “upstate” includes all territory north of New York City. If ones has lived in New York three years or more (and especially if one has not often ventured from the island), the term “upstate” can include the Bronx, and perhaps even Harlem.
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