Over the weekend we spent Friday night and all day Saturday in Naples, NY, in the heart of the upstate NY Finger Lakes wine region, where Ted has been staying for the past week (and where he was a few weeks ago and where he will be again a few weeks from now) doing media and lighting designs for a couple of summer stock shows at a great little theatre in town.
And I’d been in deep need of a quiet, relaxing little getaway from the hectic schedule at work and at home. So, I drove down Friday afternoon after Summer Academy…and it was the MOST relaxing 24 hours I’ve had in a LONG time.
Friday night when I arrived in town we enjoyed brick-oven pizzas out on the front porch of Neapolitian Pizzeria with two of the other designers, then we walked over to the theatre for opening night of Les Miserables, and followed it up with a late night trip with the entire 40+ person cast, crew, and company of the show to the only open-late bar in town – the Tavern – where we downed wings, shared pitchers of beer, talked and laughed, put early 2000’s pop tunes on the jukebox, celebrated opening, and played darts until they closed at 1:30am. The Tavern is awesome for multiple reasons, only one of which is that because the town is so tiny, only about a mile long with a population of just over 1,000 people, you can walk everywhere…and so everyone does. So, when the show is over, you walk down the street and over to the Tavern. And when the Tavern closes and the party is over, you can just walk home (or to the house of the lovely host family with whom you are staying) in the dark, at any hour of the night, and enjoy a clear, brilliant, undiluted view of the billions of stars of the sky along the way. Gorgeous. And peaceful. And, again, gorgeous!
The weather has been ridiculously awesome (like, sunny, breezy, mid 70’s awesome) for the past few days, so we kept our bedroom’s windows and screen door that opens up to the upstairs balcony open all night for the cool breeze to lull us to sleep and then started the morning off right with a massive plate of chocolate chip pancakes. Ted was wrapped up at the theatre all morning and into the afternoon with meet and greets, designer presentations, and first reads, so I had the run of the town!
After my delicious stack of chocolate chip pancakes, I walked up a sweet little road to Grime’s Glen to check out the waterfalls. Once you’re in the park, the path through the woods to the falls starts off as a rocky trail, gets sharp and steep, then quickly disappears. And when that happens, you simply roll up your jeans, step into the cool water, and walk upstream until you reach the first waterfall. And then you keep splashing right on through to the second waterfall. It’s absolutely delightful!
{as a side note, this was Ted’s office view this week – no pity for this guy}
After my wilderness walk to Grime’s Glen, I spent the next few hours just strolling up and down Main Street taking in the pretty homes, historical landmarks, coffee shops, sweet little stores, vineyards, wineries (hello wine tastings!), local wayside markets, pups named Maggie, and the only graffiti I saw all day – kitty graffiti! I had no schedule or timeline to keep (which was glorious!) and I ended up walking 10 miles on Saturday! Ten! I can’t even believe it! I also had no less than 5 totally great conversations with wonderful strangers about anything and everything. I love small towns for all these reasons!
When Ted was done at the theatre, we met up, walked back past the vineyards and shared sweet glasses of amazing dessert wine on the back porch of the Inspire Moore winery (oh, the view! oh, the wine!). AND, the topper on the cake, Ted got to pet a bald eagle…his favorite animal. Naples is basically the best.
{Nobody who lives in Texas will be excited about this, but I FINALLY found Sweet Leaf tea in NY. I’ve been looking for it for 2 years…and there it is, at the Grainery in Naples! I nearly died of shock and happiness.}
And that, friends, was my visit to Naples. And it was indescribably wonderful. I am already looking forward to my next visit!
{Lots of meat – mostly lamb – and cheese pastries and sweet breads…yum!}
{Banana, date, and honey smoothie – a very UAE treat}
{Our trip to Ikea-Dubai yielded two more pillows for Ted’s gigantic bed, a Tupperware set, a strainer, a kitchen rug, and a handful of other household and kitchen necessities….plus a bottle of lingonberry syrup and a bottle of rhubarb syrup that you mix with water to make sweet cocktail drinks. These were clearly added to the cart by yours truly.}
{Just so you know, when you order a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant on campus….”sausage” is really code for “hot dog.” Obviously, this did not stop Ted.}
{Interior of a domed building on campus….American college architecture has some catching up to do!}
{This country is packed with the most AMAZING desserts….I can’t tell you their names or what’s in them aside from honey and pistachios, but I still dream about these gorgeous, delicious delicacies!}
{Currency}
{Blueberry and mango ice cream balls}
{Oh, the spices!}
{and the nuts!}
{and the peppers!}
{and the dates! DATES GALORE!}
{Si makes a second appearance among the palm trees on the bus from campus to Matajer}
{A little bit of library fun with Cari! Not that either of us are in any way involved with the performing arts or anything…}
{Front porch: Day view}
{Front porch: Sunset view}
{Tropical birds everywhere! On campus. And pretty much only on campus. But what a great surprise!}
