A Permanent Departure

Yes, it's been a while since anything new has been posted up here. But, something substantial has been in the works. It's been too long now that we've been living unhappily in New York, and it's time to do something about it. It's now 100% official, we're moving to Knoxville, TN at the end of this month.

We found a little house in the North Hills neighborhood to rent from a super cool landlord (who's not out to rip you off like every landlord in NY). Here it is, 2454 Amber Street:



And so now that we won't be "escaping" from Brooklyn every weekend, but permanently, the nature of this blog will have to change. I'd like to keep posting updates here about our outdoor endeavors in the Smoky Mountains and little highlights of life outside of the Northeast. Cheers!

Spring in Macedonia Brook

Okay, so Connecticut is not a large state BUT the largest state park is Macedonia Brook. And boy, is it nice in the spring. The park is essentially two tall mountain ridges cut down the center by Macedonia Brook, a quiet little stream that snakes through a couple of miles of picnic areas and campsites. We visited last August, but our site wasn't nearly as idyllic as the one we stayed in this time. Oh site 43, you treated us well.

After a run-in with some angry teen girls who really wanted site 43, we were victorious. So we threw up the tent about 15 feet from the edge of the brook, just so the sound of the water could lull us to sleep. Cold sleep. It's still only May in New England. The site was nicely tucked away from other sites, and although this was by far the best in the campground- all the sites here are great. Compared to some of the dusty parking lots they're calling campgrounds up here, Macedonia Brook's sites are all nicely spaced out and wooded. Some are more private than others of course, but overall it's a really nice place to do some car campin'.



On Sunday the sun was shining and the trails were calling. There are many miles of trails all within the park, aside from the Appalachian Trail, which passes close by outside the park boundaries. We decided to stay in the park and hike up to the surrounding ridges right from our site. There is a 6.7 mi circular ridge trail that basically surrounds the perimeter of the park, with a bunch of other easier trails criss-crossing throughout. We ended up doing most of that ridge trail, but cutting off the north corner. We managed to hit Cobble Mountain though, which is the highest peak in the park, the route up there is a bit, let's say "rugged". When all was said and done it was 5.7 mi, 4.5 hrs. It was the first hike of the season and I felt it the next day, but it was a good first outing.

The Big Trip - Part Two (Deutschland)

After Amsterdam it was on to Germany. We took a train into Bonn, a small city south of Cologne on the Rhine River, birthplace of Beethoven. It's also where I found my favorite beer of the trip, Boennsch. They serve them in these goofy little glasses, ergonomically designed to fit into your thirsty little fist.




After a scenic train trip down the Rhine the next day, we managed to rent ourselves a car...a Mini! And we drove south along a tourist route to the Alps, Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road). The first stop was Rothenburg an der Tauber, a medieval walled city that's crawling with tourists during the summer, but pleasantly empty in March.



The sweet specialty in Rothenburg is schneeballen, big old balls of dough with chocolate or powdered sugar. Mmmmmm...schneeballs!


The next day the Romantic Road carried us into the Bavarian Alps. It was really everything you would imagine, snow storm and all. But the Mini Cooper treated us right. We stayed the night in Fussen, at the "foot" of the alps. Since it was snowing, we couldn't even see the tops of the mountains, but it was pretty breathtaking regardless.






The last two stops on our grand tour were Munich and Nuremberg, a day in each. Lots of beer, old (rebuilt) architecture, and a little relaxing for the last two nights.




And perhaps the most authentic and wonderful food we ate was in Nuremberg at Zum Gulden Stern, where they've been grilling bratwurst on this grill since 1419. Unbelievable!