Another day of spectacular weather in the Hudson River Valley. After another morning hike around my friend’s beautiful 39-acre spread in Dutchess County, we went for brunch at a classic old diner, the EverReady in Hyde Park (eggs with spinach and feta…my favorite dinner fare, plus delicious grilled potatoes with onions, not your everyday hash browns, and fresh squeezed orange juice.)
I was first introduced to East Coast diners by my college friends, who would take me to their hometown favorites in Forest Hills and Long Island. And then there is our favorite stop on the way to Ithaca from NYC or Connecticut: the great Roscoe Diner. I love the shiny metal building, the encyclopedic menu, the huge showy cakes on display and all the locals hanging out over endless cups of coffee, not to mention the patient, efficient, seen-it-all waitresses.
Near the train station in Poughkeepsie, we walked half way across the footbridge over the Hudson, with spectacular views of bucolic waters in the distance and industrial workaday river scenes just below us. I envied the cyclists biking past us. As promised, the almost 2 hour train ride to 125th street offered great river views most of the way and then boom, I emerged in Harlem. I didn’t have to wait long for the m60 bus to Laguardia, a rare public transportation option to the airport and a much better deal ($2.75) than the ripoff black car I am embarrassed to admit I mistook for an Uber on my arrival at Laguardia. ($71…ouch. Lesson learned. Never get in a car with an uber sign unless you’ve ordered an uber online.)
The bus took about an hour but the first stop, surprisingly, was terminal B where my grubby southwest gate was located. Now here I am at the St. Louis airport with a 2.5 hour late night layover (again, a big change from my mad dash here a week ago with a 50 minute connection cut in half by delays.)