Fall in Carroll Gardens

The tree across the street from me decided last week to finally admit it was fall, and changed from green to this brilliant yellow nearly overnight.


I came back after Thanksgiving to find it bare and Christmas tree stands around the corner.

Happy almost December!

Where I've Been: Breakneck Ridge

It's hard to get my hiking fix in New York, but luckily it's not impossible. Like most things in this city, you just have to dig a little to find hidden gems. And that's what Breakneck Ridge is—a little gem that no one tells you about. (Of course, that might because most New Yorkers couldn't care less about hiking ...)

Two up-for-anything friends and I traveled on the Hudson line on MetroNorth for about an hour and 20 minutes to the Breakneck Ridge stop. It wasn't a traditional "stop" though; we were dumped out on the side of the tracks ... literally. But we found the trail and started the hike. Or more accurately, the climb. We bouldered straight up for the first, oh, 45 minutes.

Six hours, two peaks and a 3-hour jaunt through the dense forest later, we made it back to the train tracks, just in time for one of the last trains to leave and take us back to the city.

I've done plenty of hikes, but this one trumps some of my Oregon favorites. High praise!

Here's Breakneck Ridge:

Where I've Been: Maine

I was at the airport for a lot of October. It was busy busy. Instead of talking your ear off (typing your, uh, eyes off??), I'll let the photos tell the story.

First: I headed to Maine for my birthday. Oh, it was lovely. I visited Annemarie at Salt Water Farm and she cooked me a tasty lobster dinner for my 26th. (She cooked it, but I killed it! What? You, Ms. Vegetarian? Yeah, more on that later.)








Go, go, go to Camden, Maine, and visit Annemarie. She'll cook you something amazing and teach you how she did it. Plus, it's simply beautiful up there.