The last week in September Andrew (the hubs) and I took a road trip to Sleepy Hollow, NY to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. On the way there and back, we stopped to check out some sights. I've been to Salem, MA a few times and was expecting something similar from Sleepy Hollow. They really don't cash in on their notoriety too much, and it felt like a suburb of New York City instead of a spooky town with history steeped in a headless horseman. Anyway, get ready ~ this is a long blog!
We started the trek across New York State and stopped at the Northeast Classic Car Museum thanks to a recommendation by Andrea (who you might remember from the Cat Video Fest) where even if you don't like cars, they have motorcycles, mannequins dressed in true vintage to match the cars, cars from the race of gentleman and fab art deco architecture! It was very impressive. I recommend.
Then we hit up Robot City Games & Arcade the largest arcade in NYS - I'm not a gamer but the blacklight arcade took me back! Andrew found some games he never played. He'll always get the high score at Galaga, but I kicked his butt at Tetris. We stayed over in Binghamton, NY the first night.
Day 2 we drove to Storm King Art Center. It's an outdoor sculpture park that I could have stayed in all day! It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air, and everywhere you looked there was a sculpture to walk to. It had rolling hills as far as thee eye could see, and a huge outdoor gazebo restaurant where we grabbed lunch. It's a lot of walking, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved it.
After Storm King we continued driving to Sleepy Hollow, and checked in at our hotel that left much to be desired. It was cold in our room, and we tried to turn up the heat, and it wasn't working. We called the front desk and they gave us a space heater. What the hell! I guess they want us to burn down their hotel. In another instance I asked where the nearest post office is, and they were unsure. You're a hotel! No one has ever asked that before?!!! At one point I asked for a fork, they told me they didn't have any. They have a restaurant in the lobby, so don't tell me you don't have any forks. Plus they were doing construction on the sidewalk surrounding the hotel, so it was loud, and the key card swipe to the outside door was left unlocked the whole time. The hotel was a mess. I'm guessing they were recently sold and under new ownership and trying to get it together, but in that case, close for a few weeks, so your customers don't have a bad experience. Of course this was the hotel we were staying at the longest too. I DO NOT recommend The Sleepy Hollow Hotel.
Onward and upward! Adventures for day 3 included fueling up with breakfast at the Eldorado Diner and walking from end to end in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and around it. The cemetery was the best part of Sleepy Hollow. It felt old with a lot of history. If you plan on going to walk around, there's a ton of steep hills, gravel, and signs that say no picnicking. You can take tours though. We weren't able to catch one because our timing was off, but I've heard good things about them. Again, wear comfortable shoes because it's lots of walking.
The Eldorado is kitschtastic for Sleepy Hollow. The outside of the building is covered in mirrors, and the inside looks like it stepped out of the 1950s with a 1970s and 2000s update to the interior. It still has a rotating cake case, but it's dark wood, throw in a life size wizard, and it was the perfect breakfast spot!
On to the cemetery! On the way there, you'll pass this sculpture in a teeny tiny park in the middle of the street.
Washington Irving's grave...
Me on the headless horseman bridge in the cemetery. This isn't the original location, but it's close.
I wore my Sleepy Hollow dress from Kitschy Witch Designs a nice family loved it so much they stopped and took my picture.
Earrings from TheLadyDisarray
Shoes are Doc Martens
We also stopped at this statue which is outside of the cemetery...
That evening we had our 20th anniversary dinner at Goosefeather. It's in a boutique hotel, and the setting was perfect. I will remember this ginger and thyme drink forever, the food and drinks were delicious.
On day 4 we shopped at Pretty Funny Vintage and checked out the local Main St. Of course, I ended up buying books from the cutest bookshop Transom Book Shop and YES that is a copy of Bunnicula in a red velvet cover! I chatted with the owner who was friendly and approved my selections.
We also went to the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze where there's over 7000 carved pumpkins set to themes and a soundtrack. It's on the grounds of an old plantation near water, so it's a vast setting. We sampled local pumpkin beer too. I liked the MOPA (Museum of Pumpkin Art) display best.
Day 5 we worked our way back to Western New York. We stopped in Syracuse, NY where we ALWAYS visit The Syracuse Antiques Exchange ~ it's huge! Then we ate at Dinosaur BBQ. I think I still like the Rochester, NY one best.
It was a nice getaway, but it wasn't as spooky as I had hoped, and of course it was a lot of driving, so I did need a little recovery time after our vacation. All in all, I enjoyed the stops to and from Sleepy Hollow better than actually going there. The cemetery was the highlight.
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