my definitive Hudson Valley list

and a new podcast episode!

Hi all! I’ve been meaning to make this list for a while to share with you. It’s a list of my favorite things in the Mid-Hudson Valley, the corner of New York state that I very luck to call home.

A few things to clarify before I get into the list:

• the entire Hudson Valley is HUGE (it’s literally the entire valley along the Hudson River, which spans from the Albany area all the way down to Westchester county), so that’s why I am focusing specifically on the Mid-Hudson Valley, especially Ulster County where I live (see my absolutely not-to-scale hand-drawn map for reference)

  

• “Upstate” refers to an even bigger, more northern region than the Hudson Valley so when you hear people say they’re going “upstate” and they’re headed to the lower or mid-Hudson valley they’re not actually going upstate (I used to joke that “upstate” just meant anything north of 14th Street which is a very city person thing to say)

• Hudson, NY is a city in Columbia county and not everyone who lives and works in the Hudson Valley lives and works in Hudson, NY (my forever joke about Hudson is that if I wanted to live in Brooklyn, I would’ve stayed in Brooklyn…#sassy)

• this is not a full, comprehensive, everything list — it’s just my favorite places to eat, buy food, and a few other things like my favorite antique store, swimming hole, etc.

• nothing is sponsored! these are just the places I love the most

• so many of you don’t live or work in the Hudson Valley so I realize this newsletter might not be the *most useful* list for everyone (which is partly why the list is for paid subscribers/behind the paywall), but I’ve long wanted to put all of these thoughts in one place for all the people who ask me where they should go, etc. so this is for them (or if you know someone who is headed this way) — if this is not you, don’t worry, I don’t plan to have other newsletters dedicated solely to this one place!!!

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Okay before we jump into THE LIST, I’m so excited to tell you about the new podcast episode I just aired today! It is with…drum roll please…

Corinne Fay

!!!!

Corinne is the delightful person behind BIG UNDIES, and she also works on

Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith

and runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothes. Corinne started powerlifting in 2022 and she and her dog Bunny live in Albuquerque, NM. I loved talking to her and hope you enjoy our conversation.

You can listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts!!

P.S. In related news,

Cadence Dubus

had me on her podcast “Busy Body” to talk all things powerlifting, our bodies + more. You can listen here!

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Okay, onto my highly personal guide to the Mid-Hudson Valley, including recommendations in all of the following places:

• ULSTER COUNTY

  • Kingston

  • New Paltz

  • High Falls

  • Stone Ridge

  • Accord

  • Kerhonkson

  • Ellenville

• DUTCHESS COUNTY

  • Beacon

  • Poughkeepsie

  • Pine Plains

  • Red Hook

  • Tivoli

  • Rhinebeck

• COLUMBIA COUNTY

  • Hudson

  • Germantown

Note that the full list is too long for most email servers so best to read on the website (just click the link at the top of the email that says ‘view in browser) or view in the Substack app!