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Style Travel

My Beacon, NY Faves Map

Beacon, NY Recommendations Map

My family and I love Beacon, NY! We only live about 20 minutes from the artsy Hudson Valley town, so we love going there on the weekends. My wife and I are always creating content and Beacon is our go-to place for shooting lifestyle and fashion images, and while we’re there we always make sure to hit up our fave spots!

Beacon, NY is filled with art galleries, a variety of cute shops, restaurants, and more, and they mainly all lie along their Main Street, so it’s a great place to visit for the day to stroll along and get some shopping and yummy eats in! My family and friends always ask me what my go-to spots to hit up are, so I decided to make my very own #MapWithProxi of all of my Beacon, NY faves, so you don’t miss anything!

Normally I’d be typing out my list here with all of the spots and recommendations, but check this out – everything is included right on my map below, complete with some notes and pictures. Now you know some of the places I recommend on your next trip to Beacon! Next time you’re there, just click this link on your phone and you can make sure not to miss my faves! http://gofyi.ly/197E3F7A

 

I honestly love this Proxi software. I’ve never seen anything like it before and it’s so useful for anyone that wants to share their fave locations with others, instead of typing out a list. Whether you’re a traveler, a foodie, a vintage shopper, a Disney fanatic, or someone that knows all of those local hidden gems that you want to share, Proxi makes it so easy to create your very own free map! You can add in notes, pictures, and even customize the location markers to make it your own. Your map will be evergreen, so as you or your friends discover more places, make sure to constantly be updating your map! I know I still have places I’ve been wanting to visit in Beacon, so I’ll be sure to update my map as I have more to share!

CLICK HERE to start making your very own map!

 

 

Reviews Travel

My Fave Tri-State Airbnb Listings!

Airbnb Treehouse

Ever since I spent the weekend up at my buddy’s cabin in the Catskills, I’ve become obsessed with browsing the Airbnb website. His cabin is only 2 hours from our house, in a completely remote area with tons of property and it was an amazing weekend of good, quality family time. Immediately after leaving I felt so good about the ability to disconnect from reality and really just had the best time with my family and friends. I always thought I would need this extravagant vacation on a beach in the Caribbean or a thrilling ski trip on a mountain somewhere out west or overseas in order to have the best time, but honestly, sometimes these little local getaways are just as good! Don’t get me wrong, I am craving my yearly Caribbean trip and cannot wait to take the family out west for skiing, but for now, with everything that is still going on, my family has made the personal decision to just stick to local getaways for now. And this is where my Airbnb obsession has begun! 🙂

I’m excited to have partnered up with Airbnb, one of the world’s largest marketplaces for unique and authentic places to stay and things to do, so keep reading for some of my listings I found that I hope to experience with my family. There are so many incredible places on there that you would not believe might be hiding practically in your back yard! When I came across some of these locations I couldn’t believe they were all within a maximum 2 hour distance from me. I’m in Stormville, NY, and although the NYC folks consider me upstate and in the middle of nowhere LOL I definitely do not live in a remote neighborhood in a dome house, or up in a tree, or a have a year round heated pool that we can enjoy, so I still get the urge to venture to even more remote places and to experience the incredible uniqueness that some of these listings have to offer! Check out some of my Airbnb picks for a unique experience all accessible from the tri-state area for a weekend getaway!

Willow Treehouse

WILLOW TREEHOUSE
As soon as I saw the first image of this place I clicked. The first thing I usually do is check the distance of the location from my house to see if it’s a realistic drive for a weekend. I could not believe this incredible piece of architecture is only an hour and a half from me! Besides being completely obsessed with the unique shape of it, I love all of the natural wood and all of those windows (click through to see what I mean)! I lack a lot of natural light in my house so I’m a sucker for a ton of windows and great lighting. Look at that big rectangular window overlooking the pond! I can only imagine my family’s enthusiasm if we pulled up to this place. The loft bed area is so cozy and Nate always sleeps with us when we’re on vacation so I imagine a ton of good snuggles while looking through those skylights. And that wood burning hot tub is calling my name. For me, I’m all about finding unique places that are not too far, and that has amenities that my family and I can enjoy together. Nate loves hiking, climbing, making fires and eating s’mores, and so do my wife and I, so being able to enjoy some of our fave activities in a place like this would be awesome. I need to go to this place for a weekend, it’s just too cool!

Alpine Frame

ALPINE A-FRAME
How cute is this?! This Airbnb listing is a little less than 3 hours from me, situated in Vermont. We’re actually used to driving 4 hours to Vermont almost every weekend during the winter because we are avid Killington skiers, so 3 hours is nothing for us! Being a ski family is actually one of the main reasons I chose this listing. As soon as I saw that it mentioned it was only 15 minutes away from Mount Snow, I was sold. I haven’t been to Mount Snow in years, but with a cozy cabin like this to stay in, I think it would make the experience so much more fun! I absolutely love the shape of this little cabin, especially with those lights running along the front of the frame – it just looks so cozy and cute! I love all of the wood grain inside and the wood burning fireplace and outdoor fire-pit. My family loves to sit around the fire when we do little getaways like this, so it’s kind of a must for me! Another reason why I chose this listing is because it mentioned that the house is only 5 minutes away from downtown, filled with boutique shops and restaurants – I’m sold! Cozy family vibes in a cute cabin, skiing, shopping and eating? This cute little A-frame has my name written all over it. We need to make the trip up to this place one weekend!

Modern Upstate Cabin

MODERN UPSTATE CABIN
So for this Airbnb listing, I was familiar with it before I even came across it on their site, because I actually follow the owner of this incredible cabin on Instagram! I’ve never actually been here before, but my eyes always pop open whenever I come across his posts of images of this place. It’s just incredible. And, the location, Red Hook, NY, is only about 45 minutes from me! Modern design in the middle of the woods gets me every time. The decor of this place is just so minimal and modern, but still has cozy vibes – it’s the perfect blend. I’m obsessed with how they stacked all of that wood in the wall. I officially want to change out my pellet stove in my house to this orb fireplace…I mean how gorgeous is this?! The mod pool is year round and heated, so that alone sold me on this place. My family and I love swimming in the winter when we go to Killington, so I know we would have a blast having this place to ourselves one weekend. It also has a solarium cottage on the property (check it out). How cool?! Imagine falling asleep in here at night? Or waking up in this in the morning? Ahhhh, it would be such a cool experience with my family. I kind of want one for our backyard! haha Considering this place is so close to me, I really need to experience it one weekend. It’s just gorgeous.

Casa Minnewaska

CASA MINNEWASKA
Again, the first picture made me click! This place looks beautiful and is only about an hour and a half from me. Most New Yorkers have heard of Minnewaska State Park, and this cabin is only about 20 minutes from the “Gunks” (Shawangunk Mountains). I actually used to go there to rock climb years ago, so I’m somewhat familiar with the area, and my family and I love to do rock scrambles and explore the cute town up in New Paltz, so the fact that this cabin is so close to activities we love to do is the main reason why I chose this Airbnb listing! Whenever we’ve been up to New Paltz it’s always just for the day, so to be able to stay in a cool place like this and make a weekend out of it would make it feel like a little vacay for me. It’s always fun to go somewhere for the day, but when you get to stay over and make a small vacation out of it, it’s so much better! Click through and look at that aerial view – it just looks so beautiful in the middle of nowhere amongst all those trees! Indoor wood burning stove? Check. Hot Tub? Check. Firepit? Check. Incredible Views? Check. Secludedness while just being a short distance to hiking and a cute little town? Check. I could see me staying in a place like this with my family and another couple, or bringing the parents and mother-in-law along. There’s room for 10 guests so it would be a great place for a cozy weekend with family or friends, while still being able to enjoy some of our fave activities nearby. Honestly, this would’ve been perfect for my 40th birthday weekend that was back in September. Wish I would’ve thought of it then! Maybe the next one! 🙂

Tree House

THE TREE HOUSE
Ok, so for this Airbnb listing, the second image (shown above) made me click! LOL I am a sucker for that retro decor! Honestly, right after I saw this listing it made me want to go buy some home decor haha. This Airbnb listing is in PA but is still less than 2 hours away from me! This place just looks so cool. Being a #plantdad, that cactus and those plants mixed in with that furniture kind of had me drooling. The shape of this cabin (click through to see) is so unique and I love all of the windows surrounding it. I don’t know why, but I just picture myself pulling up to this place in our ’64 T-Bird and then chilling inside with my wife while the Dirty Dancing soundtrack is playing. haha Although, Nate will be there too because we never like to go anywhere without him. 🙂 Besides this decor which I can’t stop obsessing over, it’s got all of my fireplace/firepit needs, is situated on 9 acres of private woods (perfect for family exploring which we love to do), and is only a 4 minute drive to Narrowsburg (which I’ve never heard of or been to, but since it mentions antique stores and local markets, it has me intrigued!) My family and I love exploring new local towns with vintage shopping, cute shops and yummy food, so I’m kind of wanting to venture here for a weekend. Being a content creator, honestly the decor alone has me wanting to go and just have a photoshoot! haha Actually, I believe PA has a lot of dirt bike trails, so I’d be curious if there is any nearby this place that we could take our dirt bikes to and have some fun outdoor adventure as well. I’ll have to look into that further! Either way, this place is just so cool. Did I mention that yet? 🙂

It was so hard to choose and narrow it down to just a few listings because there are just some many amazing and unique places to experience on Airbnb. Just go browse the site – you’d be surprised how many magazine-worthy locations are within driving distance from you! I am personally going to try and spend some more time looking for more listings that my family and I can enjoy during the winter months. Hoping that the ski season is not too heavily impacted with the pandemic, but if we must ski less this year due to less people being allowed on the mountains, I am going to make sure we make a week out of our trip or at least get the most out of the experience, by staying at a unique Airbnb listing that has a firepit, is close to a cute town, near skiing, and hopefully has a year-round pool or at least a hot tub. This sounds absolutely amazing to me and I need to get on it before all the weekends book up!

Which featured listing of mine was your favorite? I’m curious which one you would prefer to stay at if you had the choice. Comment here or on my Instagram post and let me know!

Family Reviews Style

Finding Inspiration in Beacon

Father and Son Style

Sponsored by LifeWTR
All thoughts and opinions are my own. LIFEWTR Blog Father and Son Blog LIFEWTR Father and Son Style Exploring Beacon, NY LIFEWTR

After recently taking Nate to a painting class and then introducing him to the LIFEWTR who created the cool labels on the LIFEWTR bottles, Nate has been a little more in tune with his creative side. Whenever we’re exploring a new town or city, I’m always drawn to check out artwork and murals, so I think my interest in street art has gotten Nate a little intrigued in the arts as well. We love exploring Beacon, NY. It’s an eclectic little up and coming city that is known for their arts community. We’re lucky enough to only be 20 minutes from Beacon, the home of a contemporary art museum which houses a collection of art from the 1960’s to the present. When we told Nate where we were going, I was actually a little shocked that he was so excited to check it out again! He’s been there before and really likes the crushed car exhibit. It was so cool to see how into it he was and how many questions he had. To be honest, I didn’t get most of the art myself, but I can still appreciate it. I thought if I tried to explain it to him from the descriptions they had at each exhibit, it would lose him, because to be honest, I couldn’t really understand it myself LOL. Most of the time I answered his questions and told him something that I thought would just let his imagination run!

Before heading off to our next spot, we picked up some LIFEWTR at our …my son loves the bottles with the sports caps so he can squirt it right into his mouth, or mine. He also thought it was a good idea to bring these because they’re “artsy” and we were going somewhere “artsy”, so it just made sense. He’s too cute.

Beacon is a great town to visit. Besides the museum, they have a lot of great places to eat, cute little stores, and a killer donut shop where you can customize your own donuts. Now that’s my kind of art! (LOL) It was such a nice day, we finished our donuts and at Nate’s request, decided to walk around. Down the street from the donut shop they have a really cool mural of a faceless man on a brick wall. As I mentioned, I love street art, and it was cool to show and remind Nate that not all art is displayed at a gallery or museum. He was impressed and loved the massive display!

The sun that day just kept us wanting to stroll around, so we did. We took a walk along the abandoned train tracks which actually brought us to a cool little brewery. I was driving so I didn’t partake in any of the beer and just stuck with my LIFEWTR!

It was a fun little day to just finally be outside, walking around. Normally I feel like we’re always on the go, rushing to our next commitment, but that day was an amazingly slower than normal pace and we all enjoyed it. We also got to show Nate some artwork that normally you might just walk by everyday and not really take it in, but someone did use their creativity to create it, and some of it is really impressive. We ended our trip by a little waterfall, which we told Nate was nature’s version of art! It was so peaceful to just sit there, sun beaming down, listening and mesmerized at the falling, glistening water.

After my 2 recent projects with LIFEWTR it definitely helped me realize to not just assume I know all of my son’s interests. We tried a painting class together for the first time, then had a painting session of our own at home, and then brought him back to a museum we originally thought he had no interest in, but surprisingly was super excited to go back. I love being able to expose Nate to new things, especially when he’s secretly learning while having fun!

Reviews Style Travel

HUDSON WHISKEY

Been wanting to take a trip up to the Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery for awhile now, so I finally made the trip up to Gardiner, NY with my family and my cuz. I wanted to take the tour and check out how they make and distill their Hudson Whiskey and other alcohols. The tour starts with you checking in at the beautiful store where they sell their merchandise…from whiskey to coasters. The store has a very rustic feel and is decorated nicely with the perfect ambiance for the distillery. After checking in, you go outside on the deck with your group and tour guide (our guide was Lyon) where he gives you the history of the company, starting out with how the owner’s idea went from “Bunks in the Gunks” to the first distillery in NY since the prohibition. To kick off the tour of the grounds you start in a barn at these massive metal canisters where the mash ferments. You then move on to the room that houses the big copper distills. It’s pretty cool that they’re still using the very first distill that the founder, Ralph Erenzo, started his business using. We continued the tour into the bottling room where there is a little assembly line for filling, corking and labeling. We were lucky enough to be one of the last tours to be shown this original room, but due to their growth, they’re soon moving to a larger building to up production. We finished the tour with the best part – the tasting. Unfortunately, by law, you can only try 3 different alcohols out of their selection, which included different whiskeys, a vodka, a gin, and a few other selections. I tried the Corn Whiskey, Baby Bourbon, and the Maple Rye Whiskey. I ended up bringing home a bottle of Baby Bourbon and Corn Whiskey to enjoy at home! I would’ve cleaned house and probably bought damn near a bottle of everything if I didn’t have the wifey with me. *Side note to all the men out there…I love doing things with my wife but on trips like this maybe keep them at home so you can actually clean house lol (just kidding, you need a designated driver lol) I didn’t even know they made anything else besides whiskey, but I am def glad I know now. Besides loving their bourbons I am now a huge fan of their gins and vodka! Though I have never actually used them myself I also like their bitters and plan on adding them to my next purchase. I have only recently discovered my love for whiskey, so I have not ventured on to making drinks – been just drinking them straight up to get a nose and taste for them. If you take the trip up here, I highly recommend you stop by their restaurant, The Gristmill, after your tour. I truly cannot wait to go back…as a matter of fact, I already have a date with my cousin to do so. Their menu ranges from chicken wings and burgers to steaks, ducks, lasagna, and rack of lamb. They all have their own little twist to make them different from the norm. The bartender, totally drawing a blank on his name, was very personable and one of the best cocktail craftsmen (which he called himself lol) I have come across. He definitely earned the title! He made the best tasting cocktails by far and also some of the wildest. I told him I wanted to try a couple of different types of drinks. He started me off with a drink that had garlic in it, which was surprisingly good! After that I tried a drink with tequila and cilantro…which might be the best drink I’ve ever tried. He was doing everything from putting actual smoke in drinks for flavor and had a ton of his own bitters on the bar to use. When we visited, we sat at the bar with a good friend of mine, Gable, who works at the distillery as a distiller and brand ambassador and is also the son of one of the owners, Ralph Erenzo. He walked us around the restaurant, which has an amazing history and a lot of cool, vintage features. He took us downstairs and showed us some of the original parts of the mill. He also brought us out back and showed us the working dam that’s also part of the restaurant. Nathan enjoyed asking him a bunch of questions lol Now I could’ve went on about more of the history and tastes but I don’t want to give everything away and want to make sure you get the same great experience I did on my first visit!