Isolationist Vibes

Posted on 03/31/202003/21/2023 by Jake Breinholt

This month has brought some strange times, for sure. It is hard to say what life is going to look like after all of the dust settles. I have been lucky enough to be spending the past 1.5 weeks in relative solitude, away from other humans (except one other human, and one dog). In that Daniel Pink book, I mentioned a while back, a topic he explores is the science of humans being around nature. I’m very loosely paraphrasing here, but essentially Pink cites a study where the findings suggested that humans who are regularly around nature have generally improved moods compared to those who have no exposure to greenery. I have always thought this to be anecdotally true based on personal experience, but now I’m having a chance to really put it to the test. The levels of fear and anxiety that we are all experiencing as New Yorkers seems to be almost unprecedented. I’ll admit that I need all of the help I can get. For that reason I am especially grateful to be in my current day by day situation, greenery included.

Upstate Winter Vibes

Posted on 12/23/201701/17/2023 by Jake Breinholt

One of the crazy things about upstate New York is that it is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In the summer it is so green, lush and vibrant. In the winter it is like a dystopian wasteland. Anyway, we were in the Catskils over the weekend doing some research. It was kind of snowing, kind of raining, generally gross weather. We came across some dilapidated mansion/hotel looking structures that I had to pull over to get a couple of snaps of. I also love these awesome little trestle bridges where the highway goes back and forth over the river. Here are a couple of frames from the drive.

Catskills Fall Jaunt

Posted on 10/24/201610/24/2016 by Jake Breinholt

jacob-breinholt-nyc2016-0477

Something that B and I have in common is that we like to get out of town for our b-days. For two years in a row we have seen our first snow of the season on the weekend between our b-days. This year we spent a couple of nights in West Kill, NY. It is a little town not far from Woodstock and Phoenecia. The place we stayed is on a dead end road on the back side of Hunter Mountain, called Spruceton Inn. The Inn is a cutesy (but not too cutesy) spot designed for exactly the type of weekend we were looking to have. Friday night we were able to build a fire and grill some burgs before the rain rolled in. We slept late on Saturday before hitting the Phoenicia Diner for brunch and exploring the town of Phoenicia for a bit. As we were headed back to toward the Inn Saturday afternoon, the rain turned to snow.

Saturday evening we dined at Peekamoose, which was a short drive from the Inn. Afterward, we stayed up late socializing and playing card games with some of the other guests in the Spruceton Inn canteen. Sunday morning the sun finally came out. B and I took a short hike (more of a nature walk, really) to Diamond Notch Falls before heading back to the city.

Despite the less than ideal weather, we had a really great time just relaxing and being off of the grid for a couple of days. I would definitely recommend all of the spots we stopped through. Although, be forewarned that the diner feels an awful lot like north Williamsburg. Even though we missed peak foliage, there were still plenty of colorful leaves on the trees. We may have to do it again next year.

jacob-breinholt-nyc2016-0493