fall birthday weekend

This Sunday,we went for a gorgeous, aimless fall drive. It was my birthday and that was all that I wanted…just a day to get in the car, drive north, along the Hudson, without a goal and just have a relaxing few hours away from my mommy duties. It was the perfect day. I only took a few pictures… 

 
We ended up in Hyde Park, where you can tour the Vanderbilt mansion. I could spend days and days just touring historic homes. It may seem boring to some, but I am a big nerd at heart, and I love it to death. This house has all of the original furnishings and decorative items, and books and art and minutae. Amazing. It was all just left there.  In another life I would absolutely get into the curatorial/historic preservation field and work at one of these homes. That was sort of my career goal back in college, when I majored it Art History. Although a "career" never really panned out the way I envisioned. Not the easiest field to get into. And now my "career" is being a mama and making cute things from wool.  Anyway…I want to go back here next year, because they're supposed to be opening up a "behind the scenes" tour that is focused on the servants. You'll get to tour the kitchens and the basement and their quarters. I think I often find that dynamic of those monstrous old homes the most fascinating; what went on with the people who worked there. The whole upstairs-downstairs thing. 

 

This is Boscobel, although we didn't take the tour. There wasn't enough time in the day. We had to get home for the kiddies.

It was a lovely day…I wish we could manage to have more days where just Jay and I could get a bit of times to ourselves.