Anything north of Manhattan is "upstate".

Our Saturday was fun, fun, fun. We packed in a lot of very fun things with very fun friends.

Friends Tim & Amy picked us up (in a car!!) at 8am & we starting off by heading to the Woodbury Commons for some fall shopping. I've been in sort of a denim rut (every pair I own seems to be too big or too small, or too wide, or too flared - & I have an aversion to wide jeans right now) & managed to find a nice pair of skinnys from Saks Off 5th for about 70% less than they would have normally cost. Mike got a suit that he really looks quite smashing in. Woodbury is basically the greatest place ever, except on Black Friday when it's basically the WORST. PLACE. EVER. Anyway. We were glad that it was on our way up to West Point.

Mike & Tim planned the entire day themselves. Quite proud of them actually, given that I'm generally the social coordinator in our relationship. Going to a West Point football game has been on our list of things to do for quite some time, & I'm dissapointed that this hasn't been a yearly tradition. It is now. We've driven through the town / seen the campus from a distance on several occasions, but experiencing the game & walking through the campus was such a great experience. The game was great. It felt like being at a small town high school football game, except there were a lot of men dressed in white at this one. Everyone was so friendly & we chatted with the people around us throughout the entire game (a story in & of itself, actually). I'm generally not a huge football fan, & the blasting cannons every time West Point scored didn't really help (I jumped every time), but going into overtime & barely making a winning kick was enough excitement to make it really fun for me. I even ate a hot dog, & I liked it.

We spent a few hours walking around the campus after the game. It felt like a strange mixture of a New England school mixed with the LDS Missionary Training Center. Cadets were polite, well spoken, & called us sir & m'am (m'am?! am I that old?!). The Cadet Chapel was beautiful, as was the overlook at Trophy Point. I only wish the Hudson River weren't quite so... brown.

Bear Mountain is a beautiful spot that we've been to a few times, & the view has never disappointed. I loved being able to see the Manhattan skyline in the distance. I think that we often forget that a) the island is really quite small & b) it's surrounded by beautiful, lush & green country. New York is a beautiful state, not just a bustling city.

We ended the day with a trip to the Palisades Mall, a no hesitations trip to Target (we didn't have to carry anything - just fit it in the trunk!), & a great dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I'd like to go back there very soon & have the pumpkin cheesecake again. Everything was so good, & our leftovers fed us all the way through Sunday night. Awesome. Oh - & I should mention that my favorite quote was when we walked out of the mall after dinner & Tim said, It smells like a farm out here! We looked around & noticed... bark. Fresh bark. We are truly city dwellers.

The colors up north are just starting to change. It's late this year! I'm so excited to be in New Canaan for the next two weekends. I think it will be beautiful.

*I should clarify that labeling this post New England is not entirely correct (or even close to correct), as New England is made up of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont & Maine. Not New York, nor the spectacular Hudson Valley. I suppose that by "New England" I really mean "Pretty Fall Colors & Outside-of-Manhattan Wanderings".