Vacation Exploration
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16 posts tagged desk
We’re finishing our tour of great desk escapes in the New York Metro area with one of our favorites, in Downtown Brooklyn. We love our Brooklynite friends, who seem to believe with all of their being that living and being from Brooklyn means that you’ve passed both an intelligence and coolness test that the rest of us (including all of us at hopara, which is based near the East Village in Manhattan) clearly lack. So we’ve saved some of the best activities for you guys in Brooklyn who can’t stare at your computer monitors anymore. As always, we’ll give you a few activities that take about an hour and give you a break from your day. Here goes:
Downtown Brooklyn Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Tour the Kings County Distillery
Alright, this is really a bonus activity, since these tours are only offered informally from 2:30p to 5:30p on Saturdays, and you can’t call to find out if there’s actually anyone there to offer the tour (there usually is). But if you’re a banker or consultant or some other mucky-muck that works 24/7, this would definitely count as a good break from the day or, at the very least, quiet revenge on your friends who could meet for brunch hours earlier. Besides, the whiskey is pretty good, and it’s the only time you’ll see a still within city limits that’s there legally.
Downtown Brooklyn Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Gallery Tour!
Our friends in Brooklyn — admittedly, many of them are artists — hate the Brooklyn gallery scene. We think that this is because they all dream of being paid $100,000 per painting and having a massive solo show in Chelsea… and while it’s true that the most recognizable stuff is in Manhattan, there are a lot of great artists who get their start or get a lot more freedom in Brooklyn. We think that the best way to do this is to bike down to Brooklyn Bridge Park (come on, you have a bike, right?) and follow Water Street under the Williamsburg to Gay Street and then circle back around, visiting the many, many small galleries in Vinegar Hill along the way. We’d give you a recommendation as to our favorites here, but that’s not really fair — some of these galleries put on a great show sometimes, and a lot of them put on bad shows other times. You just have to visit them all to figure out which one is actually good!
Downtown Brooklyn Great Desk Escape Activity #3: See if you’re a real badass skater punk at McCarren Skatepark
Yup, that same McCarren where people keep getting stabbed by the pool. Don’t worry, the skate park is a little more chill, as long as you’re not a dick to everyone (like, don’t drop in on someone when they’re in a ramp). This is about a 20-minute ride on the G, but we still think that this qualifies under our hour or so time limit because, well, you’ve probably forgotten how much doing tricks on a skateboard hurts and how tiring it is to move your entire body with one leg. But, on the bright side, this is way more fun than you remember it being, and is probably our favorite way to blow off steam for a bit when we’re tired of working!
Downtown Brooklyn Great Desk Escape Activity #4: Visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
We had to give you this one, as it’s one of our favorite places in all of New York. Yes, it’s best with the cherry blossoms in the spring, but if you’re only going there then, you’re missing out! It’s 15 minutes away from downtown Brooklyn on the 2, and it’s even worth visiting on a rainy day (we can easily kill an hour marveling at the plants in the aquatic house in the rain or watching the pitter-patter on the glass roof of the arboretum). It’s also about as far as you can get from feeling surrounded by giant buildings and people who care more about the next presentation than the air we breathe and… oh, wait. We’re starting to sound a bit like hippies. So, instead of us prattling on about how this place is an awesome break, try it out next time you need to escape your desk and tell us - did it relax you?
While there are a lot of places around New York City that people work in, we’ve always been a bit fascinated by those among us who commute into Newark. To be fair, there are offices up and down the Hudson shoreline, from Fort Lee down to Secaucus, but Newark just captures our imagination a bit more (by the way, our pick for those of you in Fort Lee is a hike along the Palisades). So here we go — a few activities that can get you away from your desk for about an hour around Newark, New Jersey. And although it’s not an activity and so it can’t make our list, we think that if you spend significant time in Newark, you owe it to yourself to buy a box of hot dogs from Bests.
Newark, New Jersey Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Visit the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart
So Newark isn’t the safest place in the world - we know that, and if you work here, you certainly know that. And this architectural marvel is smack in the middle of one of the worst parts of town, right near Branch Brook Park (which we wish we could recommend, but we can’t due to the general feeling of unease we get whenever we’re there). But missing this cathedral would be a shame — it’s got fantastic architecture and it’s filled with people who really want to make a difference in the community, which makes it inspiring to us in several different ways. We’re good just sitting here contemplating or taking a stroll on the grounds and admiring the fantastic features of the building or, sometimes, trying to help them as they help out Newark.
Newark, New Jersey Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Mini Golf at the Turtle Back Zoo
We thought about sending you roller skating in town instead of this, but we couldn’t resist sending you off to what we think is the best mini golf course in the entire Northeast. It’s about a twenty minute drive from downtown, and it’s 19 holes of awesomeness. The reason we and so many other people love this course so much is that every hole centers around an animal, whether you’re putting around a life-size gorilla or afraid of the hippo. It’s a nice break with some fresh air not all that far from the city. On top of that, you might even learn something about animal habitat!
Newark, New Jersey Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Jog the old racetrack or go to the driving range at Weequahic Park
Our favorite thing about this park isn’t actually the old racetrack, which is a nice surface for running and taking a break from the day (and is only 10 minutes from downtown). It’s the golf course that they built right next to the track, which is one of many in the area (it’s a county course, but the staff is friendly and there’s not much to complain about here), and, more specifically, the driving range, where you can hit balls into the stratosphere as you try and hit the planes landing at Newark Liberty International. Just think — if your boss tells you that you’ve got to fly to Chicago in the morning, and you have to go home and pack, this is a pretty good way to work out some of the aggression you probably feel towards him or her!
That’s it for today! Happy exploring!
Ah, Stamford. The place that they moved so many offices so that the CEOs didn’t have to commute, but the rest of us did. And so it’s no wonder that many of us who trek into Stamford each day have a pretty limited knowledge of the area, and rarely go farther than the train station or the cafeteria. That’s too bad, because there’s definitely some good stuff up here! You’ll need to borrow a car for most of these desk escapes (for those of you who aren’t regular readers, these are activities you can do in about an hour while sneaking away from the office). Here goes!
Stamford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Chillax in the Stamford Cone
When UBS built their headquarters here, they decided to spend a million dollars to build a kaleidoscope that you could go inside as the centerpiece of their campus. Forgetting about how UBS may have been better served spending that money to put some controls in place in their business, most days, we see people rush past this, rarely going inside. And that’s too bad, because it’s kind of cool and trippy in here. We don’t think that you’re going to want to spend an hour — five or ten minutes should suffice (more if you’ve got a Dude, Where’s My Car vibe going), but we wanted to give you at least one thing you could do without a car here. Plus, it’s surprisingly peaceful inside!
Stamford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Rent a Kayak or SUP from Downunder
About ten to fifteen minutes away from downtown Stamford, there’s this awesome kayak and stand-up paddleboard shop (that’s what SUP means) that is literally on the water. You go in, you rent, and you can play around in this picturesque inlet that feels like it’s a million miles away from the office for a half hour or even forty minutes (if you drive fast). You’ll get a workout; more importantly, you’ll get a break as you watch the boats go by and listen to the water lapping against your board or boat. It’s the best of both worlds!
Stamford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Hike the Montgomery Pinetum
One of the things that we’ve always felt was weird about Stamford was that, in the middle of all of these beautiful homes, there’s this giant city with almost no greenery. We sometimes feel that, when we’re in Stamford, we could be anywhere in the world. And that stinks, because Connecticut is mostly ridiculously beautiful. So take a ten minute drive from your office to the Montgomery Pinetum, which has a small network of trails on its 90 acres. None of the paths are all that long (and they’re not that well marked, either), but it’s a great way to just escape for a bit and be out in nature. Plus, you’ll get to see trees that have been imported from all over the world, so there’s a lot of variation in scenery for a place that doesn’t really have any views.
That’s it for today. Happy exploring!
Don’t worry, Brooklynites — we’re coming back to you. But first, we thought we’d go to a few of the suburbs around the city where there are large office complexes. We’re going to start in Long Island because it’s partially responsible for us starting hopara - one of our founders couldn’t deal with the idea of being tethered to his desk for another day, and so he came up with the idea behind our business. And so here are a few of his favorite desk escapes in and around Garden City, New York!
Garden City / Mineola / Carle Place Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Visit Jones Beach
It’s true that this is a little far away for a traditional desk escape, as it’s about a 20 minute drive in each direction, which, strictly speaking, would only give you twenty minutes at the beach. But we’re putting it on here for a few reasons - for starters, twenty minutes with your toes in the sand definitely erases several hours of being at work. Second, no one around here drives the speed limit, so we think you’ll probably have a lot more time than not. And third, we love surfing, and while this isn’t the best surf beach, you can still catch a few waves in thirty minutes and help put your entire day in perspective!
Garden City / Mineola / Carle Place Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Visit the Cradle of Aviation Museum
This is one that always surprises us — in the middle of suburban office spaces, they decided to put what we think is one of the best aviation museums in the country. Ok, so most of what you do here is look at giant, hulking pieces of wood and steel that used to fly. But isn’t that pretty inspiring? Here’s a whole museum dedicated to people who decided that they were tired of having their feet on the ground, and they did something about it! And if they can do that, well, can’t you fix whatever caused you to need a desk escape in the first place?
Garden City / Mineola / Carle Place Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Go Bowling!
Ah, bowling. It’s come a long way - at least here - from being something that was done solely in drunken, dark hovels. Now, it’s a real sport — well, at least ESPN wants you to think it is. But we do admit that it takes a lot of skill to bowl well, and that means it requires a lot of concentration. So when you’re sitting at your desk and you’re losing focus, go bowling! It lets you focus on a completely different activity for a while, have fun, and come back feeling very refreshed! And isn’t that what escaping from your desk is all about?
That’s it for today! Happy exploring!
Today, we’re moving a bit west to give you three activities to help you get away from your desk if you work in Midtown West. If your curious as to how we define that, it’s everything west of Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and Central Park. For those of you who work closer to Fifth, you might also want to check out our post of Midtown East escapes, which we wrote yesterday. So, here we go!
Midtown West Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Visit the Nintendo Store
We’re not too proud to admit it - we love playing video games. And, on top of that, we also love beating a random nine year-old at video games. So what better place to vent a little frustration and have a bit of fun than the Nintendo World Store? It’s usually not that crowded (late in the day and on major releases excepted), and we usually find that we can easily jump between the many consoles set up here. Sure, it’s a bit disingenuous for us to go there to play with absolutely no plans to purchase, but, really, no one is keeping score. And after you’ve beaten that nine year-old, you can go back to your desk with the satisfaction of knowing that you accomplished something important today — you improved your hand-eye coordination.
Midtown West Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Rent a Bike and Explore Central Park
You know this feeling — you’re walking to the subway to get to work, and you see someone all dolled up in spandex speeding by on their bike getting a massive workout. You get depressed, because you know that you’re going to be staring at a computer monitor before they even finish. Fear not! Even though you live in a tiny apartment, you can still rent a bike from Bike Rental Central Park (yes, that’s the name of the place). Their rates are for two hours, which means that, if you decide to sneak out for longer, you won’t have to pay anything additional, and you should be able to complete at least one of the big loops in an hour, giving you a lot of time to take in the trees and, just maybe, go a little faster than those people in spandex.
Midtown West Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Get a Guitar Lesson
Right in the middle of all of those offices on Avenue of the Americas, there’s a guitar school. Seriously. And it’s really, really good - like, nationally recognized good. So while other people who read this blog might be playing video games, you’re planning for your new career as a rock star (ok, let’s aim lower - Norah Jones’ back-up guitar player). This school offers half-hour lessons throughout the day, every day, and they even provide the instruments! If this isn’t a way to get away from the day job for a bit, we’re not sure what is!
That’s it for today. Happy exploring!
We’ve decided to split Midtown into two separate posts for our great desk escape series, where we give you a few activities to take you away from your desk for about an hour, because, well, it’s a long way from the corridor on Park / Lex to the one on Sixth and Seventh. So here we go, starting out on the east side (tomorrow, we’ll hit the west side).
Midtown East Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Visit MoMA
When we suggest to people that they visit a museum on their desk escape, they usually come back with one of three responses:
1) I don’t have time to see everything;
2) I don’t like museums; or
3) I went there once already this year.
Forgetting that we think these sentences are all pretty ridiculous, here’s why you should go on an hour break: it takes only about 10 minutes to walk here (or subway) from everywhere in Midtown East, giving you 40 minutes in the museum, and museums aren’t about seeing everything. We think that you could easily spend 40 minutes in just one room (one hoparan, Jon, will go and just sit in front of his favorite Rousseau at the museum for an hour… we think that’s a bit excessive, but you gt the point). For us, the point of going to a museum is to lose yourself in a work of art for a little while - to wonder what made the person paint it, and see if you can even understand the way they saw the world. And that’s why we love MoMA - because it’s got such a wide array of works, from impressionist through today, that you’re almost guaranteed to find the one painting there that speaks to you. As an added bonus, you’re not allowed to talk on your cell phone in the galleries, which means that important call will just have to wait until you’ve decided you’re done.
Midtown East Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Go for a swim at the Vanderbilt YMCA Pool
One of the things we try to do during desk escapes is get you to a place where no one will bother you. Here, it’s a place where no one is even going to think to look for you, since it’s all the way over on 47th between 2nd & 3rd, and lets face it — most people in Midtown don’t make it more than a block away from their offices during the day. Check the schedule, become a member (it’s cheap) and jump into the pool for a few laps! You’ll get a work-out, and you’ll also be really, really far away from it all (with your head underwater), and you’ll come out feeling refreshed and virtuous at the same time!
Midtown East Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral
We are not all that religious, especially as Americans go. But when you’ve got one of the world’s most beautiful cathedrals sitting in your back yard and you don’t visit it, we think that’s a shame. This building is magnificent, and it comes complete with pews where you can contemplate the big questions or just sit in silence and skip thinking entirely. It’s also not nearly as crowded inside as it is out, where the throngs of tourists taking pictures would give you the wrong impression of the inside (ok, there is a gift shop, but no one is forcing you to buy anything).
That’s it for today. Happy exploring!
We’ve covered New England and Upstate New York on our Great Desk Escape Series so far, and now we’re moving to the big kahuna — Metro New York. Because the city is so large and so difficult to move around, we’re going to break these posts up into activities that can be done in a few select areas where people are concentrated for work. We’re also going to hit a few key areas in the outer boroughs as well as some of the suburban areas that are within commuting distance of the city. We’re kicking off the week with activities that you can do in downtown Manhattan that take about an hour and will help you de-stress from being in the office; when we think downtown, we’re really thinking about the financial district. Here we go!
Downtown Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #1: The Irish Hunger Memorial
If you work downtown, it’s likely that you’ve walked right past this without noticing that it’s there. It’s right next to Battery Park, on the corner of Vesey and North End Avenue. We like coming here - sometimes even over going to Battery Park - because it’s such a unique experience in the city. There is an authentic roofless stone cottage in the center of the garden, and then there are fantastic views from the top of the garden of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. On top of that, unlike pretty much everywhere else in New York, it’s empty. The history of the site (which commemorates 1.5 million people dying in the Irish potato famine) also helps us put things in perspective on a tough day, because sometimes, sitting in an office and pushing ourselves hard, we lose a bit of focus on how fleeting life can be and that we should slow ourselves down sometimes to remind ourselves why we work so hard in the first place.
Downtown Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Visit the Tenement Museum
All of us at hopara have spent a lot of time in New York, although we only have one native on staff. The rest of us moved here from all over the country because, well, New York has everything, and (as Jon’s mom is fond of saying), if you’re bored here, you’re just a boring person and there’s not much that can be done for you. However, all of us tend to go through a bit of shock whenever we come home to our apartments after visiting friends and family outside of the city, and all of our non-native residents wonder how much time we can spend in tiny hovels that we spend thousands of dollars per month to live in. That’s why we love the Tenement Museum tours (you have to sign up for a tour for the good stuff), and the hour-long tours are usually sufficient to remind us that, hey! We don’t have it all that bad. Look how our ancestors lived here! It’s a bit frightening to think about how fifteen people used to cram into an apartment that, today, might fit one comfortably.
Downtown Manhattan Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Run the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
There is no shortage of places you can go to work out in Manhattan. It seems like everywhere we go, there’s another cycling-only gym or a bunch of doughboys killing themselves through crossfit to try and look a little more like supermodels. We think that, while there’s nothing wrong with this type of exercise, being yelled at by a modified drill instructor isn’t different enough from the office to be considered an escape. Instead, we like this running route, which takes you through the throngs of tourists on the Brooklyn Bridge and then back along the empty outside track of the Manhattan bridge, where you get what we think is one of the best views of the city (the only one we like more is the one from planes going to LaGuardia as they fly low over the length of the island). Plus, nothing feels like leaving your desk like traveling to a different borough! Depending on where you are in lower Manhattan, this run is about 4.5-5.5 miles, so even at a 10-minute mile pace (which is where many people jog), you’ll easily complete this circuit in an hour.
That’s it for today! Happy exploring!
In the last installment in our great desk escape series in upstate New York before we head to New York City, we’re heading to Buffalo to give you a few ways to escape the office for about an hour and come back refreshed. Buffalo has a special place in our hearts — some of our closest friends have come from here, and there’s a lot to love about the city. It’s too bad that some of our favorite things in the area - Niagara Falls (obvi) and the Buffalo Ski Club are just a little to far away to do them in our about-an-hour guidelines. So we’re going to give you a few other favorites in Buffalo to help you get away for just a little while!
Buffalo, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Ice Skating at Rotary Rink
If you’re anything like our friends from Buffalo, you probably learned to skate about the same time you learned how to walk. You’re probably still bemoaning the fact that the spendthifts in southern New York had a much better season than the Sabres (we feel you). And we know that we’re writing this post in mid-August, months before anything is cold. But come on - you know you love to be on the ice, too, the same way that we hoparans who live on the coasts think about surfing constantly. So go do it! It’s free to skate, it’s easy to get to, and even though it’s a bit chilly out a lot of the year, it’s the perfect break! You also get the added bonus on knowing that there are going to be a ton of people in Fountain Plaza watching you skate, wistfully wishing that they were you.
Buffalo, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Visit the Martin House Complex
We’re willing to bet that your kids have probably seen this amazing property more recently than you have. And why haven’t you gone? Is it that you’ve already seen this once? Trust us — if you’re having a tough day, book yourself on one of the tours (they have one almost every hour) and take in how Frank Lloyd Wright made this entire house work together and with the environment seamlessly. It might just provide the inspiration that you need to help yourself solve a few problems of your own!
Buffalo, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Jog the Tifft Nature Preserve
This one was a tough one for us — the Tifft Nature Preserve is really beautiful, but it’s not nearly as pretty as some of the scenery that you have around Buffalo. That said, it’s still astounding, and we love jogging up the mounds trail, back down the bypass, and then over to the nettle and rabbit run trails. You’ll get a great view from the mounds (come on, that grain elevator is pretty iconic), and you’ll get your heart pumping a bit, too. If you’re not a jogger, that’s not a problem — these trails are all fairly short, and so you can do a shorter loop if you’re worried about time. Plus, the Tifft is about as far away from an office as you can get in a ten minute drive!
That’s it for today! Happy exploring!
Yesterday, we gave you a few options for great desk escapes in Syracuse, and today, we’re going an hour and a half west to Rochester, New York. At hopara, we try to avoid platitudes like, “Rochester is a world away from Syracuse,” even though, from an activity perspective, it’s kinda true, even if the cities are similar sizes. For starters, Syracuse is right near the Adirondacks, while Rochester has the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario, which really leads to completely different ways of playing. So, here we go, with a few activities in Rochester, New York that will get you away from your desk for about an hour!
Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden
We’ll be honest. We kinda wanted to just send you to the Museum of Play, where this is located, and tell you to run around and be a child to your heart’s content (we like the old school video games there the best). However, upon further reflection and advice from some parents we know, we thought that it might be creepy for an older person (read: anyone over 21) to hang around with a bunch of small children… you get the idea. But it’s cool in the butterfly garden, which is by far the largest of its kind in the area and will give you a breath of greenery and life during the long, cold winter. We really love being in a room filled with butterflies all around us - we can’t help it, and it’s probably Disney’s fault, but it just feels magical. Plus, the tickets are timed, so no one is going to accuse you of stalking anyone.
Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Bike from High Falls to Lake Ontario on the Genesee Riverway Trail
Let’s face it — the High Falls are pretty much everyone’s favorite place in town, and with good reason. There just aren’t that many places in the world where you get a waterfall right in the middle of downtown. Sure, this isn’t a great tourist destination — it’s not as impressive as Niagara, for sure — but it’s a great place to go to get away from your desk for a bit. So, depending on what kind of shape you’re in and where in town you are, you probably won’t be able to do this entire path and still get back to work in an hour. This makes it a great multiple escape - one day, head down to the falls; another, go up to Lake Ontario or Lower Falls (if you’ve got a friend who is also into desk escapes, see if you can get them to leave a car at the lake for both of you). It’s great scenery, and it changes so quickly from city to country to openness that you’ll forget all about whatever it was that convinced you to escape in the first place!
Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Rock Climbing!
For our last desk escape in Rochester, we thought a lot about how to help you release your inner adrenaline junkie. And while there are some great trails for running in the area and decent skiing about an hour away, we couldn’t pass up sending you to Rock Ventures, which is among the largest indoor climbing facilities in North America (it’s their claim, but we haven’t been able to verify this). Not only is this a blast (and it’ll prepare you to climb in the wild once the ground thaws), it’s a good workout, too — you’ll get stronger and more flexible as you scamper up their multiple courses, and the focus that the wall requires will make you forget all about the office.
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow in Buffalo, and happy exploring!
Before we head south to the nation’s biggest city, we thought that it made sense to cover a few desk escapes in upstate New York, starting with Syracuse (sorry, ‘Cuse) and then moving west to Rochester and Buffalo before we head down to New York City. So, without further ado, here are a few activities that can get you away from your office for an hour or so and that might just stop you from pulling your hair out when you’re asked to do yet another PowerPoint presentation!
Syracuse, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Play Bocce in Onondaga Park
It’s hard not to love Onondaga Park - despite the relative throngs of traffic, it’s still our favorite place in town to get away from the noise and distraction of the city. And while you could go biking through the park’s many trails or go for a run, we think that the best escape here is spending a buck and renting a bocce set for a half hour (or joining one of the MeetUps where a group plays). The game isn’t that hard to play (although it’s better with more people) - basically, you try to get as close as possible to a little ball with the big balls that you throw. We know that this is really a two+ person game, but we think you can play by yourself, too — it just becomes more like playing golf, where you’re challenging yourself to do better. And, more importantly, you’re getting your mind off of whatever is going on at the office for a little while.
Syracuse, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Jog or snowshoe in Clark Reservation State Park
If you had unlimited time during the day, you’d probably want to head over to Tinker Falls instead (with its awesome waterfalls, but since you’ve only got an hour, we think that Clark Reservation is a pretty good back up. Not only can you see a beautiful alpine lake and some cliff walls, every single route in the park is fairly short, which means that you can explore at almost any pace and still be back at your car for the ten minute drive back into town without worrying about whether or not you’re going fast enough. Besides, places that are pretty aren’t meant for speeding through — you’re supposed to stop and enjoy them a bit!
Syracuse, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #3: The Museum of International Masks and Puppets
As we were thinking of good indoor activities that took under an hour and didn’t involve drinking or going to a bar to watch basketball, we had an epiphany (we think we did, anyway). We thought about all of the cool stuff you can do indoors in Syracuse (we were real tempted by Canastota Kart Speedway, but vetoed it because it’s a bit too far away for a true desk escape), and then we realized that, right there in the middle of town, there’s an oft-maligned one-of-a-kind musuem (at least, it’s maligned by some of our friends there, who note that there are often lots of small children around). And while unique doesn’t always mean good, in this case, we think it’s a pretty incredible collection. And it’s actually pretty fun to take in a puppet show, too — yeah, the plotlines are, in general, subpar, but we’re always amused and it takes our mind off of whatever else is going on. And isn’t that the point of a desk escape?
Well, that’s it for today! Until tomorrow, happy exploring!
Hooray, Albany! Ok, ok. You’re probably not saying that. If you’re one of our readers in Albany, chances are that you work for or with or are somehow otherwise related to the government (except the nice folks at CommerceHub), and if you’re looking for one of our great desk escapes, you’d really like to not see that many other people or be reminded about why government is so awesome when you’re getting away from it all. So we tried to keep that in mind, which rules out every single cultural institution in town, and we’re also going to stick to our normal script of giving you things that can be done in about an hour. Here we go!
Albany, New York Great Desk Escape #1: Kayak Peebles Island
Ok, so most people who do this are trying to go from Albany all the way down to New York, and to pull this one off properly, you’ll need two people, both for safety and to park a car a bit downriver. On the bright side, the river doesn’t move that fast here, so you’re not going to have to park too far apart if you’re only paddling for an hour. And if you don’t know how to kayak, you’re in luck — the Paddle ‘N’ Pole can teach you. And with all that said, we love this because, at Peebles Island, you get so much of what upstate New York offers without having to drive a couple hours north — you get the water, you get trees, and you even get some views of steep cliffs. You get out of the water feeling completely refreshed, and ready to go back and attack some paperwork! Or stay in the water! Let’s do that!
Albany, New York Great Desk Escape #2: Bike or Cross Country Ski the Albany Pine Bush (or, if you’re in Schenectady, Hike the Plotter Kill Reserve)
This is also a fantastic hike, but walking it will take about two hours (running it is about 45 minutes at a steady clip). There are a few things that we love about this - it’s flat, it’s about 10 minutes from anywhere in town, and it’s very different scenery from what you normally get to see. Now, there is a downside — in the summer months, this is filled with ticks, so wear pants and long-sleeved hats until the parks department can solve this problem without destroying the ecosystem. That’s why we really like this in the fall and in the winter, when the scenery gets a little more stark (and there’s less people here, too). Once you go deep enough here, you’ll stop hearing the highway noise. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll see the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly!
Albany, New York Great Desk Escape #3: Visit the Planetarium!
Ok, we just couldn’t resist the Henry Hudson Planetarium. Sure, it reminds us a bit of being a kid, which is half of the point of hopara. But unlike most things that were way cool when you were a kid and then turned out to be sucky, the planetarium isn’t. Alright, we’ll qualify that. It’s cheesy, and you’re probably not going to be as wowed by this as you used to be. But it’s still lots of fun — you sit in comfy chairs, stare at the ceiling, and think about really big explosions and stars moving at millions of miles per hour for a while. Every time we go, we come out totally relaxed and ready to face whatever comes.
That’s it for today. Happy exploring!
To be honest, we’re a bit confused about why we even got requests (complaints, really) about this. While this series has covered the other major cities in New England so far, we didn’t think that there was much of a need to describe ways to leave your desk for an hour or so in Burlington. After all, we thought that you live in Burlington in the first place primarily because it’s a fantastic place to jump from an office to skiing (Bolton Valley is about a half hour away, and Stowe is only an hour). Hmm… that is a bit long for just a quick escape from your desk. Ok, we see your point, Burlington. Here are a few activities to help you get away from it all, even if it’s just for a little while!
Burlington, Vermont Great Desk Escape Option #1: Run or Bike or Snowshoe the Waterfront
This falls into the category of being too touristy for true Vermonters to do, we know. And if you’re avoiding going along this path, or you think that you can see enough of the waterfront when you grab a drink at the marina, you’re just wrong. Sure, there are parts of the trail that can be pretty crowded, but if you’re willing to go a little distance (we can run the entire trail one-way in a little over an hour, so do this with a buddy where you toss each other your car keys as you pass each other), we’re pretty sure that you’ll feel a world away from not just your desk, but Burlington in general. We really like this in the winter, too — it’s completely calm and quiet.
Burlington, Vermont Great Desk Escape Option #2: Lake Champlain Chocolate Tour
We thought quite a bit about this one, knowing that some of our friends in Burlington would write to us if all we did was give outdoors activities. Most of our friends up there seem to spend more time in the woods than not, and so we tried to think of something that’s pretty far away from the everyday. And yes, we did think about the Vermont Teddy Bear factory, but last time we were there, we heard too many screaming children, and that’s kind of the opposite of a great desk escape! We also thought a bit about the Magic Hat Brewery tour (which is awesome), but we’ve received reports that, the last time we recommended people drink in the middle of the day, they didn’t come back to work… ooops. So, instead, take a tour of your excellent local chocolate factory, get a bit of a sugar high, and then go back to work smelling of cocoa and distracting your fellow co-workers!
Burlington, Vermont Great Desk Escape Option #3: Learn How to Blow Glass at The Bern Gallery
One of our favorite things about Burlington is all of the quirky careers people have and things that they can do. And this has got to be one of our favorites. No, you won’t learn to blow glass like Chihuly; the skills you learn here are… uh… a little more practical if you live in a state with, um, certain relaxed rules about certain substances. So, basically, we’re not recommending that you actually use any of the glass you’d be learning to blow, since that would make you kinda useless for the rest of the day, but we do think that it’s fun to swing by for a quick class in the middle of the day. Just be sure to call ahead and see what they’ve got available!
Well, that’s it for today. Happy exploring!
We’ve lived and worked in Hartford, Connecticut (yes, in the insurance industry), and we know that you still miss the Whalers some days. We also know that a lot of you drive in and drive back home, never seeing more of the city than a few side streets and your parking garage, and you’re doing that because you don’t feel that Hartford is the safest place to be. This has always struck us as a shame, because there are lots of nice things about Hartford and the surrounding areas, and in our series about escaping your desk for an hour or so during the day to help you regain and / or maintain your sanity, we’re going to give you a few things you can do in Hartford.
Hartford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #1: The Wadsworth Athenium
The Wadsworth has so much to love. In addition to being right in the middle of downtown and being the oldest museum in the country, it’s got a pretty amazing collection and, more importantly, puts on a lot of very good exhibitions as well. Or, to put it another way, you can sit at your desk, staring at your computer monitor, or you can drive five minutes and be in a largely empty building where you can look at some of the best art of the last two hundred years. For us, this is a no-brainer — it’s an easy office getaway, and it will refresh you completely. Plus, it’s a museum, so you can’t really take calls in there.
Hartford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Elizabeth Park
This park, with its famous rose collection, is probably a ten minute drive from your office. Usually, we try and give you something athletic to do at this point, but we think that walking the gardens - literally, take some time to stop and smell the roses here - is more than enough as an escape from your desk. Since falling into disrepair twenty years ago, the parks volunteers have worked tirelessly to make this a true oasis in Hartford - it’s a place where time seems to go backwards, and where we think you’ll actually feel the stress leaving your body as you take a half-hour stroll through the grounds.
Hartford, Connecticut Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Mountain Biking in Riverside Park
Yeah, we know. This is the part of Hartford that people tell you not to go to. And we’re not recommending that you go there at night. However, a lot of people have put a lot of work into revitalizing Riverside Park, and we think you should give it a shot! It’s a ten minute drive from downtown (or a 15-minute bike ride), and there are over 8 miles of tracks in the park that will get your blood pumping as you take in the trees and occasional views of the Connecticut River. We like taking our bike to one of the northern entrances to the park and then winding our way back to downtown, jumping in and out of trails near the river, past boat launches (where you’re likely to see at least a few crew teams practicing), and then back into downtown. It’s an awesome break from the day, and we think it’s just the thing to clear your head!
That’s it for today. Next time, we’re heading back up north, to Burlington, Vermont. Happy exploring!
Yes, it’s time for our third day in a row of the great desk escape, our series where we help you blow off some steam or just get some new perspective by giving you an hour’s worth of activities to get you out of the office. Today’s edition is in Providence, Rhode Island, which we’ve always thought is a pretty cool, funky place. So here goes — a few activities to help you escape for about an hour in Providence, Rhode Island!
Providence, Rhode Island Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Reclaim your lost youth as a skateboarder at Neutaconkanut Skate Park
So, yeah, this isn’t the prettiest park in the world (in fact, for a city that’s so close to so many beautiful places, we’ve always felt that Providence was a bit light on parks (except for Roger Williams - see #2 below), and sorry, Warwick is way too far away from downtown for an hour-long escape), the bowl is pretty much covered in graffiti, and you’re likely to be called ‘gramps’ pretty quickly upon showing up here, but let’s think about the happy parts here. For starters, you’re only 10 minutes away from downtown, which gives you a good forty minutes to play on your deck (which, if you haven’t done this in a while, is a lot). Second, and way more importantly, our great desk escapes are all about really getting away in a tiny time period, and while we still play on our Sector 9s quite a bit, we know that most of you in readerland don’t, and we think that’s a shame, because there’s nothing quite like dropping in on a tiny ramp (and these ramps are, for the most part, tiny), scaring yourself to death because you know that the only thing between you and a lot of concrete is a flimsy piece of plywood, and then launching back up a ramp triumphantly. So go on — connect with your twelve-year-old self again. You’ll be glad you did.
Providence, Rhode Island Great Desk Escape #2: Rent a Canoe or Kayak at Roger Williams Park
This is another one that’s a blast and is usually saved for lazy weekend days or tourists. However, we think it’s awesome - in ten minutes, you can be out of your office and in either a rented canoe or kayak (or paddleboat, if that’s more your speed), going around the lake in our favorite park in town. We know that it’s not the same as getting in a sailboat or surfing down by Newport, but it is an excellent water fix for those times when you can’t get away for that long, especially since all boat rentals can be as short as a half-hour. Besides, it’s pretty, and while it’s kind of crowded by Providence standards, you’ve got so much to explore in the lakes that we’re pretty sure you can find a quiet spot to just sit and relax (and maybe ‘accidentally’ drop your cell phone in the water).
Providence, Rhode Island Great Desk Escape #3: The RISD Museum of Art
We know - you’re not going to be able to (or even want to) go outside every time you need a break from the office. So our last pick, the RISD Museum, is for those times. When was the last time you visited this museum? Think hard. It’s probably a five minute drive from your office, and we’re willing to bet you haven’t been there in a year. And that’s a shame, because not only does it have one of the best collections in New England, it’s also got great energy — the place always seems to have students in there who are excited about what they see, and that’s pretty contagious. Ok, we know — this might sound like a bit of new-age hooey to you, and our response is this — prove us wrong. We think that, sometimes, it’s really refreshing to be in a place that just celebrates beauty. Because offices, in our experience, tend not to do that.
That’s it for today! Next time, we’ll be heading to Hartford, Connecticut (and yes, we’ve heard from you guys in Burlington — we’ll get to you right after Hartford). Thanks for reading, and happy exploring!
We figured that we’d follow yesterday’s post, which kicked off our Great Desk Escape series, with another one. Today, we’ll head down the coast from Portland to Boston and give you a few ideas on how to reclaim your sanity by taking a quick break from your desk for an hour or so. As always, we try to make this something that you can do on a lunch break from the middle of downtown (usually assuming that you have no real interest in eating). So, without further ado, here goes!
Boston, Mass. Great Desk Escape Idea #1: A bike ride to Arnold Arboretum
One of the things that is truly great about Boston is how easy it is to get away from the rush of the city. While a lot of the best activities in the area, such as sailing, are going to require a few hours at a minimum, getting on a bike and getting away is pretty easy. We love the bike ride from downtown to Arnold Arboretum for a few reasons — for starters, the few from Arnold is pretty awesome, and probably the best one of the city outside of a low-flying flight from Cape Air. Second, it gives you ALL of Boston if you’re biking from downtown — you get the big city, you get the South End and Fenway, and you get the suburbs — basically, the best of Boston in a half-hour-each-way trip. If you don’t have a bike, the Hubway has you covered with dozens of pick-up locations near downtown.
Boston, Mass Great Desk Escape Idea #2: Skate on Frog Pond (winter only)
Alright, this is way out of season (we know that there’s lots of Yoga in the park right now, as well as a carousel to ride, but those just don’t feel the same to us). And it’s kinda touristy. But there’s a reason it’s touristy, and that’s because it’s a lot of fun. It’s probably only a 10-15 minute walk from your office to get to Frog Pond, and once you’re there, you’re in the middle of a beautiful park and you’re ice skating with dozens of other smiling, happy people. You’ve got to admit — this is part of why you live in Boston in the first place. Everyone is friendly (well, as long as you’re not wearing a Yankees cap), and you don’t even need to change out of your work clothes to do this! Come on! What are you waiting for?
Boston, Mass Great Desk Escape Idea #3: The Paul Revere House
This made our list because we understand that, sometimes, you want to leave your desk for inspiration. And while we love the Museum of Fine Arts, when we’re trying to get away from our desk for a little bit of head-clearing in Boston, we like the Paul Revere House way more. Here’s a guy who risked everything — you’ll see that he had a really nice house — to fight against injustice, and then after the fighting was done, he became one of America’s first real industrialists. And the best thing about Paul Revere? He wasn’t even that special. He wasn’t all that unique. He just believed. Sometimes, when we’re running away from our desks at Hopara central, it helps to know that believing and action can make a pretty big difference in the world.
Well, that’s it for today’s great desk escape! Next time, we’ll be moving a little further down the East Coast, to Providence, Rhode Island. Happy exploring!
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