Finding Our Way in Maui
Top female Hawaiian navigator Kala Baybayan Tanaka uses ancient Polynesian wayfinding practices to journey across the open ocean — and through life.
A Brooklyn transplant’s guide to the best restaurants, breweries, and wine and cider bars north of New York City.
AFTER LIVING IN Brooklyn for nearly a decade, I had the misconception that I had to be in the city to access the gluttonous pleasures that initially drew me in. Every time I took off a weekend from tending bar at King Mother, packed up the car, and drove to the Hudson Valley, I felt like a resistant tourist. If I wasn’t working, my weekends were meant for indulging, and it made zero sense to me that I’d leave the city for that. So, as you can imagine, it was downright preposterous to me when my husband suggested we move here.
I was naive not to understand the vast range of well-regarded restaurants in the Hudson Valley at the time, or that so much of what I was eating and drinking in the city had been grown or made upstate. We began to spend more time here, and I softened to the idea of moving. Cautiously beginning our house hunt, it became clear that moving here could mean having a little bit of it all. With each listing I came across, I started scouting the town for local gems. I was surprised to build a hefty list of restaurants, bakeries, wineries, breweries, and cider bars that pushed me toward what I knew was right for my family (and my stomach).
We eventually purchased a full-time home up here that we love and have found some Hudson Valley staples we now couldn’t imagine our lives without. So whether you’re a Hudson Valley resident or just looking for an escape from the city, the guide below encompasses all of my favorites, plus a handful of suggestions from the rest of the well-traveled team here at Departures.
Hailey Andresen is the guides editor at Departures. A New York–based writer and editor, she founded the digital lifestyle publication Household Mag and has spent more than a decade in the hospitality industry.
Alex Brodsky is a photographer and filmmaker whose films have screened at venues such as New Directors/New Films, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Nantucket Film Festival, among others. Her film "Bittersweet Place" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, garnering a special jury commendation. She is a founding partner, along with Mary Stuart Masterson and Cassandra Del Viscio, of Quality Pictures, a production company dedicated to social impact, located in the Hudson Valley.
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