TRAVELS WITH LISA AND JUSTIN PROMISES ADVENTURES IN NATURE, CULTURE, FOOD AND CLASS. These could probably be the most fun and sincere persons I met during my trip to New York. Just before we bid our ways, we did a little road trip from Albany to New Jersey, where Lisa is scheduled to give a talk next day, before me and Justin continuing our journey to Flushing for a free clinic tomorrow.

On our way southwards, we came to the lovely village of Kinderhook. Most of upstate New York is green and clean, which is very natural and comfortable. I have never visited an orchard here in the States and so Justin took us to the Samascott Richards orchards. There are a few orchards that allow you to pick your own vegetables and fruits here in Upstate, but Lisa and Justin find this one to produce one of the sweetest apples. Apple are not in season right now, but we can still pick other fruits, and we decided on strawberries.

The strawberries here are not as big as those sold in supermarkets, but they all have a natural shiny red color which is really appetizing to look at. We had the whole strawberry farm to ourselves because it was 12 in the afternoon and the midday sun is way high and almighty. After that, we went picking broccoli. I haven’t touched a broccoli in its original plant ever and these were humongous. One by one, we picked those big ones and filled an entire plastic bag with it. You can actually eat the fruits in the orchard for free. But those you bring out, will be charged by its weight. We had ourselves a big box of fresh green and red.

AFTER ALL THAT HARD WORK, we do deserve a great meal for reward. Justin drove us to the town of Hudson, a beautiful old town with wooden painted dogs everywhere. Every dog is designed differently and they all have their own unique colors. Some are black and white, others colored all over; some are dressed for an elegant party, and others seemed just hip enough for a crazy one. Unfortunately, we DID not get the chance to photograph each and every one of them simply because there were too many around.

Lisa took us to Baba Louise’s, an Italian restaurant serving delicious pizza with organic ingredients. The two pizzas we ordered were super-duper-delicious. I have to thank Lisa and Justin for this incredible meal, and we talked all about Italy and Europe during the meal.

SHOPPING is one of the main reason why people come to New York, but not for me. I did not even window shop as much as I should during my stay here. That is why I am more than delighted when Lisa suggested to me that we should go to Woodbury Outlet for a looksy. This shopping haven is one of the largest outlet malls in the world. With more than 200 stores of all sorts of brands, Woodbury is always packed with dedicated shoppers and tourists looking for a bargain. For us, the budget-minded, nothing is more important than the coupon book that gives plenty discounts to the already bargained items on sale. We did not spend too much time at the outlets, but Lisa is always jumping with joy and excitement when looking at all the cute and fashionable items. In the Nike store, Lisa saw a pair of red and white running shoes, and I fell in love with it. Me and Justin ended up buying the same pair of shoes and happily trotted to the Sony store, where I saw many refurbished items on sale (which is really a great way to save money and resources).

I AM INCREDIBLY HAPPY ABOUT MY DAY, and Lisa was also super excited that we did accomplish a lot during one single day. Traveling is such a merry thing to do, and it is even merrier when you are traveling with friends.