Sometimes it’s good to get away from the usual routine. Unplug from the world and escape the typical responsibilities, even if it’s just for a weekend. Because let’s face it, the laundry can definitely wait until Monday.

Escaping our responsibilities and disconnecting from the world is exactly what my friends and I decided to do last weekend. Our hometown is a cool two hours south of the Catskill Mountains, so we hit the road Friday afternoon for a weekend in the country.

Four city girls, a cabin in the woods, enough food and booze to last a month, and tickets to the Taste of Country Music Festival at Hunter Mountain… we were ready for the weekend.

A weekend in Phoenicia

Phoenicia is an adorable little town in the middle of the Hudson Valley. The “heart of the Catskills high peak region”, Phoenicia is home to stores, restaurants, hotels, and plenty of outdoor activities.

STAY:

We were lucky enough to stay at our friend Katie’s summer home! A wooden cabin in the Roxmor Colony, where each house has its own unique name with a quirky story behind it.

Our house was named Cherry Bounce. Story goes that there was a cherry tree in the backyard, the cherries would fall off the tree and bounce off the roof… hence, Cherry Bounce. How cute!

EAT:

Three hours on the road (thanks to traffic) makes four hungry girls. Naturally, our first meal of the trip is pizza.

Being Italian and from New York, I like to think I know what good pizza is. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to find it upstate in the Catskills.

But Brio’s Pizzeria blew me away. Thin, crunchy, great sauce and melted mozzarella. The best part though, was the sesame seed crust. Who thinks to put sesame seeds on the crust of a pizza?? Pure genius.

After a night in the woods, we were greeted by our hostess with a delicious country breakfast of eggs, toast with marionberry jam, fresh fruit, turkey sausage and of course… mimosas! Fuel for our festival day.

PLAY:

Denim, cowboy boots, and anything patriotic was the overall theme of this country music fest. We city girls did our best to blend in ;)

The Taste of Country Music Festival featured stars like Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Billy Currington and a bunch more. Although I’m not much of a country music listener, I’m always down for an experience.

So we grabbed beers, plotted out a prime location on the field, and listened to country jams for the rest of the night.

Cheers ya’ll!