Going along the Hudson

This past weekend the weather was uncharacteristically warm and dry for late November. So Nelson decided to take me for a nice stroll at a public park in Irvington which is just south of the Tappan Zee Bridge. This park bordered the Hudson River and had a great view of the Tappan Zee Bridge from one side and the Manhattan skyline from the other. Though only Irvington residents are supposed to have access to this park, at this time of the year no one seemed to care. Except for a few people, the park was filled with a large flock of geese. I was actually little afraid to be so close to them.

Then we headed to Half Moon, a fine dining restaurant in Dobbs Ferry that served Hudson Valley produce. The service was great and the restaurant was fully booked during typical dinner hours. We arrived early enough and were able to get a table with a view of the Hudson without a reservation. The butternut squash soup was my favorite part of the meal. It was nice to know that our food had very limited gas mileage. I'm becoming more aware about my food habits and have been looking for ways to support locally grown products. We finished the meal with some pumpkin cheesecake which was special offering this season.

Since it was still early into the evening, we decided to explore more shopping options along the Hudson. We headed to the Mall at Cross County in Yonkers, a place we have seen from the highway along our drive to the city. This mall was really rundown and didn't have many stores (maybe TJ Maxx if you wanted to do some bargain shopping) worth stopping by. But the Cross County Shopping Center which is on its way being an outdoor mall was a pleasant surprise. There were many regular clothes stores such as NY & C, H&M, Express and Macy's. The most high end stores were Bebe & Armani Exchange. The Christmas tree was already lit up and place was moderately decorated. But a main drawback was that there were hardly any eating areas. This place has a long way to go before it can be a nice outdoor mall that is worth visiting. But the construction around is an indication that some improvements are coming along.