We recently got back from our upstate, New York adventures and we had the absolute BEST time! Eager for a change of scenery, we took a road trip up north to a town in the Catskill Mountains called Roxbury, NY. Here we participated in some Winter fun with our very close friends. We all went snow tubing, enjoyed outdoor activities, explored the area, participated in history lessons, and had LOTS of good eats.
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3 Day Itinerary for a Trip to Roxbury, NY
We chose to stay at The Roxbury Motel (link) in Roxbury, NY. I highly recommend this hotel.
At first I was turned off by the word "motel", but quickly learned that this was not a motel at all! This was one of the cleanest and absolute coolest hotels that I've ever stayed at! Despite being in a very rural area, there was no signs of insects or little creatures. It has a motel like set up that the rooms enter and exit straight into the parking lot. Other than that, it had no other motel vibes.
Each room has it's own theme. We stayed in The Shagadellic room (link) where everything was "groovy, baby". Seriously. I mean, an autographed poster of Austin Powers was on the wall! The picture below of my kids on the zebra furniture is from the room. Our friends stayed in the Maria's Curtains room (link) where the famous curtain outfits from The Sound of Music exploded everywhere. Each room is unique and honestly a treat in itself. My only complaint about our room was the lack of a second, top lock on the door. My two year old was able to open the door and walk right out into the parking lot whenever he wanted. At night, I barricaded the door out of fear that my son would leave and walk away forever into the night.
Our stay came with a daily continental breakfast that consisted of cold breakfast treats such as pastries, yogurt, and hard boiled eggs. Our breakfast was preordered the day before and delivered to our room in a bag. It was actually nice to have it brought to your room so you don't feel obligated to dress for breakfast.
While the themed rooms and breakfast were a plus, the exclusive access to Stratton Falls was the real reason for us choosing to stay here. This waterfall is on private property owned by The Roxbury Experience. Staying at one of their hotel locations gave us access to their nature trails, the historic mansion, and the historic falls. I'm glad we did this because the waterfall was one of the highlights of the trip.
Day One
This is travel day. We really enjoyed the drive through the Catskills. It was very scenic and VERY different than the congested flatlands of Long Island. Once we arrived, we checked out the hotel, contemplated a visit to their onsite hot tub which I chickened out on, and hung out with our friends.
We had some amazing burgers at a local restaurant called Chappies (link). This place was kid friendly, reasonably priced, and had some fresh, locally sourced burgers! I'm not a meat person and I even enjoyed mine. As an added bonus, they had a bon fire lit outside their door which the kids used to warm up their hands and tell spooky stories. The only negative to this place was the lingering smell. My coat smelled like fried bar food for three days.. After dinner we went back to the room where the kids played Charades, Candy Land, and Color Brain while the parents enjoyed a bottle of our favorite wine.
Day Two
We reserved a two hour timeslot at Plattekill Mountain (link) for snowtubing with the kids in advance. Since this mountain boasts being "the best family skiing in the Catskills" we reserved our slots about two months ahead of our trip to ensure we got the date and time we wanted for our large group. This was my first time doing any type of snow sport, and let me tell you, we had so much fun!! The staff was super attentive and went out of their way to extinguish any of my fears. They tied our tubes together so we could slide down the mountain together, let the kids have tube races, and even spun our snow tubes when the kids asked. There was a conveyor belt that took you up and down the mountain which was especially appreciated by us parents with toddlers. The ski lodge was conveniently located central to all of the snow sports and offered all sorts of food options including some much needed hot chocolate.
After snowtubing, we showered and tried our best to warm up all of our limbs. Before the sun set, we headed out to the neighboring town call Margaretville. They had the cutest little village with shops, history, and some great eats. We dined at a fabulous restaurant called Binnekill Tavern (link). We were too full from dinner and too cold from the freezing temperatures, otherwise we would have stopped at the ice cream shop called Bun N' Cone (link) for dessert as planned.
Day Three
Before heading home on the final day of our trip, we decided to have one last adventure. We took the ten minute drive to The Roxbury Experience at Stratton Falls (link). Since we stayed at their sister hotel, we were given access to the nature trails to see the beautiful waterfall and the historic mansion. The nature trail was filled with informational signs that did a great job of depicting the history of the land and waterfalls. While I was enjoying the scenery and getting a history lesson, the kids had a ball exploring the nature trails which ended with a large, tree house like tower. My daughter was pretending to be Rapunzel, naturally.. lol Since the paths were filled with snow and ice, some of the nature trails were closed. If trails weren't closed, we would have had access to walk along the river and get very close to the falls. You can see a video of the waterfalls above. It doesn't do the whole scene justice, but you will get an idea.
After exploring Stratton Falls, we stopped for lunch at a local diner and then started the road trip back home.
Is there anything else to do in the area?
There are plenty of other Winter sports and mountains to explore in the area. Other than that, there is one other thing that I wish we had time to do. I would have loved to visit the Empire State Railways Museum (link) in Phoenicia, NY. This little museum takes you back in time through the railroad industry. Additionally, there is a scenic tour (link) that you can take through the Catskills mountains if locomotives are your thing. If we were visiting without the kiddies, we would have considered spending the day touring the local distillery (link). There is plenty of ziplining, hiking, antiquing, kayaking, and horseback riding to do if you wanted to extend your stay.
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