Saturday

Natalie set her alarm and woke up at 6.40am so that she could watch the sunrise over the falls (I had no idea this was happening and remained fast asleep).

Sunrise over Niagara Falls

It was, apparently, beautiful and despite feeling pretty sleepy she managed to get some lovely photos and was very pleased with what she had seen. (Natalie: It felt very special because it seemed like I was the only person awake and watching it - the rest of Niagara seemed to be dead to the world.)

Sunrise

At a more sensible hour, I got up, we packed our bags and we made our way to the rainbow bridge to cross back into the US. The view of the falls was still pretty and it made the 10 minute queue go very quickly. We got back into the US without any problems, phew.

Homely atmosphere in Kaboodles

I had done some more research on where to have breakfast and had found a place via Google maps called Kaboodles in a small town called Akron. It had 5 stars from a few people so we thought it was worth a bit of a detour. It was really quirky and as it was busy we sat at the counter. When we’d finished eating, one of the waitresses asked us where our accents were from and we got chatting about our holiday, how we came to be in Kaboodles, the differences between the UK and the US, driving The Beast… it was lovely. We let them know that the diner had five stars and great reviews, they didn’t have a clue and were pretty happy to hear it.

Quirky signs

After saying goodbye and taking a sweet from the Treasure Box, we got back on the road and continued our 310 mile drive to the Catskill Mountains.

 As it was a long drive we pretty much stuck to the Interstate the whole way, amusing ourselves with lots of music, pointing out funny place names and doing the worst American accents ever. 

We also found out that the US does have service stations on the interstate and they're a bit like the UK ones, albeit with funnier leaflets...

Entertaining leaflets on the interstate

When we arrived at The Roxbury Motel we were pleased to find it was just as we’d seen on the internet. Cool, contemporary and soooo funky. Leslie checked us in, told us to help ourselves to cookies and snacks that were in reception and then gave us our room keys. 

The Roxbury Motel in the Catskill Mountains

The 2010 extension over the road

Our room was AMAZING. Even though it wasn’t one of the more expensive suites it was still brilliant (check out the website of The Roxbury to see their amazing rooms - the sci-fi one is my favourite). The décor was so funky. Like sleeping in an expensive nightclub. Black walls, glittery wall art, leather curtains, dimmable lights, a metallic ceiling, bathroom floor tiles made from recycled car windscreens. And all pulled together in way that only someone with real style could do. If I tried to do the same it would probably look rubbish!

Panorama of Room 6 at the Roxbury Motel

There were loads of nice touches too, like the bottles of wine (if you drink them, you pay for them), chocolates on the pillows. The pillows themselves (enormous, comfy, stylish). The ribbon on the toilet roll. Fresh flowers. A personalised welcome note. A list of local restaurants and comments on the food and atmosphere of each one. And the smell of the room when we arrived.

 

Funky shelf in the bathroom made from car parts

Red and white wine, there if you want it.

Wine, flowers, coffee. Lovely.

  

Our only regret was that we were only spending one night here. Lots of people seemed to be here for the Easter weekend and were making full use of the spa. For $20 you can use of all the spa facilities and as we nosied around we saw plenty of people ‘spa hopping’ in their robes. We didn’t pay, as we simply weren’t going to be there for long enough.

Funky dining room at The Roxbury Motel

Outdoor seating at The Roxbury Motel 

The sun setting on the hills in Roxbury

After marvelling at the room, we picked a restaurant (The Public Lounge, next door) and made a reservation for 8pm. We walked up and down the main street in Roxbury as the sun was setting behind the hills and imagined what life would be like if we lived here.

The Public Lounge, Roxbury

Back at our room we opened some wine and chilled out before popping over to the Public Lounge. It was packed so we were glad they’d reserved a table for us. We ordered some cocktails and read the menu. At the back there was a four-page account of the two women that started the original Roxbury Public Lounge back in the 1800s. It was a salacious affair and a very entertaining read. The new Public Lounge was only started in 2007 after the owner did some research and found out the history of the place.

The Public Lounge, Roxbury

We kept ordering the “same again” and before we knew it we were both a little bit tipsy. Natalie had order the tuna (sorry “tooona”) but they ran out, so we both ended up having flat iron steaks – and they were sooo tasty! Cooked to perfection. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the flat iron cut will come to England because it was so good.

At the end of our meal we got talking to the waitresses, they were very friendly and were telling us a little bit about life in Roxbury and pointing out who were the regulars at the bar. Life in Roxbury sounded very nice, with the one school having all the kids from kindergarten to graduation in the same building. Things seem to be pretty chilled out and the people are relaxed and lovely. 

As we settled up, we noticed that they hadn’t charged us enough and when we mentioned it to them it transpired that our waitress had bought us a round! American folk are so friendly :) We were almost the last to leave and we retired to our room, very full and very happy.