A Day in Rhinecliff

As much as I love what we have to offer in the Capital Region, I do love a good day trip, especially to the Hudson Valley. This one, I have to give credit to my Mom because, for her birthday, she wanted to try to meet Paul Rudd.

Okay, to be completely honest, this wasn’t a full day trip. This was a day we drove around the Hudson Valley seeing where the wind took us but if you’re asking yourself “What can I do in Rhinecliff,” here are a few ideas.

To start, we went to the Walkway Over the Hudson. Is it technically Poughkeepsie? Yes, but it’s on the way and has a great view and it’s the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge. The Walkway itself has a few parking spots along the road of the entrance and is completely free to walk over. Get the weather and timing right it could be a really beautiful experience. The Walkway is a bridge that crosses over the Hudson River. The best part is the walk can be as long or as short as you’d like. The past couple of times that we’ve done it, we went about halfway and turned around. Still a great walk and a great way to get outdoors.

Next, we headed to Rhinecliff. We’ve heard such great things about Samuel’s Sweet Shop, we had to see it for ourselves. Quick backstory, the shop was going to close until Paul Rudd (yes, that Paul Rudd), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (yep, him too) and his wife Hilarie Burton decided to save it. It’s honestly nothing more than a candy store with some treats with the owners’ faces on them. The candy was good, and the brands were mostly familiar (spotted local Upstate Cookie Shack) but aside from that, the draw is obviously the mere chance to meet one of the owners randomly stopping by. Either way it’s super cute but prepare to instantly turn into a kid in a candy store with adult money wanting to buy yourself everything. Don’t sleep on the chocolate-covered Oreo section that has some filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, York’s Peppermint Patties and cookie dough – genius!

Since we were celebrating my Mom’s birthday, we stopped at Bread Alone for a piece of cake. All of the bread looked amazing and if I didn’t just buy my weight in candy, I probably would’ve bought more carbs.

For dinner, we ventured to Terrapin. We went to the bistro side and the food was fantastic. I got one of the specialty cocktails which was also on point. I’ve heard great things about their food and was so happy that it met expectations. I ordered the crispy eggplant dip (Eggplant, fresh mozzarella and pesto in crusty Italian garlic bread with tomato-sherry dipping sauce). I’d never heard of anything like that and was so happy with my choice.

Rhinecliff was a very cute town with a ton of other shops and especially restaurants that I’d love to go back and try. Definitely worth the day trip if you’re looking to get out of the house!