woodstock, hippies and hobos

We went to Woodstock late Saturday afternoon with the little kids. Usually, when we go out to dinner, we do it with the idea of getting away together to catch up, chat without interruption, hang out with friends our age -- but our kids were so excited to be going OUT to dinner, I actually felt guilty for not doing it more often.

ANYWAY, we decided to take the kids to one of our favorite restaurants, The Little Bear, (Great food - you can check it out here ) which is just outside of Woodstock. It's a fab little Chinese place right alongside a little rambling and rocky creek. We've been going to this place for years now. For some reason I just don't remember the first time we went, and I wish I did. During the summer you can eat outside on this flagstone patio - we always stay in and get a seat by the windows overlooking the creek though.

Though we are not too far from Woodstock, the ride seems long. It must be because most of the way is by back roads, through country -- oftentimes you get behind a line of slowpokes just looking at scenery. That doesn't bother me, because I like to look too. Along the way, I told the kids where we were going, explaining the town of Woodstock that we would be driving through to get to our destination. Most people think of Woodstock as the place where the hugely famous music festival happened in 1969, then again in 1994 -- but the town of Woodstock, that is a pretty cool place to go. It is of course filled with art galleries and shops, cool places to eat, cool people and things to see, and always cool music to hear on any given day.

So I was telling the kids about the music festivals, and about the time period that the first festival was set in - you know, peace, love and rock & roll. All of a sudden, Alex yells out: "Oh my Gosh!! There's a HIPPIE!! Look at his HAIR!" The girls are practically falling out of their seats to get a look at this guy walking along with crazy long dreads. (I love dreadlocks. I admit, I am secretly a wannabe granola-head. Don't tell my husband.)

Then, "A HOBO!!! Mom, LOOK!! It's a REAL LIVE HOBO!!!"

Gosh, who knew all I had to do was drive 40 minutes from home to get my kids so excited?

I think we're going to have to take some more day trips.

ps: Cuteness: as we were leaving the restaurant, the night air smelled of burning wood and Chinese food, and Brookie exclaims, "It smells just like a Chinese campfire!" huh?