Have you ever been to...

Inwood Hill Park?

Do you even know where it is?

If you're from around here you can probably guess it's in Inwood, at the very tip of Manhattan. There are several entrances conveniently located near several subway stops, but if you get off at the 215 St. stop (1 train) you can have a tasty lunch at the nearby Indian Road Cafe. The pulled pork sandwich was delicious and a bottle of pear cider put me over the top. Clear, crisp, cold...cliched? Who cares; it was the perfect beverage for a chilly, sunny fall day.

One of the things I love most about NYC is how many different parts there are that make up the whole. Does this look like Manhattan?

The correct answer is no, except, of course, that it's also yes.

Inwood Hill Park includes playing fields, wooded trails,

scenic overlooks,


tidal flats,


and even a Nature Center with clean bathrooms! Seriously people, what more could you want? Oh, and a stone marker commemorating the spot where Peter Minuit made the infamous deal with the Lenape Indians. I'm not sure that's something to celebrate, but I guess it's history.

New York City parks provide that priceless juxtaposition of industrial with natural that never ceases to delight me.




My spider sense tells me there are still a few weeks of beautiful foliage ahead of us in NYC, unless the weather changes drastically. So get yourself outside, maybe to someplace you've been meaning to visit in all the XX years you've lived here but darn it you just never seem to find the time.