Recently I took a weekend away to see my favorite non-human people. It is amazing how traveling just a couple of hours out of the city can feel like an exotic destination vacation because of how vastly different and refreshing things are. Goats stepping on my feet instead of subway riders... waking up to the sound of birds rather than the the garbage truck at 4:00AM... the little things. After all, nothing is better than loving on the most amazing animals at Catskill Animal Sanctuary and Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, and of course scavenging for the most delicious vegan food. As an added bonus, almost all the places we went accepted our sanctuary member discounts too, which made our adventure all the more awesome!
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a wonderful farm animal sanctuary located in Saugerties just two hours north of Manhattan. More than 300 remarkable residents rescued from abuse and neglect call the sanctuary home. I highly recommend stopping by for a tour to hear their stories. You will be hard-pressed not to fall in love with them!
Pictured above, tiny Violet has become a viral internet sensation with more than 30 million views of this video.
After a long day making new friends, we headed to Hudson to grab a bite at Park Falafel & Pizza, a vegetarian restaurant with lots of delicious vegan options, including the bomb pizza pictured below.
Woodstock Farm Sanctuary is another incredible farm animal sanctuary about 30 minutes south of Catskill Animal Sanctuary. As you can see, during our visit we were greeted by even more captivating and cuddly creatures.
Like something out of a Hayao Miyazaki film, rambunctious guinea fowl roam freely throughout the grounds.
Garden Cafe is a ridiculously good vegan restaurant located in the heart of Woodstock. Everything I've tried here has been incredible; I would even go so far as to say it is worth the trip to Woodstock just to eat here!
Peace Love & Cupcakes is an adorable bakery serving up "Cupcakes for the Hippie in All of Us". I have heard amazing things about their vegan cupcakes and they did not disappoint! Their texture is divine and the fudge frosting...hello.
After falling in love with Lagusta's Lucsious "heartbreakingly delicious" chocolates and Sweet Maresa's Macarons at the Vegan Shop-Up events in NYC, I couldn't pass up visiting their shop in New Paltz on the way home. Everything is organic, fair-trade, vegan and unbelievably scrumptious. They also just opened an adorable shop in the East Village.
Thank you for taking the time to scroll through this travelogue! Please let me know in the comments below if you have any suggestions for more animal sanctuaries for me to visit in the near future.