As a blogger, I get very random offers to try products. Sometimes they’re interesting, sometimes it’s stuff I would buy anyway, and sometimes things I’d never even bother to try. But when Buick emailed me to offer me a CAR, (A CAR!) I had no clue what to think or do.

First, I don’t drive. Also, I live in NYC: where would I put a car…? And where do I take it? The point of living in NYC is that everything is right there, or delivered to you!

But I thought about it… thought about it… my parents were coming to visit. My dad has been working with cars all his life, with racing cars and then as Quality Director at one of the big big brands (okay, Volkswagen) so he loves trying new cars, and examining all the details… I asked Buick if he could drive it, they said yes, so I mapped my runs for the whole weekend, they’d get outside the city, drive a bit and see other things besides buildings and pavement. Exciting!

Well, where did we go?

Saturday Trip – Bear Mountain, New York!!

I got a fully loaded Buick Verano, with all the stuff, a full tank, an easy pass, all hand delivered to a parking garage with no stress!  All we had to do was show up, THANKS Buick.

I figured I wanted to stay within an hour or two max. My dad doesn’t speak English or know the car so we wanted to limit the stress. He got along with the car just fine in 2 seconds!! And my husband acted as GPS and sign reader! I rested in the back 😉

The car was pretty…!! super comfy and it had a console that had more apps than my 32GB 5S!

Soon, our landscape went from shiny buildings to quiet roads and a lot of green. Pretty, pretty.

Bear Mountain is approximately 50 mins away from NYC. I had been there just once before, to run the North Face New York 50K Endurance Challenge, a great race through the trails. But I had never just gone for a run or to see the landscape.  There is an observatory on top with views of the park, the Hudson Highlands and Harriman State Park. Which is exactly what I thought my parents could do/visit while I run!

As I don’t know the park that well (and having gotten lost in mountain trails before, with DISASTROUS and TRAUMATIC effects…) I figured I’d take the main road up to the top (the observatory) and use the main road and the trails: the Appalachian and the Major Welch. I’d meet them at the top after they peruse the area and picnicked breakfast.

They dropped me off and off I went.

I CLIMBED a bit. I even passed many bikers trying to go up in such steep mountain… it was SO nice! As it was early, there weren’t many cars either, just mostly cyclists and hikers. I took off towards the trails when I identified them in the map. It was quite clearly marked anyway.

The road was great but the trails were FUN! I love that I could zip in and out of them and feel safe.

Soon, I reached the top. Well, not “soon” but later, at some point.  According to my mapmyrun, I climbed 1,254 feet in less than 4 miles!!!!!!!

I saw them parked there and they were visiting the Tower. I caught up! (Finally! WATER please!)

The observatory was a great find, though my legs were fighting the 4 floors up by then, but the views were fantastic!!!

I’d do it again…! I’d love to go in with more time (and more gear) to get lost in those trails…

Sunday Trip – Greenwich, Connecticut!!

Well, where else I can go within an hour or two? I did a little search and I found this town which apparently has the nicest “homes” in the whole country!! Why not run in a “small” town with really nice views of the sea, boats, and mansions? (the question would actually be “why go back to your tiny apt in the city?” after, but that’s a sad post!)

We left early, as usual, to avoid traffic, and mostly, the runger (my crazy hunger caused by the run).

The mapmyrun route is here, and as you can I see, I run pretty much through EVERYTHING (these pictures might out of order!): there was a park, there were trails, there was the sea, there were boats, there were houses, there were BOAT-HOUSES… even dinosaurs… really!

Most of my pictures were bad: I need to start stopping to take pictures! I was only able to post the ones that were not blurry but I hope you get the sense of the place… there was a LOT of people running!!!!!! You can see them in some pictures! I either picked a popular running route or many people run there!

It was quite different to my usual runs… I was running through a neighborhood, which I never do (I am usually in Central Park or by the water), by really nice boats/houses, it was QUIET (what is THAAAAAT?)… so so so different, energizing, inspiring, and fun…

And what were my parents and husband doing while I run? I figured they’d be having fun at the Bruce Museum (the picture of the dinosaurs!!!) but no, they followed the bee-line of Ferraris to a local car fair, three blocks away… unbelievable!!!! They couldn’t believe I hadn’t planned it.  My dad was jumping with joy.

More event info here, pics from 2013.

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, with two trips to places I wouldn’t have access if it wasn’t for the very generous Buick offer… My dad was quite pleased with the car, talking about suspension, the correct proportions of things, the way things worked, all in waaaay more technical terms I could understand.

I am starting to think there is something to getting out of the city on the weekends and having runs like that, in different places to keep you motivated and energized… still, you can always count on one of these to make you happy happier: