Recharging the batteries at Red Hook

Saturday morning time for fun! Well after the gym that is.

Last week's trip home, ArtFEST and jumping right back into work and working out left me feeling a bit drained. The RX? Rest? Nah... a day trip is in order.

A while back I took a hidden harbor boat tour around the New York Harbor and we went past Red Hook which is in Brooklyn. I loved the look of the old Civil War buildings and the decrepidness of it all. So it was on my mental list of places to visit.

IKEA offers a free boat shuttle over to Red Hook since that is where their huge home furnishing store is located. So we hopped aboard- thanks for the ride IKEA!

After checking out the signage to get our bearings we started our journey.

Which way to fun?

The first stop was checking out the buildings I had seen from the boat. Turns out they were pre-Civil War and housed supplies for the troops.

View of the pre-Civil War buildings

As we were walking we found the building housing THE BROOKLYN WATERFRONT ARTISTS COALITION. So we bopped in to check it out. There was a wide variety of work and the setting was awesome.

Next along the way we found some other art living wild out in the elements but quite spectacular.

I called this one "Garden Party"

Another intriguing mural

We walked along and snapped a few pics here and there.

Wild flowers grew every where in Red Hook

I never can resist photographing a fence full of these things

Parts of Red Hook reminded me of a worn out Savannah or Wilmington. It made me feel quite at home but I could imagine in the dead of winter it would be quite a dismal place.

We happened upon the Red Hook Bait and Tackle Bar. Arriving inside I was quite happily surprised! I have a thing for taxidermy and this place was filled with it.

Quite a lovely display atop the piano

What a wonderful life vest holder

They also had just a lovely display of Prize Ribbons. My latest kick.

Vintage Prize Ribbons

One of my Prize Ribbons

Luckily I had done a tad bit of research prior to our trip and had read about some Key Lime pie. Now this is my favorite dessert so we had to find this joint. Steve's Key Lime pies. Turns out they were quite yummy.

Yum yum

On our way back to the boat home we caught a glimpse of a strange black house with stuff hanging all over it. This warranted a tiny detour to check it out. As I took the photo I noticed a man either asleep or passed out in the garage area. Now he must surely be a character!

This house was covered in black paper

All in all it was a nice trip. I will be going back again when the weather is bright and sunny. For now my batteries have been recharged and I'm good to go!