My Vicarious New Car Buyer’s Experience: III: Enjoying Heather’s Car— Or, By the Time We Got to Woodstock…

My Vicarious New Car Buyer’s Experience: III: Enjoying Heather’s Car— Or, By the Time We Got to Woodstock…

On Saturday, Heather dropped the dime. Frustrated by game-playing by car dealers, anxious about getting in over her head, and experiencing hybrid anxiety every time she thought of going cheaper and getting a gas-powered car, she came to her decision and left with a 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid with a lustrous pearl white finish.

Hybrid Sign Crop

We’ve been getting 47 mpg on the highway and a little better than 50 mpg in town. This is a car that actually exceeds its advertised gas mileage!

The Accord is beautiful, has plenty of torque, and is more complicated than an F-15 Strike Eagle. It’s at least as much mobile computer as automobile. The owner’s manual is hundreds of pages long and it’ll be months before we figure everything out.

We’re getting used to the keyless entry and push-button start. We’re getting hooked on the right lane view and backup cameras. We’re enjoying playing music and audiobooks and making hands-free phone calls over Bluetooth. And best of all, we’re enjoying the high gas mileage.

2014-04-19, Heather's New 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid  003

Heather’s Accord on the lot at the Honda dealer, just before we drove it home.

We slept late on Sunday (because we were wiped out from a week of car shopping) and drove up the freeway to Woodstock, New York. Were there hippies there still, we wondered?

When we hit the town center, our questions were answered. Forty or more mostly older men sat in a circle, banging on drums.

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  022

There were dancing groupies:

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  017, Crop

There was even a bicycle dude.

Bicycle Dude

“Score!” Heather said.

Woodstock is a picturesque little village in the Catskills, about 100 miles from New York City. Today it looks like this:

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  009 Crop

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  001

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  007, Crop

In 1969 it looked like this:

Woodstock 1969

woodstock-1-1024x661

One can listen to a drum circle for only so long. We retired to the Yum Yum Noodle Bar, where we ate a wonderful meal. There, I took my first food selfies.

2014-04-20, My First Food Selfies or Heather Has a Bowl Bigger Than Her Head  001

My Choice: Kung Pao Ramen

2014-04-20, My First Food Selfies or Heather Has a Bowl Bigger Than Her Head  002

Heather’s choice: Ramen with pork in coconut curry sauce

Because of our late start we headed home after our meal. As we walked back to the car we saw this old guy playing the yard piano.

2014-04-20, By the Tme We Got to Woodstock, It Was Two Thousand Fourteen  031 Crop

I’m sure we’ll visit again.

2 Comments

  1. Brittany
    Nov 17, 2017

    Woodstock was held in Bethel, NY.

    • Dallas
      Dec 11, 2019

      Indeed it was. Recently saw Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Dwight Yoakum in concert at the original site. But the 1969 festival was originally scheduled for Woodstock, so that’s where we headed.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Back to the Catskills | Dallas Blogs - […] couple of weeks ago we visited Woodstock. We told one another we would be returning one day; we just didn’t realize…

Leave a Reply to Brittany Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *