Brooklyn to Ithaca

Russert & Rachel Visiting Prospect Park for the Last Time

After over 7 years living in Brooklyn, Rachel, Russert and I decided it was time to leave the city and head for the country.  Ithaca is where I grew up, and where Rachel spent all of her undergraduate and graduate school time.  If you’ve never been, it’s worth a visit.  Especially in the summer.  It’s 25 degrees outside right now, and the weather is doing something locals describe as “Ithacating.”  Ithaca is best known for Cornell University, the Alma Mater of Andy Bernard of The Office.  Ithaca is a dual college-town with Cornell on one hill and Ithaca college on the other.  Cayuga Lake, the middle finger of the Finger Lakes, cuts down the middle.  Ithaca was voted one of the Best Towns, 2008 by Outside magazine, Most Enlightened Town in America by the Utne Reader and is home to the Namgyal Monastery, North American seat for the 14th Dalai Llama.    Ithaca was also the first town in America to convert their downtown business district into a car-free common area, popularized by towns like Burlington, VT and Santa Monica, California.  Unfortunately, today, those commons need some love and attention in order to restore the luster and draw to downtown, locally-owned businesses.

So Ithaca is where we’ll plant ourselves for the near future.  Rachel will be working for Cornell University, I’ll be handling Business Development and Marketing for Vertical Health, an online medical education company based in Montclair NJ, and Russert will be enjoying the upstate NY parks, squirrels and Canadian Geese.

Downtown Ithaca from our Apartment