This week we’re chatting with our neighbors, Amanda and Erinn! Learn what’s kept them local after growing up in the area, grab their tips on the best places to head out for a bike ride, and find out where to scoop up some sweet treats from their baking business, Simpatico!
Tell us about yourselves!
Amanda is an art teacher, and Erinn is a Phys Ed teacher (turned home school teachers) - and we work together in the same school! Our coworkers like to joke that we'll need scheduled time apart after living and working together - but so far so good. When we're not teaching we are baking scones, cookies and home-made pop tarts. We have our own baking business - Simpatico. We started selling our goods last summer after deciding not to return to our waitressing gigs. We love baking for people, and we love the market atmosphere. We miss the Thursday night Food Truck Corrals in their traditional form, but are so glad to be able to participate with on-line ordering this year. Eric at The Shirt Factory did so much to make it easy for both vendors and customers. [Update: starting this Thursday, you can attend the Shirt Factory Food Truck Corral and order in person, too!]
We have two awesome girls, Lily and Finley who are eight and four years old, two old dogs and a new cat - who found us in our yard and almost insisted we adopt her regardless of our "no cats" rule. We recently moved into a new home that we adore, and is made better by a wonderful neighborhood, and even better neighbors!
On Life in Glens Falls
We both grew up in towns near Glens Falls and spent our college years away before coming back to the area after graduating. We met at work and became good friends, helping each other through some pretty challenging life events before realizing that we'd fallen in love with each other! Erinn moved into a house Amanda owned in Glens Falls before we bought our home together as a family of four.
We are the new owners of a beautiful old home - built in 1900! We've been enjoying slowly making it our own both inside and out. Our front porch is a family favorite spot, but there's nothing we don't like about this house. It looks a little different recently, as our dining room has turned into a classroom- complete with name tags and work hanging on the walls. We hung a framed map of Glens Falls from 1931 and it's awesome to see the history there on our walls, and we love knowing our house was already built when the map was printed! The neighborhood is perfect for kids - Lily and Finley love to ride their bikes through all the alleys and everyone is so friendly. We were lucky enough to have one great party before New York State was put on PAUSE, and we're really looking forward to more - especially ones we can host outdoors!
We love to be downtown in Glens Falls, especially when we can grab drinks and things to eat outside. We also love how safe the city is for walking and biking. On any given day we can leave home and hit either the bike path and head towards Lake George or the Feeder Dam Trail on our bikes. We can walk downtown or just through all the streets in Glens Falls - there's always something beautiful to see, and of course lately we have a healthy competition on which family member will see the most rainbows on a walk.
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
A perfect place in Glens Falls is difficult for us to decide on because there are so many places we love to frequent. We'd have to start with brunch at Farmacy, we both knew that right away! When we finished we'd take a bike ride or walk down the Feeder Dam Trail, stopping for our own "book club" on the canoe launch near Finch Pruyn. From there we'd stop for a smoothie from Juicin’ Jar (we love to share the Juice Monkey), and walk through Rude Betty. Then we'd head home and snack on some of our own pop tarts or scones on the porch before grabbing a margarita and some guac and salsa outside at Raul's and finish the day with dinner downtown (we can't choose a favorite right now, there's too many!).
On the Past
It may be the recent past, but we're mourning The Exchange Cafe already. Amanda would've eaten that Granny Smith sandwich every day if she could. Amanda lived in Glens Falls first and misses more downtown retail stores - Sterling and Company and Kismet are ones that stick out in her memory. Erinn misses going to Summer Jam at East Field with her family.
Having both gone to local schools and playing high school sports we have a lot of fond memories at Glens Falls High School and Morse Complex on the fields.
On the Future
One thing we say almost every time we're downtown is how much we'd love to see a little deli and grocery store. A place to grab a quick sandwich with a few aisles of convenient groceries without needing to head to a larger retailer. We'd also love to see one of Glens Falls' parks have a water feature. We lived near Montcalm Park before buying our new home, and when they put in new equipment we were completely convinced they were going to squirt water and even got Lily and Finley overly excited, only to find out we were way off course. Both the girls love to play in water, so it'd be great if we could walk to something like a splash pad in Crandall Park.
If we could really wave a magic wand we'd place a Simpatico bakery downtown. A place we could bike to, make friends with lots of customers and be a part of a downtown we love!
We're so fortunate to not just live in a home that we love, but in a city we love too. We're happy to raise Lily and Finley here and know they love to call it home as well!
This week’s My Glens Falls was made possible by The Queensbury Hotel.
Outdoor dining is back at The Q and we could not be more excited! Join them on the Park Patio for socially distanced seating, or in The Courtyard to lounge on cozy couches by the fire bowls under the string lights! They’ll be serving their Fenimore’s Pub menu for lunch, dinner, and drinks daily from 12pm-9pm, as well as breakfast on Saturday & Sunday from 7am-11am. Find out more and check out their menu here!
Thank you for supporting the businesses that support Glens Falls Living!