All Over Albany

Summer with Ellie Burhans

Pretty much every time we talk with Ellie Burhans she's off to do something fun and interesting. When we caught up with her to ask about her favorite summer stay-cation ideas, she was in the midst of a mid-day, mid-week champagne run between World Cup parties.

Powered by large amounts of coffee, we seldom see her sit still. Here's a look of some of the things she'll be doing this summer.

About Ellie:

I'm a 20 something professional who grew up in Woodstock and now lives in Troy.
I love Troy. It's close enough to Albany to have the Albany artist and community vibe but where I live it's kind of like the country too. I live near a golf course so it's kind of reminiscent of where I grew up -- trees and nature.

I consider myself a bit of a fashionista. I'm Albany's Liz lemon but i'm trying to be its Nicky Hilton.I blog at allthingsellie and I work at Forever 21. I also subscribe to the leggings as pants theory. In fact I'm wearing legging as pants right now.

What' do you like to do during the summer in the CR:

You mean besides shopping? (I love to shop).

This summer is all about the swimming holes in Albany and Troy and the municipal pools.
I like Lincoln Park Pool. I recommend going at 5 for the adult swim. It's a great way to cool off at the end of the day. I pack a sandwich or something for dinner. After five there are all these old guys in like, Speedos -- but they're really nice. There are lockers, but they don't have locks, so be sure to bring your own.

If you're going to a swimming hole definitely wear sneakers. The one that I go to most often is off route 2 in troy by the cemetery. There's actually a website with maps to swimming holes in the area, so the first time it wasn't too hard to find.

I LOVE Washington Park . Just the variety of people. You'll see skaters, people with cute dogs,some of the Albany crazies. It's just great people watching.

I'm a big fan of going to the coop and getting their vegetarian sandwiches and vegan salads and hanging out on a blanket in the park. I'm a big fan of eating outdoors when the weather is nice. I can't go away on vacation over the summer, so eating outside is that break from the norm that makes it feel like vacation... but you're not actually away! It doesn't have to be expensive. At DeJohns on lark you can eat outside and a $10 pizza will feed two people.

For day trips, I'm in love with New Paltz. It's a great town to go shopping. I like having dinner and a micro-brew at the Gilded Otter.They're got really good food and a patio.

Do you have a favorite summer food you look forward to every year?

Not so much a food, but a summer drink. I am a gigantic fan of the fruit beers .
Suzie's serves a blueberry ale from Sea Dog Beer -- and they put frozen blueberries
in the beer when they serve it. It's sooo good.

What's your favorite Capital Region summer memory?

Something that happened two years ago on the 4th of July. Some friends and I had a rooftop fireworks watching event and afterward we all went into the streets
and we saw a couple of guys actually reading the constitution. So we actually joined in this reading of the constitution! It was great. We read the Bill of Rights -- then we went skinny dipping in a pool.