All Over Albany

Summer with Erik Dollman

You may have seen Erik's posts about fashion and fitness on AOA.

He's one of those people we love to run into while we're working at Uncommon Grounds. His list of rules for life leave us smiling and thinking.

And he's always offering suggestions for something fun he's tried.

So we asked him to share some of his summer stay-cation suggestions with the crowd.

About Erik:
I'm from Rockland County-- I grew up in Suffern NY. I came up here in '97 for college and essentially I never left.

I work in public affairs and I'm a graduate student. I'm an Albany Free Mason and I do literacy volunteering. I'm also always down at Albany Strength either power lifting or just working out . And I'm about to get married -- so that's kinda what I got going on right now.

Oh, and I'm looking for a job teaching, so if anybody's hiring...

What do you like to do in the summers in the Capital Region?

Everyone downstate thinks that we're in the arctic tundra up here -- and they assume it's cool up here in the summer, but it's not.

So one of my favorite things to do is to take my dogs down to the dog park on Erie, by Huck Finns. Sometimes I've been known to sneak an adult beverage or two in there. I like to hang out in the park and just lay under a tree and read.

And anything to get into air conditioning is a good thing. I watch a lot of movies at the Spectrum. It's air conditioned and I like to support local businesses when possible.

So when I'm not avoiding the the heat I'm embracing it. I like to work out outdoors. I jog around the park, sometimes I do calisthenics and and stuff in the park. I usually wait until the crowds die down because people give you funny looks when you're just standing in place doing jumping jacks and squat thrusts... they're like "what is this guy doin'?"

One thing the people downstate have right is that its a little cooler up here at night up here I think. .. so at night I like to go anyplace that has a nice patio. I'm excited to try the one at The Wine Bar on Lark over the summer.i was excited about Cafe Hollywood but it's too loud. I have the "3 what rule" when it comes to eating out or nighttime entertainment. -- if i have to say what three times during the course of the time I'm at the place... it's to loud.

Also, I hang out on my stoop. And one of the great things about living in Center Square, is that it's a neighborhood. I can sit out on my stoop with a cocktail and a sandwich and absolutely find people walking by.

Oh, and summer is a fun time to go check out open houses. You're more likely to be going for a walk anyway, so you get the excuse to walk around a house and peak in the windows. And the houses are usually air conditioned and they usually have some nice lemonade and cookies or something there . Sometimes when you're out open house-ing, you're like, "well -.. this one is $100 thousand more then we can afford... but it's right down the street -- lets just get an idea of the neighborhood (laughs).

But one of my favorite things to do , as soon as it's warm enough, is to find a coffee shop, grab an iced coffee and sit outside and read a book and people watch. We've got a lot of great places to do that ... Daily Grind, the Ultraviolet. I've been known to go to the Muddy Cup also because they have a laundromat next door --kill two birds with one stone. Also one of my favorite places to go is Flavor Cafe in Troy. It's kind of a trek for me, living in Center Square, but they have a nice back patio and the owner is great. I really like it there.

How about favorite day trips?

One of my favorite day trips is to go to Bennington and stop at Man of Kent on the
way back. On route 7, you go through a whole bunch of run down upstate towns and then nothing and then in the middle of nothing and nowhere there's this English pub called Man of Kent and then two more hours of nothing and nowhere and then you're in Vermont. They have an authentic Kentish ploughman's lunch and they have all these great imported British ales.

One of my favorite places in the world is to go the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- so if I'm taking a trip to NYC I try to go there. After three oc'lcock in the summer, they set up a bar int he beautiful outdoor sculpture garden.

I love going to Massachusetts too. I like the outlets in Lee --where I learned that during certain times of the year -- at the Lee rest stop you can get a Mc Donald's lobster roll.

I wouldn't get a Mc Donald's lobster roll, but you could get a McDonald's lobster roll.

Then there's Mass MoCA and the Norman Rockwell Museum -- and sometime s it's a jumping off point for wandering into nowhereville.

Also, if you head south into Orange county there's Sugarloaf.. about an hour and a half south. That's a great place to take a day trip -- walk around and see the photographers studios and the craft jewelers.

When friends and family come visit in the summer, where do you take them?

If i had people coming in? Actually the New York State Museum a.) being air conditioned and b.) being free, is great. The exhibits are great but it's small so I only go when there is a new exhibit that's interesting to me. But when people come and visit, I would take them there.

What are your favorite summer foods?

I have become a big fan in the past couple of years of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food in the summer. It's light and often times it's not necessarily served piping hot. My new favorite Middle Eastern restaurant is Phoenicians. It's a great place --beautiful on the inside, friendly service, good desserts that I'm avoiding right now for my wedding. It's not only girls that want to look good on their wedding day.

What do you wish we had more of in the summers here ?

We have limited walkable neighborhoods in the summer. I miss being able to just go on a nice walk through neighborhood in the city where there is stuff going on to see -- more than just homes. There's Lark and Pearl streets -- but it would be nice to have more.

What's your favorite summer memory from the Capital Region?

I spent many happy, happy nights in what used to be called Smitty's Cellar on Ontario Street. I played a million rounds of darts there, and the ceilings were about six and a half feet tall and it was before the smoking ban so it was six and a half feet of barely can see in front of you smoke but it was a dive and it was air conditioned and they had cold cheap beer and man I loved that place. I mean, I could walk in there hot and sweaty with $10 in my pocket and leave cold and happy with $7 left in my pocket later on. Idon't know how that worked -- I think I might have won a few games of darts.

What new stuff are you looking forward to trying this year?

The Albany Institute is on my to do list. I've been there for events but I'd like to look around more. And this year, based on AOA, I think I'm going to try to organize a couple of trips to the polo matches. Not general admission -- we'll get dressed up and go o the clubhouse. I don't know anything about polo but I'm looking forward to trying.