For years, my husband and I have fantasised about owning a little cabin in the woods somewhere near our home in Brooklyn. Priced out of beach areas like the Hamptons or the river towns of the Hudson Valley, where many affluent New Yorkers own second homes, we thought that the western portion of the Catskill Mountains, a rural enclave two hours from the city, was the spot for us. It has rolling hills, hiking trails and swimming holes, but also spotty broadband, no public transportation, a critical mass of motorcycle-riding Trump voters and the occasional meth shack, all of which means property prices a journalist and a novelist might afford.
多年来，我和丈夫一直梦想着在我们位于布鲁克林的家的附近的地方拥有一间林间小木屋。许多富裕的纽约人在汉普顿(Hamptons)那样的海滩地区或者哈德逊河谷(Hudson Valley)的沿河城镇拥有第二套住房，那些地方对我们来说房价太高。我们觉得距离城市两小时车程的卡茨基尔山脉(Catskill Mountains)西部是对我们来说合适的地方。这里有起伏的山丘、徒步小径和游泳池，但宽带覆盖参差不齐，没有公共交通，有大量爱骑摩托车、支持特朗普的选民，有些地方还有冰毒窝点，所有这些都意味着是一个记者和一个小说家可能负担得起的房价。