I did a digital detox at a luxury Catskills resort—here’s what it was like
Over the last few years, the worrying threat of runaway artificial intelligence has loomed large in many of our minds. Still, it’s hard to imagine a productive way to respond to such a complicated, societal issue. For instance, though I have many issues I’d like to discuss with Elon Musk, he’s not exactly taking my calls at the moment. Thankfully, a luxury resort a few hours north of NYC is now offering an experience to address this ambient anxiety head-on. It also happens to take the form of my favorite coping mechanism: having a few cocktails and pretending something doesn’t exist. As a result, I knew I had to give it a go.
Urban Cowboy Lodge is a 26-room boutique hotel spread out across cabin-style buildings on a large hill. Outside, there are lovely views of the surrounding Oliverea Valley wilderness. Inside, you’ll find a maximalist, “mountain lodge” aesthetic with antler chandeliers, bold tribal prints and numerous pictures nodding to the region’s history. The lodge recently unveiled a new digital detox initiative called the “Unplug & Play Anti-AI package.” Upon receiving a reservation email, guests can opt into the program and trade their smartphones for a Polaroid camera and a list of screen-free activities. How hard could it be to live without a phone for a few days?
My husband and I arrived at the property on Friday evening. Stepping into the resort’s main lodge is like stepping into an Instagram filter you want to live in. Giant tree trunks, comfy antique leather furniture and cozy blankets surround a central fireplace. The lobby bar is seemingly made entirely of wood and trees, like a mirage you’d encounter in a forested grove if you were especially thirsty. After getting our room key, I was asked to hand over my phone and was unexpectedly hit with a sudden wave of intense panic. Still, I tried to exude an air of nonchalance as I watched my only connection to the outside world get locked into a box for three days. I was then handed a Polaroid camera and my screen-free activity guide.
After receiving our complimentary welcome drinks, our first stop was the lodge’s lower floor where you’ll find multiple shelves of board games. (Resort guests can even request board games be delivered to their rooms which feels like an amenity every hotel should have?) Also located on the lower floor is a small private screening room that you can reserve to watch movies. Technically, this probably qualifies as screen time but it feels too classy to count so I think it’s allowed.
Outside of the main lodge, the resort’s rooms are spread out across a few buildings: a cabin and chalet—both available for larger parties—the elevated “Alpine” building with stunning views of the nearby mountains and claw-foot tubs and the “Walden” building with cabin-style rooms and outdoor cedar soaking hot tubs. Our room was in the Alpine building at the top of three flights of stairs. (Those traveling with a lot of skiing or hiking gear may want to think twice about hauling everything up to a top room. Trust me.)
The room was exquisite. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to a clawfoot tub as I did to the ornate copper one found in this room. It is a vision. That was lucky because it turns out one of my main screen-free activities for the weekend was, in fact, bathing. They take soaking very seriously at Urban Cowboy. Next to the tub was a bathtub “menu” with a number of available items such as soaking salts, bubble bath solution, a scrubbing sponge and even a rubber ducky. (It’s always nice to encounter local wildlife.) I took a Polaroid of the tub and hopped in.
After a light soak, it was time to head down to the resort’s on-site restaurant which is appropriately named The Dining Room. I’ve been to many hotels in the Catskills and this was some of the best food I’ve had in the region. Chef Daniel Weiner has created a menu that combines Italian and Jewish culinary traditions, utilizing fresh, local ingredients, to create dishes that are unique and delicious. I especially loved the Grilled Challah with pickled cipollini onions. What I did not especially love was not being able to immediately shazam the Bonnie Raitt song playing during dinner. This led to a brief spiral regarding my tech-free existence, but after coming to terms with the lingering mystery, I skipped the lobby DJ dance party and called it a night.
The next day, it was downpouring outside. It was the type of gloomy weather that cries out for a long morning spent in bed passively falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. This was not in the cards for me, however, so I spent a few hours reading the novel that I brought along as an inclement weather back-up. After that, I decided it was time for another soak. After that, it seemed there was nothing else to do but venture out into the damp outside world.
With my plan to complete a hike on the property’s sprawling 68 acres thwarted, I pivoted and made a reservation for the on-site Estonian sauna. If, like me, you have no idea what an Estonian sauna is, I can now tell you that it’s like a normal outdoor sauna but better. Rather than the small outdoor bubble saunas that now seem ubiquitous at Catskills resorts, this sauna is a substantial structure with three separate spaces: an entry, a middle room and the main sauna. It was thrillingly hot, and I spent almost 30 minutes reveling in occupying a space that was already not appropriate for cell phone use. I left feeling refreshed, relaxed and with a mental clarity that I felt could be the start of my digital detox pay-off.
After that, we got drinks from the lobby bar (I had a smoky old-fashioned) and sat down to play some checkers. Here’s a question: You probably think that you know how to play Checkers but do you? I thought I did, but it turns out that was an illusion and I embarrassingly had to read the instruction booklet twice. (I still won. And yes, I took a Polaroid of it.) We had thought about going out for dinner that night at a restaurant in Woodstock before being confronted with the harsh reality that we had no way to contact the restaurant, read the menu or do comprehensive online reviews research before venturing out, so we booked another table in The Dining Room.
The next morning it was time to check-out and retrieve my phone. First, we grabbed breakfast from an adorable take-out window and enjoyed an egg sandwich on a mouthwatering buttery biscuit. (The food here is really good!) Then it was time to turn in the key and retrieve my smartphone. On the third day of my digital detox, I was surprisingly not eager to get my phone back, so I suppose in that regard the detox worked. It helps that the resort has plenty of engaging activities for analog adventuring, from saunas and bathtubs to hiking, yoga, game boards, drinking, dining and—yes—talking to strangers. It was almost enough to make you appreciate living in the present.
Then, I typed in h-o-m-e on Google Maps, selected the helpful automated suggestion and began to follow the detailed directions back to Brooklyn.
