We have been in our new home for 2 months and it still feels brand new. The main reason for that feeling is the beautiful city right across the river from us. Endless possibilities each weekend. It’s so easy to fall in love with New York City over and over again.
I have read over and over again how much New Yorkers avoid all the tourist spots, but don’t they ever feel like they are missing something? I don’t want to miss a thing – tourist trap or not. We have a limited amount of time here, so we made a list (weird, I know.)
The list will change at least 20 times, but only to add things to it. Only 53 things on the list that we haven’t done… so at least one each week? Challenge accepted.
The Classics:
Get to the Top of the Rock when there are leaves on the trees in Central Park.
Climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
Explore Central Park.
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Visit Coney Island.
Go and smell the flowers at the Botanical Gardens.
The Food/Drink:
Find a good New York bagel and see what the fuss is about.
Take advantage of one of the many outdoor food festivals.
Eat a slice of heaven at Steve’s Key Lime Pies.
Try some Mac & Cheese from S’Mac.
Enjoy lunch or dinner at the Farm on Adderly in Brooklyn.
Try Arepas at a Street Fair or Caracas.
Explore Eataly.
Eat a family style meal at La Mela (thanks Steph for the idea).
Try Oysters for the first (and possibly the last) time.
Brunch at the Clinton Street Baking Company.
Sit on the patio at Pure Food & Wine – a strictly raw restaurant.
Try a new brewery in each of the 5 boroughs.
Outdoor Activities:
Find the lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge.
Visit the Chelsea Highline.
Take the tram to Roosevelt Island.
See a game at Yankee Stadium.
Sign up for a run in NYC.
See a game at Citi Field.
Visit Governors Island.
Complete all 50 City Walks: New York that we received from our friend, Katie. (2/50 are completed)
Visit Manhattan’s Flower District.
Take a ride on the Beast (a gift from family).
Museums & History:
See the New York City Panorama at the Queens Museum of Art.
THE MET.
Go to the Museum of Modern Art.
Visit the Museum of the City of New York.
Make the trip to Ellis Island.
Have a drink at Fraunces Tavern where George Washington once spent the night.
Movies, Theater & Entertainment:
How many Broadway shows can we see? Newsies
Find the fire station from Ghostbusters.
See a concert at the Brooklyn Bowl.
Catch at least one outdoor concert – Governors Ball is #1 on our list.
Enjoy a game or concert at the Barclays center.
Take in a game or concert at Madison Square Garden.
See the Jimmy Fallon show live.
Surrounding Areas:
Visit the Hamptons and find somewhere for Justin to catch a wave.
Drive to Hyde Park and tour the Vanderbilt Mansion & the Roosevelt Presidential library.
Spend the night in Mystic, CT.
Hike one of the peaks in the Hudson Valley – possibly Bear Mountain.
Road trip the Revolutionary War sites in Massachusetts.
Spend a summer weekend in Cape May, NJ.
Explore Rhode Island.
Go leaf peeping in Vermont/New Hampshire.
Discover the beauty of the Poconos.
Camping in the Catskills or in the Finger Lakes region.
Revisit Provincetown.
Philly weekend to revisit some of our favorites and explore some new areas.
Philly weekend to revisit some of our favorites and explore some new areas.
Are we missing anything? Please feel free to add to the list all day long. Adventures await.
i would do all these things too! my friend lived across the street from mario battali's restaurant and i was like, HOW ARE YOU NOT A HUGE HEFFER PIG FROM ALL THAT GOOD FOOD?!??
the one thing i would love to do is run around central park. i see it all the time on movies and tv shows and i want to do that too!! 😀
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
Ooooo!!!! I've not been to NYC but all of those things sound great. I hope you'll blog some of your adventures.
Can I tag along? Sounds like a great list, and I will definitely look forward to your recaps!
Have you ever seen Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts? Great movie…made me think of it when you mentioned Mystic, CT. 🙂
Your list is awesome! I was in Chicago RIGHT before Eataly opened there and I am still bitter. Totally forgot about it on this trip to NYC, though. I DID go to Coney Island while I was there and it was so sad during the off-season. I'm not used to that because Texas weather is so nice that things are open year-round. I hope it's lively when you get to go!
I freaking love this.
You must also go to the Beer Garden in Queens! Great times there.
Cape May! I love love love Cape May. I will be there in April.
I would absolutely do ALL the touristy things even if I was a resident! Soak everything up that you can!
That's an awesome list, you'll be busy every weekend! ha! Have you thought about taking the Sex and the City tour? I would love to do that 🙂
AHHH! NYC is my happy place <3 "Touristy" things or not, you are living my dream so please go do everything and take 10000000 photos to share! And most of all: HAVE FUN! xo
You MUST get a cannoli from Ferraro's in Little Italy. It's right off Canal St, and it's AMAZING!!!!!
We New Yorkers always make fun of or try to avoid the toursity spots but we still do them! Even when you think this list is getting smaller much more will be added to it!
You should go to Carmines in Times Square, its great italian food! Also you should if you were thinking of going for a run there is a run called Tunnels to Towers. Its a great run my father and I do it every year. The run is not to long and at the end of it there is free food and a concert! You should look into it its great! Also if you like chinese food there is a place called Wo Hop in Chinatown which is really awesome!