Everything We Did in NYC!

Our trip to New York City for my 30th birthday was seriously amazing! We just had the best time. And now we can't wait to go back! So, here's everything that we did on our trip to NYC.

Day 1:

1. Checked into our hotel: Hilton Garden Inn New York/Midtown Park Ave
2. Walked to Bryant Park to get food from a Christmas Market.
   -We had delicious food from Pierogie Boys.
   -We ate an amazing chimney cake for dessert.
3. Walked around some more to take pictures with Christmas decorations.
   -Giant ornaments
   -Giant lights
4. Went to the top of the Empire State Building (102nd floor)
5. Dinner at Il Mulino

Day 2:

1. We took a carriage ride through Central Park
2. Then we took a behind the scenes tour of Radio City Music Hall
3. Shortly after our tour, we watched the Holiday Spectacular featuring the Rockettes
4. Waited in line to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center
5. Watched the Saks Fifth Avenue light show
6. Stopped to look at Times Square
7. Ate dinner at City Kitchen
   -chicken strips for our 9yo
   -ramen and pork buns for DH and myself
   -donuts for dessert!

Day 3:

1. Walked around Central Park
2. Had Coffee at The Plaza
3. Walked down 5th Ave to look at the window displays
4. Stopped to look at displays at the Lego Store
5. Went to Washington Square Park
6. Ate at the Meatball Shop
7. Went to the Museum of Illusions

Day 4: 

1. Checked out of our hotel
2. Walked to Macy's
3. Saw Santa at Macy's
4. Looked at the interactive windows outside of Macy's
5. Took a cab to the airport
   

NYC Trip: Brooklyn

    This past December (I know, a lifetime ago), my family went on a trip to New York City for my 30th birthday. It was so much fun. I had always wanted to go to New York, but was kind of nervous because everything is super expensive, it's easy to get lost, bad things happen to tourists, etc. Well, it turned out, there was nothing to be nervous about at all. We mostly stayed in Manhattan, but one morning, we decided to spend a little time in Brooklyn. Here's how our day went.

Around 10am, we took a cab that dropped us off in the Fulton Ferry District. We weren't 100% sure what we wanted to do yet, so we just had our cab drop us off so that we could walk around. We ended up walking over to the corner of Washington St and Water St to get that iconic photo of the Manhattan Bridge. You know you've seen it. It's been in shows, movies, commercials, every person's Instagram. It was a beautiful spot to get pictures, but there were TONS of people there. I'm guessing that if you want to get pictures with little to no people in them, you'll have to get there super early in the morning.

After a couple minutes, we decided to walk down the street to Main Street Park. That's where we found this great little rocky beach area to take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline. It was surprisingly peaceful so we sat and chilled there for a while. 

We didn't have a lot for breakfast, so around 11am, we started our walk over to Old Fulton St. Now, the entire reason we came to Brooklyn was to get some iconic pizza! Our first instinct was to go to Grimaldi's, but after some research, we learned the owner of Juliana's was actually the original owner of Grimaldi's before selling it. So, we chose to eat at Juliana's. We did stand in line for about 20 minutes before it opened, but we were seated immediately, ordered soon after, and had our pizza within 10 minutes. O-M-G that pizza was good. We're from Illinois so my husband is a huge deep-dish fan, but I prefer that thin, foldable, delicious, wood-fired pizza. You may wait in line, but this pizza is so worth it. I'm sure people that live in New York City have other places that they prefer, but Juliana's really lived up to the hype for me.

By this time, it was after noon. We were extremely close to the pedestrian entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge so we decided to walk across it. I had read that the views were beautiful and they definitely didn't disappoint. There are a few benches along the way if you need a break or just want a place to step to the side for a picture. We stopped multiple times so our casual stroll across the bridge took about half an hour.

In all, we spent less than 3 hours in Brooklyn, but we had tons of fun while we were there and we won't hesitate to go back.

Our day in La Jolla

Last October, during our trip to San Diego, we decided to spend a day in La Jolla. It was my husband's birthday, and we ended up having a great time. We really only spent about half the day there, but here's what we did with our time:

We started out the morning by driving up to the Mt. Soledad Veteran's Monument. To be honest, we didn't really look at the monument very much. What we did do was look at the amazing views that you see from that height. It was beautiful, and while it was a little foggy that morning, we got a great view of La Jolla.

We then made our way down to the heart of La Jolla and ate breakfast at Cody's. We got there around 9am on a Wednesday and it wasn't busy at all. My husband ordered french toast while I ordered the breakfast chicken sandwich with cheddar scallion biscuits covered in sausage gravy. Both were amazing. If you're in the area during breakfast, you should definitely stop here for some food. It did seem a little pretentious, but the food itself was really good. My son didn't really find anything on the menu that appealed to him (because he's picky. ugh.) so he just ordered some bacon.

We then walked to The Cave Store. Now, this is obviously a super touristy thing to do, but we weren't going to see the inside of a sea cave without going here, so we made the trip. It cost us $13 for 2 adults and 1 child to walk down the stairs. There was a super rude woman at the bottom, but luckily, they left shortly after we got there. There isn't a whole lot of space so I would say that area can really only hold less than 10 people at a time. It is very difficult to take pictures in here with the severe brightness outside compared to the darkness of the cave. We did see some snorkelers swimming by, which was cool. We enjoyed our time down there and no other people came down so I could have enjoyed the peaceful ocean waves for hours. The stairs back up didn't seem that bad. There were over 100, but as an obese person that isn't in shape, it wasn't that bad.

We went to get the car and drove it closer to where we wanted to go next. Be aware, we were there on a weekday in October and it was difficult to find a spot. If you're going during the summer, it will be next to impossible unless you show up super early. That being said, we did find a spot. We were planning to go to a cove, but on our way there, we got distracted by a ton of sea lions and seals playing in the water and sunbathing on some rocks. We knew not to get too close (even though apparently, some people did not!). I believe there is a law in California that you are to stay a specific distance away from these animals. We didn't get anywhere near that close. That didn't keep up from getting some great pictures though. We stayed here and watched these amazing creatures for about half an hour. We easily could have stayed longer though. In this same area, there was a cool rock that you could sit on and get some great pictures of the waves breaking on the rocks. I would have thought that lots of people would have wanted pictures here, but I guess they were all distracted by the sea lions.

We then walked over to Shell Beach because it was right next to where we were. We didn't have our swimsuits with us and it wasn't a very warm day, but we did take our shoes off and explore. The beach itself is very small. But it's so fun. When you first walk down the stairs, to your right is a little cove area that you can explore. The rest of the beach has the huge wall of rock going up to where everyone else walks past. It's actually a pretty easy beach to skip by and not notice. That being said, there weren't many people down there with us. My son loved standing on a rock, letting the waves crash against his legs. It was a great little break away from a lot of people. I wouldn't say there were very many shells there though.

We continue to walk down the coastline to the Children's Pool. This is where you can watch the seals. While we were there, there weren't very many seals, but we did get to see a couple. You can walk out on this wall that juts into the water to create an area of beach where the water isn't very rough. This is why the seals love it so much!

We then tried to drive around and take some cool pictures with some Instagram spots I had found online. Some of them turned out okay and others were a hot disaster. So, that was mostly a waste of our time and just be aware. If you're trying to look for a specific mural or photo spot, it might be difficult to find parking or even find how to get there.

After that little adventure though, we decided to get lunch. We went to the Taco Stand where my husband got a carne asada taco and a baja taco. I got carne asada fries and my son got a 1 lb bag of tortilla chips. What can I say? He eats much better at home, but we were on vacation. Everyone loved their food and I was pumped about my fries. They were delicious. We then shared some churros.

This was the last day of a somewhat exhausting vacation so we decided to go back to our hotel and just pack, watch movies, and order room service to relax and enjoy the rest of our time before returning back home. We had a great day exploring.

Places to Eat in San Diego

I did some research before we left for our trip and picked out most of these places ahead of time. But no amount of research can really tell you whether you’re going to enjoy the food or not. I’m glad to say we did enjoy most of what we ate. I hope my research and personal experience will help you if you’re travelling to San Diego anytime soon.

Searsucker
Pork belly was delicious, but it was kind of bizarre. It came out as a large hunk of pork belly with a salad-like mixture on top with 2 weird crunchy potato things on the side. It was like butter the way it just melted in your mouth because it was so tender.
The short ribs came with pureed potatoes. It was so delicious. The meat was tender and moist. I could eat it every day. And those potatoes were smooth and creamy.
The duck fat fries were really good. My husband and son thought they were amazing. I, however, thought they were good, but strange. The duck fat gave them almost a nutty flavor.

Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate
After we ate at Searsucker, we walked down the block to Ghirardelli. We each had a scoop of ice cream (mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, and espresso chip). Everything was amazing and delicious, but not the cheapest options around.

Carnitas’ Snack Shack
I got the pork belly plate with shack fries and coleslaw (which my husband ate). I wanted to get the mac and cheese, but they were sold out. Tom got the triple threat pork sandwich which is bacon, pulled pork, and pork loin schnitzel. He loved it. I personally didn’t like it because of the pepperoncini on it. Owen got the carnitas taco kids combo. Everyone really enjoyed their food. We also got some chicharones to take with us.

Broken Yolk Cafe
This was a last minute choice because we had some unexpected time one morning and decided to get breakfast. This was an amazing choice because everything was seriously good. I got the crunchy french toast. Tom got the border benedict. And Owen ordered a kids pancake with a scrambled egg and bacon. It was just what we needed to get us ready for a busy day. Plus, it was reasonably priced, which is sometimes difficult to find in cities.

Lupe’s Mexican Eatery
I got the California burrito, Tom got the T-gunz burrito, and Owen got the kids rolled tacos with fries.
The T-gunz burrito was so big, my husband couldn't even finish it. He said it was delicious, but he recommends splitting it with a friend.

Crack Shack
Everything was amazing. Ran into Richard Blais. Schmaltz fries were seriously delicious. My burger came with a fried egg on top which was amazing, but I unfortunately bit into it and got the egg yolk all over my shirt! Embarrassing! My husband said this was the best food of the trip. He got the spicy chicken sandwich and fell in love. It was spicy, but the spiciness added to the flavor instead of it just being spicy for no reason.

Donut Bar
This place has amazing donuts! And they’re huge. I got the unicorn, Tom got the maple bourbon, and Owen got the Homer. They were all SO good! But so huge. I couldn’t quite eat all of mine. Seriously one of the best donuts I've ever had!

Hodad’s
This was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. My husband got the burger that was created because Guy Fieri visited here. It's called the guido burger and he loved it. My son was extatic because he asked for extra pickles on his burger and they did not disappoint. Plus, he was able to get a bottle of root beer, which always makes him feel grown up. The atmosphere in there was super unique. I would recommend giving it a try if you're in the area. We went after we left the zoo and it was fairly close by.

Where we ate that you should skip:
Sally’s
We were looking for a place to eat dinner one night when we didn’t have anything planned and picked this place based on its proximity (located right next to our hotel) and the menu which had things we liked.
My negative review is based on the wait (over 40 minutes while over half of the outdoor seating sat empty) and the price. Based on all the places we ate while we were there, it seemed a little overpriced.
The food itself was good, but not really anything to write home about.