We just got back from a nearly week long trip to NYC. If you follow along on my Instagram, you probably saw photos and stories of our time there. It was wonderful! We went with my mom and stayed three days in Upstate New York and then four days in Brooklyn.
The purpose of our trip was to attend the Country Living Magazine Fair. I love this publication. They host a fun vintage fair in three cities. Since we’d been to the ones in Ohio and Georgia we figured it was time to try out New York’s. We’d heard it was the best.
Since the fair was two hours north west of NYC proper we just flew in and out of La Guardia. There were many pieces of logistics that honestly gave me so much anxiety, but I have to say that we planned things well and people were so kind to us. I ended up traveling to New York with just Priscilla and meeting my mom there, which was a change in our initial plans. I just did what I needed to do, and honestly I’m proud of myself for not only surviving, but thriving on our solo leg:
I’ve been to NYC many times, lived there for a year, and love the people. I hadn’t been back since I was pregnant, but everyone was above and beyond helpful to me with Priscilla. La Guardia is undergoing a huge construction project making getting around a little harder than usual, but everyone we encountered seemed to want to help. The only challenging part of our trip honestly was getting from baggage claim to our rental car building. La Guardia has travelers taking two buses instead of one and with a baby + lots of luggage that wasn’t the easiest, but it was fine. I take my hat off to mom who drove in busy Queens. Truly it didn’t feel any worse than rush hour traffic at home. It was busy and there were lots of people, but everyone was nice on the road. It was a pleasant surprise.
Once we got out of the city it was an easy drive up to Kingston, NY. We stayed at cutest AirBnb house that had several baby friendly items including a crib, high chair, and baby gate. It was perfect for families. We all slept well the entire trip except for one night where P snuggled with me from 2-6am. For a babe who thrives on consistency, routine, and loves her own bed I was so proud of her. She mostly slept through the night each night and took decent naps, oftentimes on the go in the carrier or stroller. Priscilla is already a great traveler.
The fair did not dissapoint and we spent all Friday and Saturday there. The vendors were great, varied, and I saw some people who I remembered from past fairs. This one was held on the Duchess County Fair Grounds and they had a small 4H petting zoo that P adored. They also had several, relatively healthy food options. We had such a nice experience shopping and also exploring nearby Rhienbeck.
Tuesday we checked out of our place in Kingston and headed back down to NYC. We dropped off our car at a rental office in Brooklyn and ended up walking over to Bed-Stuy. I love Bed-Stuy and am so glad we stayed there! We got to see my dear friend Arlene and her husband Michael that night for dinner. I have other folks I would have loved to have seen, but it just didn’t happen this trip.
Our AirBnb was in a ground/basement level brownstone with the owners upstairs. Wednesday we woke up and headed to the DUMBO area. While perusing AirBnb before our trip I noticed a little tab called “experiences.” One add on mentioned was a shoot by the Brooklyn bridge. Of course I had to do it! We met our photographer Jasmin in the morning and she was positively lovely to work with. I always recommend that friends do shoots with local photographers when traveling, but had not done one myself before this trip. Honestly, I have to say it was one of the highlights and something I plan to do on future trips.
While we were in Brooklyn, Priscilla got to enjoy her first taste of ice cream from the ice cream truck! I love that these Mister Softee trucks are all over NYC, I remember them from previous trips. They had trucks when I was little, but I don’t see them around anymore in Minneapolis so I’m glad she got to experience this.
After our shoot we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to visit the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. I had been to the reflecting pools before, but hadn’t worked up the courage to go inside the museum. I have so much emotion tied up in September 11, and I’d say most of my travel anxiety comes from wondering about “what if” and if it could happen again. Some people know that my dad was doing contract work a few blocks from the WTC on 9-11. The museum, is of course, incredible. It is most certainly worth a visit.
I’m so grateful we could make this trip happen. I can’t wait to go back again when P is a little bit bigger. I’m already trying to convince mom to consider going this upcoming winter.
I’d love to see you over on Instagram, follow along with my daily photos here:
![Sharing my heart on moving from the city on the blog this morning.
“Much of my identity has been wrapped up in being a city dwelling lady and mama. I take quite a bit (maybe too much) pride in not being “basic,” as if enjoying things many others do is a sin. It’s not. I don’t believe I’ll ever be cookie cutter, but I’m finding myself settling in and loving non city life quite a bit. It doesn’t hurt, this magical house. I’ve longed for and wanted to live in an old home for my entire adult life. I love Victorians. This particular house has so many unique, interesting, lovely features that it would be impossible not to adore it [...]”
#linkinbio {📷 credit to Lisa Quinlan of Gray Duck Studios}](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae28ecfda02bc3b1920cbb7/1562857136710-BIEWCCNQ8NLSS6LVBPY1/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kCKTt8a7LIDpOpilsEC_saVZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpxFQeYc9AMcCGY71BmvEdhAIaaLAyxFvKUn9AKlVkDbDFq7WtuuMv1RCPXSlNxNJhc/image-asset.jpeg)
Doing our babymoon in NYC and waddling all over Brooklyn, I hadn’t thought of doing a baby trip! Now I gotta. Thank you!