When I first moved to Connecticut Dad was in town and we spent some time in NYC. The next year we spent some time in NYC again. This year...we spent time in NYC again! :)
Dad's flight was a bit delayed on Thursday night but he made it back in time for us to make it to my favorite Boston restaurant, Silvertone. Its solid stick-to-your ribs food like mac & cheese and steak tips. Oh! They also have the best raspberry martini's EVAH!
It was a late evening but we had to start out early the next day. We were off to see the city of big lights and land of street vendors. Dad is good sport and is pretty much up for anything I suggested and this trip showed me his trust in my judgement. He agreed to hop on the Fung Wah Bus and let them transport us to NYC. The bus leaves from South Station in Chinatown and drops us off in Chinatown in NYC right by the Manhattan Bridge. Its not the nicest bus and sometimes smells like old Chinese Food, but its $15 one-way and thats the cheapest price you can find!
Dad and I arrived in NYC around 11am and we were starving! Our first pit stop was getting some Dim Sum right in Chinatown at Jing Fong. Dim Sum is always an interesting event for 2 reasons. Usually Dad and I are the only non-asian people in the entire building and we have no idea what we are eating. Our normal response to everything is "No Meat. No Pork." and we are always on the quest to find these doughy sweet potato roll things we had once before in Boston. The meal was great, the price was better ($15 for both of us!) and we were fueled up for the rest of the day.
We hopped on the subway and headed uptown to visit the American Musuem of Natural History. In all the times I've visited NYC I have never had the time to visit this museum but I've heard from many that its a must see so Dad and I had to see it! We hit a small snag though. My navigation skills are usually pretty good but I somehow managed us to get stuck on the other side of the "park". Too bad the park is about a mile wide! The weather was great though so we trucked it through and saw a few interesting sites along the way, including the Belvedere Castle. This castle is where the temperature is taken and reported throughout the city.
Then we finally made it to the museum!
Once inside we decided to go to the Mystic Creatures exhibit. It was all about the myths surrounding mermaids, unicorns and dragons. Very cool but not a great environment to take pictures.
The best part about the museum is the animal exhibits. They are amazing and had dad and I wondering if they were real. I realize now it would be creepy if they had stuffed this many animals!
There were also some great dinosaur exhibits with tons of bones and stories to go along with them. I spent most of that trip trying to convince dad that dinosaurs are made up stories to mess with all humans. I don't think it worked but it did make him laugh!
Say hello to my little friend...
After a few hours in the museum it was time to head down to the East Village for some people watching. On our way to the subway we were treated to a traditional car vs. car arguement between two New Yorkers. It was great!
One of the first things that we saw once we arrived in the East Village is the Tiles for America project. Each tile was made by someone who wanted to express their sorrow, prayers, thoughts, etc about the events of 911 and the time following it. It was an amazing site!
Most of the rest of our day was just walking around the East Village and through the local markets. There were plenty of artists, foodies and veggies available to look at and explore. We had some maple candy, drank Starbucks, ate pizza and just hung around. It was a great day in NYC...especially with my dad!
Saturday was the start to another busy, busy day! We hopped in the car and started the drive down to the Cape. Destination=Provincetown!
I had heard from a few reliable sources that there was a diner on the Cape right off the main road that was a must-eat, Grumpy's. Dad and I almost had a heart attack eating extremely delicious items like french toast banana split and lobster benedict. Yum-my!
Stuffed and ready to go we continued on to Provincetown. The weather was beautiful and the company was great so the trip was perfect. We got into Ptown around 1 or so, parked right away and got to looking around. Provincetown is primarily a gay resort area. Its full of shops, galleries, wonderful seafood restaurants and theatres. There are tons of shops that are full of rainbow items, beautiful jewelry, and handmade treasures. We shopped around and people watched for the most part. The town is on the tip of the Cape and its right on the water. Many of the stores actually had little decks that sat over the beach and looked out onto the water. What a great spot to vacation! It was just the perfect day to hang out!
For lunch we stopped at the famous The Lobster Pot. It was a tough decision on where to eat because I know I've heard wonderful things about at least a dozen or so places up there.
We indulged in lobster sandwiches, fancy schmancy salads and of course, Shawn's Special Bloody Mary. My mom is right...everywhere we go we are drinking! :)
We headed back to Boston for a night at home. We watched tv, messed around with Korky and just relaxed. I had worn Dad out with all of the traveling over the two days.
Sunday was Father's Day and I treated Dad to a pair of hand knitted socks. I'm not sure that any person who lives in Florida really needs wool socks, but I couldn't help myself! I had never knit socks before but the first time I saw the pattern I knew I had to make them. I then found the perfect yarn and it just came together! The best part...they fit!
After the gift giving I treated Dad to a fun Father's Day brunch at Tremont 647. Its a popular spot in the South End for brunch on any weekend so we went directly after mass to get a jump on everyone else. The food was great and the mimosas were fabulous! As we left we saw about 30 people waiting to be seated. Perfect timing!
We did a bit of walking around the neighborhood afterwards. I showed Dad where Korky and I go to the dog park, we stopped by the Polka Dog Bakery, and the South End Market. It was super hot that day so we ended the day early and just spent some time at the house. After eating and drinking our way through the weekend it was nice to spend some time just relaxing.
The weekend was perfect and I was so sad to see Dad go. However, I knew that a trip home to see both Mom and Dad was just around the corner!
