For as long as I can remember I have wanted to go to New York City....but who hasn't? When my kids were really young I thought it would be amazing to take them on a mother daughter trip to NYC for their sweet 16...a great bonding trip one on one. Well fast forward and this is the year for it to happen.
And I am so happy to say we did it....I used aeroplan miles so 2 nights in Soho cost me $75...isn't that fabulous! plus parking. There was a little mix up on check in I was checked in under another reservation with the same last name and was nearly charged $445 a night...gulp, thankfully we got everything straightened out and we had a great stay.
My hubby was willing to pay for us to fly to NYC but Mason wanted to do a road trip....so I checked out the website Roadtrippers and there I planned our road trip. I found a great route, a hotel to spend the night and even a Sonic location...yes stopping at Sonic was a very important stop on our road trip...
The drive was about 8 hours total...we left at 11:00 on Sunday and arrived in Binghamton around 5:00pm, the drive was beautiful.
We don't have Sonic restaurants in Canada so it was fun to order food from our car and it was yummy.
Mason was an amazing navigator, I had a case of the nerves the day of getting us all that way on our own ...but I pushed though and we made it
upon arriving through the Holland tunnel our printed out directions were wrong wrong wrong....I took a wrong turn and was heading towards the Holland tunnel again...no!!!! so I made an attempt to get out and made an illegal turn and of course there was a cop.....who pulled me over but he was so understanding and helped us out and sent us on our way.
This was our view from our tiny but lovely little hotel room at the Four Points Soho...we enjoyed the nicest fluffiest pillows ever. The room was small but very nice, I would stay there again, the staff was so nice and the location was perfection...we LOVED Soho. We were there for Mason to shop....I am not a big shopper so I was there just for fun to see as much as I could.
My ankles were so so ...I just pushed through the pain, I think I did really well considering...after 2 1/2 days walking on healing sprained ankles they were a swollen mess... I wouldn't recommend doing what I did but I couldn't cancel the trip.
The buildings were just one more beautiful than the other.
The shopping on Broadway was amazing..we went back time and time again.Guys were shamelessly hitting on my girl constantly...it was funny and creepy all at once. She is beautiful so I am not surprised at all...the girls kept commenting on how much they loved her pink hair, people would just shout out "I love your hair" she does have great hair...
Didn't know there is no sales tax on clothing purchases under $100...what a nice surprise.
On Wooster we found Dwell studio , look at that fixture, if I recall the lady in the store said it was from France....
And Shabby Chic....I have been a huge fan for forever....it was a dream come true to take a look inside, even Mason loved everything in there, the influence in my decorating over the years was very obvious to the both if us while inside.
I had to get myself a little something and it was this marble cheese tray from Shabby chic...its a classic piece.
We walked down to the 9/11 memorial, it is so hard to fathom what happened here...it certainly brought me back to that terrible time when I had a three year old and a three month old baby and it felt like the world was ending....this memorial is truly beautiful and I feel honored to have been able to pay our respects.
After our long walk and shopping we looked up on Yelp where was best to get some authentic pizza , we stayed in and ordered spaghetti and pizza I thought it was so yummy... it was from Arturo's
We had a very nice view of the Trump Soho, next time we'll stay there!!!
Day 2, started off with a quick selfie then we were off early to times square. We were going to take the bus and had our $5.00 fare for the both of us....we waited at the bus stop and a woman came along to wait for the bus also...I had to confirm we were taking the correct bus and we were....but then she said "you can't pay cash!" we had a five dollar bill....oh no!!!! there was no where to buy a pass where we were...then she said "I have it, I'll pay for you" sorry what? I tried to off her the $5 but she wouldn't have it....how incredibly nice was that...we have to say 99% of the people we encountered were exceptionally nice and friendly.
We headed down to Rockefeller Center where 5 seconds of summer was playing a concert for The Today Show. We safely made it through a sea of girls and got some Starbucks for the 10th time... thankfully they are everywhere...great drinks and free wifi, we would stop in get hydrated and map out where we wanted to go. I wanted to stop by Momofuku Milk Bar,we found it and stocked up on cookies.I have made the compost cookies at home many times they are a big hit but Mason says mine are even better.
Then it was time to get lunch...mostly we stuck to non touristy places which was a good decision...my kids are huge fans of the Food Network so when we learned Guy's American Kitchen was in times square we knew we had to go...
We were so happy to have a break off our feet...we had pretzel chicken app and chicken bacon mac and cheese, it was easily the best mac and cheese I have ever had, I mean look at it and the mojitos were so good I had two. We should have shared one dish , it was too much and we couldn't take it with us :(
It was very difficult to get my daughter to let me take photos of her...I take what I can get, this one is perfect though in Times Square and Forever 21 in the back ground...we went to at least three locations, this one is four levels.
We then decided to take a bus tour...not a good idea as we literally cooked in the sun, the weather was extremely hot. We should have just taken the city bus, but we did see a few things we didn't have time to stop by on our quick two day trip. I would love to go back but I would go back in the early spring of fall....it was too hot for all that walking.
The buildings in Soho were so incredible.
We had a great time...NYC is a great city. I would go back any time.
I know for sure I will be back in three years with my youngest Sophie when she turns 16, it was hard for her not to come but I think it is a good thing to do one on one...we are very fortunate to have been able to go and I thank my husband for making it possible.
Things I would recommend
9/11 Memorial
Times Square Forever 21
Wooster Street
