July 31, 2021
On Friday morning, we departed for the airport early in the morning. Since all three of our families live in New York City, we flew the same flight back to New York City. I was very excited to travel back to visit family since I hadn’t seen my family in person in nearly two years. By the time I got back, I was so exhausted, I just had to take an afternoon nap. The afternoon nap soon turned into an almost full day nap. Kev packed along Wingspan and we ended up playing Wingspan almost every night of our trip back home. Kev and I spent Saturday catching up with family and playing more rounds of Wingspan.
When Sunday rolled around, my little bro joined Kev and I for a trip out to Manhattan. We hopped onto the train from Brooklyn to Manhattan, strolled through Manhattan, and stopped for lunch at Ladybird, a vegan restaurant I have been wanting to visit for some time now. We ordered a variety of tapas including buffalo maitake buns, po boy baos, KFB, summer salad, and truffle mac & cheese. All of the dishes we ordered were decent, but the truly stand out dish for me was the summer salad. I loved the variety of nectarines, orange segments, cucumber, tomatoes, herbs, and toasted nuts tossed in a caraway citrus vinaigrette. I thought the salad was well balanced in flavors, textures, and ingredients. I made a mental note to try to recreate this lovely salad once I returned back home to Ohio. After lunch, we hopped back onto the train from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I honestly forgot how hot summers in New York City can get.
On Monday, Kev and I headed back out to Manhattan to catch the Amtrak Acela to Boston, Massachusetts. We decided to head out to visit Boston on a whim as a way to get a feel for the city. The Acela train from Penn Station to South Station seemed to be a popular way for travelers to travel between New York City and Boston. We picked up some breakfast bagel sandwiches from Ess-A-Bagel just outside of the train station in Manhattan and grabbed a black and white cookie from Zaro’s Bakery directly inside the train station. The bagel sandwiches and shared black and white cookie held us over for the rest of the morning and afternoon until dinnertime in Boston. Kev and I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring downtown Boston. While strolling through downtown Boston, we came across the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum exhibit and just had to check it out. We absolutely loved our visit to the museum along with the fun interpretation of the Boston Tea Party by the museum actors. In the evening, we enjoyed a few more rounds of Wingspan and headed to Myers + Chang for dinner with one of Kev’s friends. The next morning, we played a few more rounds of Wingspan. Kev and I swung by Whole Foods and Tatte Bakery & Café for breakfast before heading back to South Station for our return train back to New York City.
For the rest of the week, we spent more time with family enjoying some of our favorite foods, going for afternoon strolls at the local park, and playing a few more rounds of Wingspan. Yes, we truly are addicted to the board game. When Saturday rolled back around, we headed to the airport in the early morning for our flight back to Ohio. Our visit back to New York City was just what we needed to rejuvenate before heading into the month of August.