New York City Travel Diary

I’m all for a spontaneous weekend adventure so when I got an invite for a forty-eight hour trip to New York City, I obviously had to jump at the opportunity. I’ll do anything for a fun, short trip to one of my favorite states!

For those of you who don’t know, I have a twin sister, Madison and her boyfriend’s name is Colton. Luckily, our families are super close so we were both able to spend the weekend with him and the rest of his family to celebrate his mom’s birthday! We had a blast and I cannot wait to share with you our pictures and happenings from the weekend—here we go!

Early Saturday morning the Brown family came to pick me and Madison up for our weekend adventure. We were super excited and us kids slept almost the whole way there. We were up in time to see the drive into the city, which is always one of the best parts!

After parking our car we headed out to start sightseeing. Our first stop was Grand Central Terminal where the infamous scenes of Gossip Girl were filmed. The architecture of this building is absolutely stunning and it was so cool to see the buzz of the travelers and tourists alike.

Afterward, we walked over to the Empire State Building and we went up to see the view from outside the eighty-sixth floor. Though windy as all get out, the view of the city from this height was seriously incredible! After walking around another few miles and stopping at a few stores around Times Square, we headed to Juniors for a late lunch. Madison and I shared some delicious chicken tenders and we enjoyed the cute atmosphere!

The clan decided to split up at this point and for Mrs. Brown’s desired birthday adventure; we hopped on one of the horse-drawn carriages for a little ride around Central Park. It was short and sweet and the person working was super into telling us about the various movies filmed around the area. We got some sweet peanuts off the street and headed to The Plaza hotel. So inevitably us girls were really content with seeing where Bride Wars took place. The hotel was gorgeous and the architecture and chandeliers here were almost better than Grand Central Terminal! We took a few pictures and walked around the gift store before heading back to our hotel to clean up.

After changing into a different pair of shoes and outfit, we headed out to a cute little pub that one of my cousins recommended to us. I had the best quesadilla and we enjoyed our dinner together despite how hot the place was! We decided to walk around Times Square a little bit after dinner, stopping by the necessities- Old Navy, the M&M store, and the Disney store, of course! This part of the city is incredible at night- I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over how gorgeous everything looks when it is all lit up! We headed back to Juniors for the best piece of cheesecake I’ve ever had in my life and then to Rockefeller Center to look around.

It was a very late night and an extremely eventful day. After reading all of this, I would imagine you are probably curious just how far we actually walked. Well, friends, that’s what 11.6 miles of walking sounds like. Let’s just say we were all hurting Sunday morning when we woke up in our hotel beds.

Breakfast at the hotel was so good; waffles, bagels, fresh fruit, eggs, whatever your heart desires! It was so delicious and the perfect way to start our second day. Our main goal today was to pack up the car and head down South so we could see the 9-11 memorial. We went to the museum and saw the crazy cool exhibits. Although sad, it was so awesome to see pictures from this monumental day in our nation’s history, not to mention, to hear so many people’s real, raw, personal stories.

We headed to the Marshalls afterward and looked around before eating at Chipotle and calling it day. It was a short and sweet day; an itinerary our feet definitely needed!

And just like that our two-day getaway was over. I had an absolute blast tagging along with the Browns this weekend and so appreciate spontaneous, adventures like this one! Thank you a million times over for having me!!!

Have you been to New York City before; if so be sure to leave your recommendations below for the next time we visit! Thank you so much for stopping by; I hope you enjoyed this quick little travel diary. Have an awesome week. With love, McKenz.

Latest Post: Weekly Wrap Up #4
Related Post: North Carolina Travel Diary
Instagram: styledbymckenz // YouTube: McKenzie Morgan // Pinterest: mckenzmorgan