Spring Break in New York City

In reviving an old Barry-girl-tradition, my mom, sister, and I headed to New York City for the weekend of spring break. My sister is a senior at Clemson and her spring break was the week after mine, but it worked out for us to share the weekend in the city together. My mom has always loved New York City (and frequently travels to New Jersey/New York for work) and took my sister and I to NYC for the first time way back when we were I was in middle school. I was totally overwhelmed and freaked by just how huge-and-crazy-busy the city was the first time I went, but I’ve learned to love it more with each trip.

Our last girls’ trip to NYC was while I was in high school, so it’s been a few years, and it’s especially hard to plan when Kelly and I’s spring breaks haven’t aligned recenlty. Since we have been to the city before and done most of the well-known tourist-y things, we opted to do a few new things and just spend more time exploring the city on our own.

My sister is in the process of applying-touring-and-deciding on a grad school for next year, and Fordham is one of her top options, so we also spent a day on campus there (and it snowed!!!) for her to meet with some advisors and professors. Fordham is a private Jesuit school, which was very cool because our brother attends a Jesuit high school in Tampa! The campus was incredible and this I couldn’t get over watching it snow. My mom and I enjoyed some coffee in a student-run coffee shop while we watched the snowfall, and it was probably the most Gilmore Girls’ moment of my life.

I brought along my DSLR camera (I have the Canon T6i!) along for the trip, and the Botanical Gardens and orchid exhibit made for some amazing photos. It was chilly (20s-40s) the entire trip, so it was an even cooler experience to be transported to a warm, humid flower jungle in the middle of the most urban city in the country.

We also walked along the High Line (an old railroad track turned garden-walkway), which we’d never done before. That day, we ate lunch at a cool art show in the area, which was also different and fun!

My mom treated us to Broadway shows both Friday and Saturday night. We saw Anastasia and Lion King (where we sat second row!), and went to mass at St. Patrick’s cathedral on St. Patrick’s day. It was such a fun trip, and so special to have a weekend with my mom and sister, since that rarely happens anymore. We hope to continue the girls’ trip tradition, but by this time next year, Kelly and I will both be college graduates (!!!), so I’m not sure how the timing will work.

Enjoy a few of my favorite photos from our spring break in NYC 🙂

Have you ever been to NYC? What’s your favorite city to visit?