November 2, 2016 - W2GW in NYC and SoCal, Plus an update on going to Big Sur

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: STILL DECIDING

November Where to Go's

Happy, Happy Hump Day Folks!!

Wow - what a day yesterday was for good food!
That's right.  The kiddies had off from school for All Saints Day and we took the free day to go visit our Aunt Ro in Astoria.

Our plan was to have a seriously dee-lish all-day brunch at Gastroteca and that was accomplished!  The food was so yummy!

But wait -- our little group did not only include us humans - me, Gianna, Kelsey and Aunt Ro - but it also included a little canine named Punkin since Gastroteca is pet friendly!

I was thrilled that the weather cooperated both in terms of sunshine and temperature, which made it quite pleasant to dine outdoors on the restaurant patio, where Doggies are permitted.  

I'll be giving you the full 411 about this Astoria restaurant on Friday as our Foodie Friday feature!

At Gastroteca in Astoria yesterday. Scrumptious Lunch! (c)travelincousins.com

Sneak peak at Food Friday Feature - CRISPY GNOCCHI PISTACHIO, SPINACH, BASIL, PESTO, RICOTTA SALATA (c)travelincousins.com

Gastroteca is pet friendly so Punkin enjoyed being with the FAM! (c)travelincousins.com

Well, the food fest was far from over after leaving Gastroeca.  We headed into Long Island City (about 2 miles away) to Doughnut Plant for some sweet goodness.

Wow!  We walked out of there with a huge box full of cake, filled and  yeast doughnuts to go and had quite a scrumptious dessert feast upon returning home.

Yet another eatery or should I say "sweetery" on my list for Foodie Friday review and feature!

Entrance to the Doughnut Plant (c)travelincousins.com

Me and Kelsey inside The Doughnut Plant in Long Island City (c)travelincousins.com

Cake, Filled and Yeast Doughnuts - all made fresh and deelicious (c)travelincousins.com

Our "to go" box (c)travelincousins.com

Manhattan Skyline view from The Doughnut Plant in Long Island City (c)travelincousins.com

A new month has started this week and as we say goodbye to October and welcome November, it's hard to believe that the Thanksgiving/Christmas season is just around the corner!!

If you are planning your calendar, here are a few interesting activities to consider around the New York-Tri-State and Long Island area.

NYC Marathon (tcsnycmaraton.org)

New York City Marathon
Sunday November 6, 2016
Where: Throughout All 5 Boroughs
http://www.tcsnycmarathon.org

Better think twice about driving in and around the city this Sunday as it is the NYC Marathon 2016.

Thousands of runners will will be doing the 26.2 mile course, which travels across all five NYC boroughs.  

The starting line is in Staten Island at the Western end of Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and participants run through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx before crossing the finish line in Central Park, just outside of Tavern on the Green. 
Click Here for the route.

Thain Family Forest, NY Botanical Gardens, Bronx, NY (wpublic.org)

Fall Forest Weekends
November 5- 6 & November 12- 13
Where: NY Botanical Gardens, ​Bronx
http://www.nybg.org 

The New York Botanical Garden’s Thain Family Forest is the oldest remaining tract of old-growth forest in NYC.

During these two weekends, you can enjoy the beauty of the fall foliage in this 50-acre thicket filled with a variety of trees showing off their beautiful colors and  enjoy canoe trips, demonstrations and much more.

NYBG Holiday Train Show (c)travelincousins.com

Holiday Train Show
November 19, 2016 - January 16, 2017
​Where: NY Botanical Gardens, Bronx
http://www.nybg.org 
This enchanting event is back, starting this month!!  Both Tanya and I love visiting the Gardens during the NYBG Train Show to watch model trains zip through a display of 150 NYC landmarks, each re-created with bark, leaves, and other natural materials.

The 1/2 mile track includes NYC sites including the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Rockefeller Center.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - This year marks the 90th Parade!! (c)travelincousins.com

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Thanksgiving Day - November 24, 2016
Where: New York City
 
This year marks the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!  One of the most iconic parades in all of America, the festivities of floats, balloons, marching bands and celebrities is only 22 Days away!!

(c)travelincousins.com

​Our own Tanya has been to this parade a number of times!!  Click here to read about her adventures with the kiddies last year!!

The website is incredible too - with all the necessary information on where to watch, the line up this year and behind the scenes sneak peaks!!
Click Here for the official Macy's Day Parade website!!

If you are adventurous and decide to be part of the fun instead of watching it in your jammies, here is the route:
The Parade begins at 77th Street & Central Park West at 9am. The Parade will march south on Central Park West. At Columbus Circle, the Parade will then turn EAST onto Central Park South instead of heading down Broadway.

So much happening this month - both Tanya and I will be giving you more "where to go's" in November for both NYC-area and SoCal so stay tuned next Wednesday!

It happens to be a full month for us too with events.  Next week, me and Aunt Ro will be going to see Kristen Chenoweth on Broadway, preceded by a mouth-watering meal at Trattoria Trecolore.

We're also going to be celebrating the great grades the girls got with a trip into Manhattan this month to one of our favorite restaurants, Azalea and a Broadway show.  It will mark the first time that me and the girls went to TKTS together to see what's available for a surprise show! 

Then, of course, we have some birthday celebrations for friends and my dear nephews, followed by Thanksgiving with the FAM!

As for today, I finally made my hair appointment for tomorrow!  Boy, do I need some color.

​I'll be cleaning my house - a bit of a Fall cleaning.

Here's to a fabulous day folks!!

-E
​xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 2 DAYS

So is it Wednesday?

Good Day Everyone!

I'm apparently all screwed up this week. With Halloween being on Monday. And with us not having choir rehearsal on Monday night, I kinda felt like yesterday was Monday and now although it's Wednesday, I feel like it's Tuesday!

How I felt yesterday!

And since I feel like it's Tuesday and since I missed posting for Travelin' Tuesday, today I'm not only gonna post for W2GW (Where to go Wednesday), but also for good ol' Travelin' Tuesday!

Who knows, maybe by tomorrow I'll be back on track with what day it is...or maybe not.

So, I'll start out by briefly telling you a bit about yesterday. I was a good girl and I went to the gym, I also had some shopping to do, I had to take Cosette to her horseback riding lesson, and then stick myself in front of the boob tube and cheer on them Cubs as they defeated the Indians in game 6 of the MLB World Series.

Tonight is do or die for both teams and you know exactly where I will be. GOOOOO CUBS!!!!!

I've also got to hit up the gym today, and go shopping to pick up supplies for our camping trip this weekend to Big Sur and to Monterey. 
Which leads me into the Travelin' Tuesday on Wednesday segment.

As you all know, or at least should know, my gang of 4 PLUS Jet and her gang of 3 are heading up to Big Sur on Friday.

With many gorgeous sites to see and fabulous things to do, let's focus on a few:

The beautiful McWay Falls - an 80-foot waterfall that flows year-round in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

(c)travelincousins.com

Pfeiffer State Beach - this rare purple sand beach, with its purple hue derived from the manganese garnet deposits that are found in the surrounding rocks. ​

PC: weeklywanderlustlooks.com

Point Lobos
Point Lobos State Reserve near Carmel hosts a geologic wonder: rocks of four "ages" can be found there, including the unusual Carmel formation dating back to the Paleocene age (over 60 million years old).

PC: pointlobos.org

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary - Pacific Grove
Every Year Thousands of Monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove
Arriving in October, the Monarch Butterflies cluster together on the pines and eucalyptus trees of the Sanctuary.
​Their migration to Pacific Grove is so unique that Pacific Grove is nicknamed "Butterfly Town, U.S.A." 

PC: Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary

Monterey Bay
According to CentralCoast-Tourism.com - 
At the crossroads of Central Coast and the San Francisco Bay area, here you’ll discover towering sea cliffs and fog-cloaked redwood forests in Big Sur, a ballet of ever-shifting sand dunes in Fort Ord National Monument, and maybe even a rare California condor among the ancient volcanic formations at Pinnacles National Park.
Linger a while to visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and Monterey’s historical waterfront, which preserves a bit of the colorful waterfront life John Steinbeck vividly portrayed in the novel Cannery Row.

(c)travelincousins.com

Cannery Row
In January 1958, the City of Monterey officially re-named Ocean View Avenue "Cannery Row" in honor of John Steinbeck and his novel that described a colorful past set amid the cannery culture of the time.  Now, Cannery Row's buildings are updated, shinier versions of turn-of-the-century canneries. They house an eclectic blend of specialty shops, local artists' galleries, with it's picturesque charm and colorful history, Cannery Row captivates visitors from all over the world. The unique appeal of this fabled street is what makes Cannery Row the most popular vacation destination on California’s Central Coast.

(c)travelincousins.com

Fisherman's Wharf
The "must see" location on everyone's list while in Monterey the Old Fisherman's Wharf is full of opportunities to view wildlife on the Monterey Bay. There's also a myriad of:
• Great Restaurants • Unique Shops • Whale Watching • Sailing • Bay Cruises​

(c)travelincousins.com

And of course while we are up in Monterey, we will be hitting a few totally yummer eateries that I'm excited to have the kids and Jet try out. 

Such as:
Ambrosia India Bistro
This restaurant has one of the BEST soups that I've ever tasted!!
Alvarado Street Brewery 
Home of what has to be the WORLD'S BEST VEGAN BURGER!!!

OMG this burger is the BEST! (c)travelincousins.com

As you can see, there is plenty to see and do for us this coming weekend.
Be sure to stay around and get the full SCOOP each day as I report LIVE (pending WIFI signal) from BIG SUR & MONTEREY!

Now, for those of you who aren't coming physically with us and who are either staying behind or visiting in SoCal. Thanks to timeout.com here are some things that are happening that might be of local interest:

​Spider Pavilion - Los Angeles

Ongoing now through December 11th -
​​Face your fears and head to the Natural History Museum's Spider Pavilion, where you can observe approximately eight local and exotic species in an open, landscaped area on the museum's South Lawn as they wander freely in a living exhibit. Scared they might be hard to spot in the wild? Fret not. One species, the Nephila Maculata from Malaysia, is about the size of an adult's palm and can weave webs up to six feet in diameter, making it the largest orb-weaver in the world. Worried about going from zero to spider all at once? They've got that covered too. There's an adjacent interpretive area for arachnophobes to get acclimated as museum entomologists guide them through a variety of things most people typically go out of their way to avoid, including scorpions, brown and black widows, and Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantulas, the largest spider in the world.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Dapper Days at Disneyland - Anaheim

PC: Dapperday.com

WHEN: Nov. 5 & 6, 2016
Get out a bow tie and suspenders, and pull together a parasol and pearls: it's Dapper Day at Disneyland. Parkgoers gussy themselves up in (mostly vintage-inspired) sophisticated digs for this biannual Disneyland meet-up. It all starts on Saturday with a two-day style expo at the Disneyland Hotel, followed by the aforementioned park meet-up on Sunday. We'll be honest: The day starts out charming—SoCal knows how to dress up—but within a few hours, you'll start to see every overly-cutesy attendee as just another body keeping you from the front of the Space Mountain line. If you don't plan on dappering it up, maybe choose another day to go to Disneyland (in short, it's nightmarishly crowded).
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

​Festival of Flight - Long Beach

WHEN: Nov. 5th, 2016
​Get up close and personal with some aircraft at this annual Long Beach Airport open house. The free event features food trucks, flying experts and a beer garden. Enter the airfield from the west end of the airport property at East Wardlow Road and Globemaster Way.
​CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

​There we have it. Lots of fun to be had. Now it's up to you to go out there and enjoy yourself!

Ciao 4 Now,
​-T