Wednesday: 

We started with a red-eye flight to JFK and Susan graciously picked us up bleary eyed but excited at 5am! Megan and I jumped right into East Coast culture with Dunkin Donuts, and we sadly not impressed (sorry Catt!) Then we headed to New Jersey to see Kloi. During the day we went boating and tubing on the Jersey Shore, which was a total blast, I haven't laughed like that in a long time!! We had a few memorable wipeouts and some sunburns. We spent the rest of the day exploring Long Beach Island and Manahawkin.

Thursday: 

All 4 of us started our day at "The Diner" which is this eclectic 50s style diner that Kloi has been raving about for the past two years. Then we headed to Susan's house in Staten Island and trained to the Staten Island Ferry before we took that into Manhattan. 

We started our day at the High Line, an old railway line turned urban park. It was dotted with those out enjoying their lunch or reading, and an impressive array of greenery for a city. 

Then we went to Chelsea Market, an market full of yummy food and trinkets. I had the most delicious gluten free bagel that just about made my day. 

I realized that we are near Greenwich Village, and knew the apartment filmed in Friends was around there, so we looked it up and found it was a short walk away. Friends is one of my all-time favorite shows and it was so cool to see where they filmed a few shots! 

Then we took our daily Starbucks run on our way to the subway to Times Square. We hit up M&M world and Shake Shack while we waited for our broadway show to start! 

We saw Matilda which was entertaining and so impressive how good of singers the actors were! We ended the night mesmerized by the lights in Times Square. 

Friday: 

This morning Kloi left us to go back home and Susan, Megan, and I headed back into Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry. We started in the Upper East Side seeing The Met and walking through Central Park. I particularly love this part of the city with the beautiful buildings and tree-lined streets! We lunched at Serafina, a great Italian restaurant and it was soo delicious! 

We then headed downtown to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. This was one of my favorite things we did, because I am such a sucker for a good view! We took our hundreds of photos and were on our way. 

Susan, clever as she is, tricked me into walking the 40 minutes to Little Italy, but it was so worth it because of how beautiful and calm downtown was to experience. We got to this amazing crepe place I had searched online and it was SO worth the walk, I was enamored. We ended our day by seeing the World Trade Center and memorial which was calming and profound at the same time. We had a fun family dinner at Susan's house and relaxed a little. 

I am so grateful we had such knowledgeable hosts to make sure we didn't get lost and knew the fun things to do! It truly cut my stress level down so much and I actually learned quite a bit from our favorite locals! For example, Susan taught us that Staten Island is the 5th borough. So it turns out she is a bonafide New York City girl and we didn't even know! 

Saturday: 

Susan's family had a graduation party this day for her little brother James and three of their cousins. We spent the time hanging out and meeting some of her crazy, fun family! It was the perfect day of relaxation between our busy days. 

Sunday: 

We started our drive to Connecticut to see Catt! We got there about midday and were stunned by the beautiful place she lived! She drove us through Woodbury and the surrounding towns and I quickly fell in love with the green-covered hills, little white farmhouses and town squares. Gilmore Girls is based off of the town of Washington, CT and the surrounding towns, all of which Catt drove us through to satisfy my excitement! She took us on a little hike to the Fire Tower. 

Then we drove out to the old airport to watch the sunset and drove all the way home with windows down in the warm air and county music blasting. It was absolutely perfect. We finished off the day with some de-LISH pizza and watching the Warriors sadly lose to the Cavs. 

Monday: 

We were up bright and early to drive into Rhode Island to Catt's beach house in Charlestown, RI. We spent a few hours at the beach getting burned to a crisp. Everyone walked away with a bit of a burn (even though Catt will deny it) and Megan's poor legs were roasted like a pair of hot dogs. That led to a few hours of laying around in aloe watching the Kardashians. We visited something called The Umbrella Factory which was not an actual factory but was the weirdest assortment of shops carrying incense, pipes, and wooden carvings, topped off with a bamboo forrest and some terrifyingly large ostriches! 

For dinner we hit up Crazy Burger where I fell deep in love with their peanut butter chocolate dairy free shake. Then we drove through downtown Naraganssett on our way to Newport, Rhode Island. 

Well ladies and gentlemen I thought I was in love with Connecticut, but I fell just as hard for Rhode Island. The little beach houses were just perfect with their wooden shingles and coastal town vibes. Not to mention the mansions we passed by that just left us awestruck. I adored the mix of East Coast prep and beach town that we found in Newport as we strolled in and out of little tourist shops by the pier. By the time we watched the sun sink low behind the harbor, I was in love.

 We began the drive back to Charlestown in the contented haze you get after a summer day well spent in the sun. I was sad to see the day and trip end in the way I sometimes know I'll miss something before it's even over. 

Tuesday: 

We started early with a trip to get food and then to Watch Hill, RI where Taylor Swift has her beach house. It is another quintessential beach town that was a bit more upper crust. We enjoyed our window-shopping and of course our ogling of T. Swizzle's digs while we dissected her latest relationship moves like the crazed fans we are. We drove back to Connecticut complete with a stop at Friendly's (a longtime favorite ice-cream haunt of mine) and left Catt to continue onto JFK. 

Sadly, Megan and I missed our flight, though i don't think I will soon forget sprinting through the airport with my pants falling down and bags flying everywhere. I was thanking my sad out-of-shape state when the Delta desk graciously waved our re-routing fee because of our "audible panting" and "obvious effort put forth". You may be laughing now, but who's the real winner?? We ended our trip with one longggg red-eye flight and driving home, me to Santa Rosa, and Megan to SLO getting in at 4am and 6am respectively. 

I am so grateful for the many memories we made and all the wonderful places we got to see!! I miss my friends dearly already and am happy to say I'll be back on the East Coast for a Buffalo family reunion in just another week! That's all for now, thanks for sticking through this novel of a post!