It’s hardly a summer without a proper summer vacation! From cliff jumping to street dancing, too much Miller Lite and trouble at sea, both of us have been on (and are planning) some pretty memorable trips so far. Check out where we’ve gone this summer — some near NYC, some very, very far — to get our adventure fix.
The Catskills
We never let too many weekends go by before we head up to the Catskills. Each summer, Olivia hosts an epic fourth of July party at her family’s house — this year, it was complete with a fish boil, s’mores with homemade graham crackers and marshmallows, and a giant box of fireworks. The highlight of our last trip was definitely a visit to our favorite Peekamoose Blue Hole. It’s so cold it takes your breath away, but a few of us had the guts to jump off of a little cliff into the deepest part of the creek. It was definitely colder than it was scary!
Asbury Park
After we posted our guide to swimming in NYC, we heard about Asbury Park’s resurgence and headed there immediately. Hours after reading about Asbury Park, we armed ourselves with bacon, egg, and cheese bagels and Voodoo Chips and drove south to the Jersey Shore. We have to say, Asbury Park is the cleanest, least crowded beach near the city we’ve been to. You have to pay a fee to park and to enter the beach, but it’s definitely worth it to hang out at a beach that isn’t trashed. The water was swimmable and the waves were giant, inspiring some very committed body surfing attempts. Also some equally committed (and loud) renditions of Kanye West’s “Waves” and no, we don’t know the words thank you.
New Orleans
Olivia has been trying to go to New Orleans for years, but even though she’s planned multiple trips in the past, she’s never been able to actually get there. Finally, this summer she made it happen over a long weekend. Olivia flew down from New York to meet up with a group of her old friends that drove up from Houston for a vice-filled weekend of public drinking, gambling, decadent food, and too much Miller Lite. One of the most magical parts of the trip happened late one night when, after devouring crawfish étouffée hot dogs, Olivia and her friends Peter and Evan got swept up in a crowd of people in the street dancing in loincloths, sailor hats, and Speedos. Music was blasting from a boom box in a shopping cart, and people were dancing on trash cans. They welcomed us to the party and we joined right in! Our new friends planned to dance around the whole city.
Aruba
A midsummer wanderlust crisis led Emily to plan a last-minute adventure to Aruba. Suffering months with neither travel nor temperatures above 50 degrees, a beach vacation was in order and a trip to Aruba delivered — and what better time to go with her mom for her birthday? Every day, we made a habit of drinking fluorescent teal cocktails on the end of a dock after long days of floating in the fluorescent teal water. The big adventure came on the last day: the two of us rented a tiny catamaran and sailed about half a mile down the beach and suddenly, the boat broke! A piece of hardware came loose and went *plink* into the ocean, and all of a sudden the ropes were useless. We couldn’t use the sail at all. For a split second, we were terrified and wondered if we should abandon ship! We managed to manually hold the sail in place and float into shore, rescuing the boat… and not floating out to sea.
Upcoming Adventures!
Portland
Later this summer, Emily is going to Portland, OR for a wedding… and also for Salt and Straw ice cream, which is the only ice cream she has ever had a dream about. Besides playing ping pong and eating a sandwich from Bunk (and maybe trying the OG Pok Pok!), she’s most excited to go on hikes that end in hot springs or a geyser you can swim in. She’s also excited to head to the Oregon coast, where she can wear her Tevas with abandon (and also with wool socks), play in tide pools, and re-watch (act out?) the Goonies where it was filmed. #neversaydie
Houston
In a few weeks, Olivia is going to Houston, TX for her momma’s birthday. Going home is always a blast. It is different from other vacations because it’s more about all of the people you get to see than about what to visit and explore. That said, she will for sure pop into some of her favorites: Irma’s and Lei Low. She is so stoked to catch some late summer thunderstorms, take her dog Annie for a run around Rice, and to stay up late drinking beer in the backyard.