Summer Recap part 1
Summer Recap part 1
Documenting the highlights from a busy start to the season
The fact that it’s already late July is scary, but also a sign that life has been incredibly jam-packed with fun. The calendar (like everyone’s during this time of year) has been filled with trips, weddings, visitors and just general good times in the sun. In addition to several work trips (Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta), nearly every weekend has felt like a major event, so I figured I may as well document it all before it’s gone from memory.
May Wedding
I attended my second NYC wedding in late May to see my good friend Matt Briggs get married. We’ve become close friends ever since we started at Deloitte the same day (and we both moved to New York to start the job) back in 2019. Lynn and I have hung out with him and his now wife, Paula, tons of times and it was so fun to watch them get married at an amazing venue in the Lower East Side of Manhattan - the Public Hotel. The wedding weekend consisted of a bachelor party on Friday night (dinner in Manhattan, drinks at Matt’s in Brooklyn, and a nightclub which I’m too old for in Williamsburg); hanging at a Brooklyn brewery most of the day on Saturday, meeting Matt’s family and hometown friends; and the Sunday wedding.
Dan and Finn take on the UWS
It was great to have my sister and nephew return to stay with us in our apartment and spend a fun-filled, yet chill weekend in New York City. Finn continues to be a trooper when he comes to the city, somehow out-walking all of us with his little legs. Highlights included the mandatory bagel runs, tons of hangs and soccer in Central Park, brunch in SoHo where Finn lost a tooth, dinner in the West Village, an interactive toy store at Columbus Circle, and Finn reuniting with his friend Nobu at the Central Park playground. Literally, he ended up running into the same kid he met a year ago, on the same playground!
Canada Day Weekend
We were fortunate to be invited up to Canada for Nora’s annual tradition of hosting friends at her cabin in Muskoka, ON for the Canada Day long weekend. The fourth of July was on a Tuesday, so I took the Monday off and Lynn and I flew up to Toronto late Thursday night. We worked Friday morning before driving out to the lake with Dan, Steve and Finn. As always, the cottage was the perfect amount of relaxation, conversation, activity and laughter. Highlights included tubing with Lynn and Finn, practicing our various dives off the dock, and preparing and eating three amazing family style meals. Big thank-you to Nora for organizing everything and being the chillest hostess.
Connecticut Hangs
Following the Canada Day weekend, I had a jam-packed three day week at work, capped off with a train ride on Friday afternoon up to New Haven, CT. There, our friends Dominic and Jen picked us up from the train station (my golf clubs in tow), and we grabbed a drink and dinner in New Haven, before driving back to their beautiful home in East Hampton, CT. Saturday morning, Dom and I golfed, then came back to the ladies to enjoy some pool time in the afternoon, before grilling some burgers and enjoying a lovely dinner together. It’s always nice to relax at their place, play some golf, banter relentlessly, and not feel completely exhausted after the weekend.
Britni and Eric Visit NYC
After the Connecticut weekend, Lynn and I got our apartment in order for a couple more visitors - this time it was my lifelong friends and happy couple Britni Baron and Eric Johnson. Due to the pandemic and the birth of their kids, this visit was long overdue, particularly for EJ who had never been to NYC.
Britni arrived late on Thursday, July 13, so we quickly caught up before bed, then took her on a long stroll through Central Park with some coffee on Friday morning. Eric arrived Friday afternoon and we jumped straight into some tacos and margaritas at our local Mexican spot before hitting a wine tasting, a cocktail bar, and an Italian Dinner on our corner. Saturday started with bagels, then the 9/11 museum which people always enjoy experiencing. We followed that with a long walk through battery park (seeing the statue of liberty from a distance) then Wall St. and Chinatown before stopping for a refreshing sangria in Little Italy. After that, we grabbed a slice of pizza in the Lower East Side at Sauce (8.8) - this was Eric’s highest rated slice of the trip. We capped off Saturday afternoon with Eric getting a haircut at my old barbershop (including two shots of whisky on the house), and headed back to the apartment to prep for dinner.
At night we hit a Mediterranean restaurant in Greenwich Village before walking up the street to the Comedy Cellar. As always, it’s fun to be in the world’s best comedy club, despite the chaos and the fact there weren’t any celebrity sightings. We finished the long day with a quick walk through a busy Times Square at 1am so Eric could experience the grime of Midtown in the city that never sleeps.
On Sunday we crushed a pizza tour through Brooklyn so Eric could live out his dream of rating famous slices: Pauli Gee’s (7.5), Upside Pizza (7.8), Screamer’s Pizza (7.0 - Britni), Joe’s (8.6), Fini (7.8). Then we walked the 2.2km Williamsburg Bridge back to Manhattan, took the subway up to Central Park and Citi biked the loop of the park, which Eric hadn’t before entered. We changed at the apartment after our bike ride for one last fancy dinner and speakeasy nightcap, and the trip was over.
I’m always grateful when friends and family come to visit. I know it’s not easy with multiple flights and nothing is inexpensive here, so the extra effort means a lot.
Coming Up
The back-half of the summer includes weekend trips to Boston and Minneapolis, a week of holidays in Winnipeg, and parental visitors to our tiny Upper West Side apartment. All of this while really starting to bear down into marathon training - only 13 weeks left!
Thanks for reading,
Mike