New York

January 31, 2025

Last week, my partner and I packed up the kiddo for her first big trip that wasn’t just to see family. New Yawk City, baby!

A tall New York skyscraper (One Vanderbilt) at night, the top third of which is illuminated blue. — One Vanderbilt as seen from Bryant Park the night we arrived

Angled photo from the 10th floor of a New York hotel near Times Square, showing a sunlit street and a cuthrough lined with benches and bare trees. There’s snow on top of the lower building in the foreground. — Morning view from our hotel between Times Square and Bryant Park

Our first full day was mostly spent at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. The last time I’d spent any reasonable amount of time in Manhattan was 14 years ago with my high school band, and the AMNH wasn’t on the list of touristy things we did — so I could have easily spent another couple days just wandering around its halls.

Our 5-year-old JJ is a nature and animal nut (a sincere thanks to the Kratt brothers), so she instantly fell in love with the amazingly detailed dioramas.

Photo down the length of the American Museum of Natural History’s Mexico & Central America exhibit room. It’s dimly lit with multiple display cases of artifacts along either side. The floor is mostly a dark and shiny slate, with some dark yellow carpet punctuating the left side. — A view down the length of the Mexico & Central America exhibit on the second floor

Photo of the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History. Suspended from an ocean-blue ceiling is a life-size model of a blue whale, its snout pointed at the staircase where visitors enter the room. — Having a whale of time in the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life

Photo of a model of Saturn hanging next to the planetarium theater in New York’s Museum of Natural History. — Space!

The next day we popped over to the main branch of the New York Public Library and walked around while we waited for my partner’s parents to show up for a little birthday celebration.

Photo of the doors, marbled pillars, and interior stairs of the foyer of the New York Public Library main branch.

Photo of the neon marquee over the doorway on the side of a building: Rainbow Room, Observation Deck, NBC Studios

Photo of the neon marquee over the doors to Radio City Music Hall. The street behind is lit with sun, and in the foreground is a shadowy cyclist. — Sold out tonight: Hugh Jackman’s Huge Actin’

Photo of 4 figures (3 adults and a child) walking through the sunlight in a wintry Bryant Park — The whole crew together

And also they came to look over after JJ the following night for the main draw of our trip: to see the cast of Dimension 20 perform at Madison Square Garden!

Waiting in line with these famous port-a-potties

Photo of The main cast of Dimension 20 on stage at Madison Square Garden. — Say hi, intrepid heroes!

Photo of a masked Noah and Emily seated among a crowd of 20,000 TTRPG nerds at Madison Square Garden. The man is wearing a Panic Playdate sweatshirt. — “Hi, intrepid heroes!”

After 20,000 other fans and 2.5 hours of callbacks, cameos, pyrotechnics, oversized dice, and intermission wrestling moves, we strolled back to our hotel in a euphoric (and slightly deafened) daze.

We followed up next day by taking JJ to a matinee of The Lion King (no pics, of course), and it’s easy to see why it’s been running for almost 30 years. Kiddo was spellbound (and so was I tbh) — the level of craft and professionalism on display at every second made the whole thing feel effortless.

Photo of the metal beams and girders holding up the glass roof of Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station. The main clock is visible in the lower right showing 10:30 — Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station on the way outta town

Big dice aside, this trip was also a bit of a test for a Europe excursion we’re hoping to take later this spring. JJ was a fantastic little traveler, and I think she’ll do well (with enough prep) on a big overseas jaunt.