Thursday, October 8, 2026
It’s Girls Weekend!!! New York, here we come!
Years and years ago, Lori and I composed all the rules of our annual trip. We would go to every single state. We would go every year come hell or high water (or kids, husbands, jobs, in-laws, weather, or anything else that tried to stop us, including snipers, which was applicable when we were headed to Washington D.C. in 2002). We would not go to any city in the chosen state with which either of us was familiar. And then last year, New York came face up and we knew we would break our own rule and end up in NYC, even though we have been here together twice before. They are our rules, and we can break them if we want to.
I arrived at LaGuardia Airport at about 10:30 this morning and would like to say that – seasoned traveler that I am - I immediately set about flawlessly navigating the transportation system, but really, why lie in the official historical record? In fact, I got on the wrong train twice, and once even got off of the correct train on my way to finding our Airbnb in Brooklyn, which I eventually did locate. Once there, I met Jason, our host, dropped off my stuff, and then headed back out in search of something to eat. This search was not particularly successful, and my first official New York meal of Girls Weekend 2026 ended up being a Snickers bar and a Celsius. Nutritious! Balanced! Exactly what one needs after traveling all morning and wandering around New York trying to figure out where the hell she is!
Then it was back to the airport to retrieve Lori. Apparently I had learned my lesson from all the mistakes I made in my first effort, because I managed to arrive back at LGA two hours before Lori’s flight. I had not slept well the night before, so I found a semi-comfy chair, settled in, and took a nap. Yes, I am now officially old enough to go to the airport when I don’t have a flight and fall asleep in a chair. Whatever. I needed the sleep.
As soon as Lori’s plane landed, I texted her instructions for finding me and we had our usual joyful reunion. Lori usually gets to Indy at least once during the year but this time we had not laid eyes on each other since parting a year ago in Alaska. and went to figure out the shuttle situation. I got us safely and without mishap back to the Airbnb. Once we were settled in, we did what we do best: talked. And talked. And caught up. And talked some more. Eventually hunger drove us back out into the neighborhood, where we walked to a takeout place literally called “The Munchies” which seemed to be a popular spot based on the number of people pouring in to order food. Lori chose a falafel gyro and I opted for fresh fried fish. We took our dinner back to our temporary New York home and ate while video chatting with Lori’s daughter Meg and her fiancé, Adam. Eventually all the traveling and airport napping and navigating and talking caught up with us, and at about 11:00 we called it a night. A pretty low-key first day, but Girls Weekend is officially underway, Lori and I are together, and all is right with the world. OH CRAP. We forgot to toss the states.
