Brooklyn, NY —
Exploring Red Hook

After arriving tired from a trip including a plane, sometimes train, subway, a surprisingly good subway performer, and a jerky cab driver (hey, you want New York? You got it.), bunk up at any one of the great Airbnb options in Red Hook.

The next morning start off at The Good Fork for brunch. They have traditional options like a hearty egg sandwich or housemade yogurt or you can just go headfirst into the NYC melting pot and have a full Korean breakfast of bibimbop (sauteed veggies, spicy gochogang, skirt steak, rice & a fried egg). The choice is yours! We have so many options, it’s really like this everywhere. After, something my fiance and I have enjoyed is the Red Hook Regatta on Valentino Pier, which is held by popular local art gallery Pioneer Works. Participants build whatever sea vessel they can manage and send it off to it’s watery demise (or not!) in the rough East River. They added a new category this year - 3D printed boats, where such innovations as laser-cut ribbing and vacuum sealed hulls were present. There’s a wind powered kids category too, where the gallery teaches children to make paper boats and sends them off.

At this point, it depends on your mood! Head over to the Van Brunt Stillhouse because their whiskey tasting room opens at 2pm on Saturdays. Or walk the dog or yourself to Prospect Park in Park Slope. Widely known for its intricate manmade wetlands and its trees, the bulk of the trees growing in Brooklyn (ha, literary joke), the park is a highly functional green space covering 526 acres. My fiance and I take Bonaparte there to run for hours.

At night, we’ll pick up a growler of housemade craft beer from The Other Half in Red Hook and head to a friend’s apartment roofdeck for dinner overlooking the water or head to one of our many local restaurants. Grindhaus is possibly my favorite restaurant in town, mainly due to the owner, Erin. Quirky and creative, I have never failed to have an amazing meal and an even more fun time here. The menu changes every week on Thursdays, so just ask Erin what to get and she’ll set you up.