A Quick Trip to New York to Celebrate a Special Family Birthday!

 At the end of February, my husband and I flew to New York to attend a special birthday celebration for a member of my family.

We stayed in a hotel in an area called Gravesend, Brooklyn, not far from Coney Island. As you can see, one of the many snowstorms that have beseiged the east this winter was still evident on the streets. The subway trains in this part of Brooklyn run above ground on elevated train tracks, and my husband and I remimisced how an exciting scene from the movie The French Connection was filmed in this very area under the elevated train!

The next day, we headed for Suffolk County, on Long Island, New York, to attend a surprise 80th Birthday party in a restaurant for my older brother, James!

I was the only sibling able to attend, and he was very touched that we were there, along with family and friends. It was so good to see my brother and my sister-in-law, my nieces and nephews, husbands and wives, and grand nieces and nephews and their significant others.

We stayed overnight at my brother's house, and the next morning we had breakfast at a local diner that decorates for every holiday. This time all decked out in green for the upcoming St Patrick's Day!

On our way back to Brooklyn the next day, I was intrigued by all the vines I saw growing up many of the trees along the Southern State Parkway. I did not remember ever seeing this in the many years we lived in Brooklyn and traveled out east on Long Island. Could it be Kudzu? From what I read on this link, Kudzu has traveled up along the east coast from the south to New York.  

When we entered the borough of Brooklyn and drove along the Belt Parkway, I snapped the photos in the collage above of the tall buildings in the distance in Manhattan and a subway terminus yard in Coney Island.

We spent a few days in Brooklyn, visiting family and friends, and enjoying so much delicious food!

 

It was nice to spend time with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who are my husband's older brother and older sister, who reside in Brooklyn.  My sister-in-law taught me how to make stuffed baby eggplants the way they do in their hometown in Calabria, Italy, using a mixture that includes mashed potatoes in the stuffing. I promise to show how they are made when I make them again. They are very delicious and a favorite of our daughter.

All too soon, it was time to fly home to Colorado.

 After living here for the past thirteen years, we realized how much we love seeing the Front Range and the Rocky Mountains on our drive back from the airport. 

The day after we arrived, the Denver area had a good snowfall after a very dry and warm February. We hope March, which is usually the snowiest month along the Colorado Front Range, will bring more! I think this mule deer doe, resting in my backyard that day, was also happy to see the snow!

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