Visiting National Parks in New York City: Our Weekend Trip to NYC

The main event for this weekend trip to New York City was seeing Swan Lake at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, but visits to National Parks in New York City rounded out the rest of the weekend trip activities. Our weekend trip to New York ended up falling on Valentine’s Day weekend and it was perfect!

Last Minute National Parks in New York City

On our last day in New York City, we were able to squeeze in one last National Park visit! We left the hotel with all our stuff packed into two backpacks and we dashed off to cross off a few more National Parks.

This weekend trip to New York was fun and we indulged in so much food, but it felt like it was over so quickly! I’m already wanting to go back and explore more places, and also be able to walk around without a jacket! The week before we arrived in New York, the weather was warm and gorgeous but then the weekend arrived and the weather got cold.

Stonewall National Monument

We had a quick hotel breakfast, though nothing big because we always woke up too late to enjoy the full spread! After breakfast and check-out, we got on the subway and headed over to Stonewall National Monument!

The Stonewall National Park is kind of small but the area was nice to be in! I want to visit again when the plants are thriving. Since we visited in the winter, all the plants were pretty dead and brown.

But the statues?! In the park?! They were beautiful! I was shocked at the level of detail! You could see the details of the clothes, the folds, and even their skin. You could feel the love through the details. It also looks like someone left a rose in the hands of the women; it was not part of the art installation, but it was such a nice addition.

Right next to the Stonewall National Monument is the Stonewall Inn! It wasn’t open at the time we visited so we only got to see the outside of the Inn.

After visiting Stonewall and grabbing snacks at CVS (for me), we were counting down to when we needed to show up at the train station.

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Thankfully, we had just enough time to run over to Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site! There was a second floor (maybe more?) to explore but we just did not have time to wait for the full tour of Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace.

Instead, we walked through the public area on the first floor of the house and enjoyed the architecture of the place. There were lots of *highly* relevant quotes to our current political atmosphere but you are welcome to visit the National Park in New York and check them out yourself!

After getting some pictures at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, we were running out of time to get to our train to head back home!

Classic New York City Breakfast

Even though we were traveling quickly to our train destination, I had one last request for our weekend trip to New York, I wanted a classic New York breakfast food: an egg’n’cheese sandwich.

Kyle found a great little café on our way to the train, so I was able to have a classic New York egg’n’cheese sandwich right before leaving. Phew! Pretty sure there was also bacon but I don’t remember now…

Then we ran to the station and caught our train just in time to make it back to DC!

Three days is not enough time for a full New York City visit but we made the most out of our weekend trip to New York City! I want to go back to New York a few more times, and we need to visit a few more National Parks in New York!

Share some suggestions for future visits in the comments below and maybe it’ll make it into a future trip!

P.S. I’m so glad we were able to fit all of our stuff in just two backpacks(!) because it made moving around New York City just that much easier, especially when we were running to make our train back home!

This was a travel post about
Our 2020 Weekend Trip to New York City.