I cannot quite pinpoint when New York City became the plan for Spring Break this year. With everything that happened last year—and 2026 not exactly starting off on an easier note—I did not plan this trip as early as I normally would. For a while, I was not even sure we would go anywhere at all. The idea of staying home, though, was not all that appealing to either me or my now 14-year-old daughter C. I needed something to look forward to, something to plan. A return trip to New York City seemed to fit the bill. It may not have been the best bang for the buck—NYC is not cheap!—but it felt like the kind of place where we could fill a few days with the mix of things we both love, without needing to plan something overly complicated.

To keep this trip more affordable and less complicated, I opted for four days and chose to take the train. I had no interest in dealing with stressful driving in Manhattan or paying city-center parking costs. I have always enjoyed train travel; it feels far more relaxing than driving or flying. We had not taken a train trip since our journey from Chicago to Los Angeles, and I was more than ready for another.

We boarded Amtrak’s Northeast Regional at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The 3.5-hour journey was comfortable, and the time passed quickly. Before long, we were arriving at Moynihan Train Hall in central Manhattan. We gathered up our belongings and made our way along the crowded city streets. Weaving through the steady flow of people as we walked the 20 minutes to our boutique hotel just around the corner from Times Square. I wanted us to be in the center of the action. On our last trip, C had been ready to turn around immediately after we witnessed a bloody assault within minutes of our arrival. This time, as a teenager, she declared she was much more prepared to take on the city.

Soon after getting our things into our hotel room, we were off. We headed down to the subway just off Times Square, catching a glimpse of the No Kings protest as it was making its way down Broadway. We then took the subway north to Upper Manhattan to visit The Cloisters. Part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art system, The Cloisters sits in Fort Tryon Park and is dedicated solely to the art and architecture of medieval Europe—the only museum of its kind in the United States. Opened in 1938, the building itself is as much a part of the experience as the collection, constructed using architectural elements brought over from five French monasteries, including windows, doorways, and columns. Until a few years ago, when I read the thriller The Cloisters by Katy Hays, I had no idea this museum even existed. Since then, a visit to the Cloisters has been on my must-do list for New York City.

I really enjoyed our visit to The Cloisters. Many of the pieces on display are absolutely exquisite, including the seven extraordinary Belgian tapestries known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, created between 1495 and 1505. It is remarkable to see these works still intact more than 500 years later. Even C seemed at least mildly interested in parts of the collection, which I took as a small win. Still, it is not just the artwork that makes this place special. The building itself—its chapels, stained glass windows, long halls, cloisters, courtyard, and gardens—is very much part of the museum’s collection and ambiance.

Though the day was sunny and clear, it was still quite cold. The season felt just a bit too early for the gardens, with little in bloom. There is a beautiful view of the Hudson River from the grounds, but C had no interest in lingering outside for long in the chill. Even so, we spent about two and a half hours exploring before making our way back to the hotel.

We had a nice dinner near the hotel, then headed over to the FAO Schwarz toy store. C had made it through several hours of medieval art, so it felt like the right time to shift to one of her main interests: Jellycat. These are high-quality plush toys from London, many featuring whimsical designs, including a food and drink line called Amuseables. They are incredibly popular right now and can be surprisingly difficult to find in the United States, often limited to specialty shops, quick to sell out, and sometimes have long waitlists. At FAO Schwarz, there is something called the Jellycat Diner (the only one in the world!), which is not actually a diner but a small, ticketed experience within the Jellycat section. I had to log on four weeks in advance to secure our spot. The experience itself lasted about ten minutes, with an employee “cooking” C’s chosen Amuseable. She picked out a plush pancake. I did not entirely understand the appeal, but C was all smiles during and after. As she walked the streets of Manhattan carrying her Jellycat bag, she looked like she had just won the lottery.

On our second day, we took a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the American Dream mall in East Rutherford. At approximately 3 million square feet, American Dream is the second-largest mall in the United States, with the Mall of America holding the top spot. The mall offers far more than shopping. It includes an indoor amusement park, a water park, an aquarium, an indoor skiing center, mini golf, a LEGOLAND Discovery Center, and much more, alongside the usual mix of retail stores.

That weekend was my niece NH’s 18th birthday. She is currently a student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, so it worked out well to meet up and celebrate together. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew had driven up, and we made plans to meet all of them at the mall.

The aquarium was quite a good one. It featured a great touch pool, a large central tank with rays and sharks, and several displays of seahorses. Seahorses are one of my favorite sea animals, and they are not found in many aquariums since they require specialized care. Afterwards, C, my sister, my nephew, and I made a beeline for the riding mechanical animals. My sister and I are still very much kids at heart, and we thoroughly enjoyed our ten minutes zipping around with our teens. We could not convince my brother-in-law and my niece of the joy they were missing. Boo. Their loss.

Following our lunch at the mall food court, we headed to Nickelodeon Universe. C and I have visited our fair share of theme parks, including every Disney park around the world. I have been to two other indoor amusement parks – Lotte World in Seoul, South Korea, and Trans Studio in Makassar, Indonesia. The Nickelodeon park at American Dream is the largest indoor amusement park in the Western Hemisphere.

I had purchased our tickets ahead of time and just needed to print our wristbands at a kiosk. Getting inside, however, did not go quite as smoothly as I had planned, because I had purchased C and my tickets for the wrong park! I bought ours for the Mall of America in Minneapolis! That was a costly mistake, but I had to shrug it off so we could all get in and have some fun.

The park itself is bright and colorful, with natural light coming in through overhead windows and reflecting off the white interior. The layout lets visitors see much of it at once, with roller coasters and other rides weaving through the space in a visually appealing way. I quickly realized, though, that my sister and her family are far more enthusiastic about thrill rides than I expected. Since it was my niece’s birthday, she set the plan: start with the easiest rides and work our way up. There are some rides that I just want nothing to do with — like rocking rides, especially ones that go up too high, spin, or go upside down. And while I will consent to take on some roller coasters, others are not for me. But my sister and family wanted us ALL to get on everything.

I managed to dodge two of the rides, but my sister dragged me, unhappily, to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shellraiser coaster. And the front row. I never, ever ride in the front row of a coaster. The Shellraiser has the world’s steepest coaster drop, at 121.5 degrees. It makes the climb excruciatingly slow, then hangs at the top for the longest 15 seconds of one’s life, before plunging down. I might not have hated it so much had it not whipped my head around repeatedly. I closed my eyes and wished for it to be over.

After working our way through the major rides, we said our goodbyes to my sister and her family and shifted gears to something C and I had been looking forward to—shopping. That had been our agreement all along. We spent some time exploring the stores before eventually making our way back to the bus and returning to New York City. It had been a full day and a great way to spend time together as a family.

It had been a full couple of days. We were tired, but in the best possible way, and looking forward to what the second half of the trip would bring.