Post # 1
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
Hi bees – Fiance and I are from Va Beach and have spent every 4th of July on the sand until we moved to Hoboken 3 years ago. Every 4th of July I end up irrationally in tears because I miss the beach. So, I am preemptively trying to avoid a 4th of July meltdown and would love to hear what you guys do up here on the 4th?
Fiance only has Wednesday off work, so we can’t travel anywhere. Obviously, we’ll watch the fireworks but what else is going on during the day? Any suggestions/ideas are much appreciated!
Post # 3
Member
4464 posts
Honey bee
Could you go to the Jersey Shore or something for the beach? If we were going to the beach, we’d go to Long Beach (LI) but we were just there Sunday. We’re probably just going to chill, make sangria, maybe spend the afternoon in Carl Schurz Park. I don’t love fireworks, so we’ll skip those.
Post # 4
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
@hotchildinthecity: Good suggestion. Unfortunately, Fiance only has Wednesday off from work, so we can’t really get out of town. I’m not necessarily set on going to the beach – I just want to do something fun and it’s trickier this year since the holiday isn’t attached to a weekend. The last few years we’ve had friends from home visit for the holiday weekend. We’re going home on Friday to visit, so I’ll get my beach time….just seeing what our options are for tomorrow. 🙂
ETA: I hadn’t really thought about going to sit in the park, but I guess I do see people doing that here to get outside. There are a couple spots right around our apartment so maybe that’ll be good just to get some fresh air, even if it’s just sitting in a park! Especially if I bring a cooler with cocktails…
Post # 5
Member
4464 posts
Honey bee
@hardtoconcentrate: You can’t take NJ Transit to a beach for the day? Sorry, I don’t usually do the Jersey Shore, but when we go to LI, we just take the train and it’s like 45 mins out there.
Going to the park with a cooler of cocktails sounds like a fun day to me!
Time Out New York has a post on things to do in NYC for 4th of July:
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/4th-of-july-events-in-nyc
It would definitely be a fun day for Coney Island if you felt like making the trek 🙂
Post # 6
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
@hotchildinthecity: Awesome suggestions. I love being in this area but I don’t know many people up here (I don’t have a typical job where you may meet people at work) so times like this make me a bit homesick. Thanks so much for the ideas.
ETA: I think the Shore is like an hour and a half away. FI’s parents live down there. I’m kind of clueless about Jersey…I probably sound like an idiot considering I’ve lived here 3 years. Ha. I blame it on not driving anywhere.
Post # 7
Member
4464 posts
Honey bee
For future reference: here’s some info on beach packages from Hoboken to Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Bradley Beach, and Belmar 🙂
http://www.njtransit.com/var/var_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=SummerJSTo
Good luck and have a fun holiday! I actually love being in the city over the major holidays because it’s less crowded! (I’ve lived here 7 years now)
Post # 8
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
@hotchildinthecity: That is awesome – I never would have thought about looking into that. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks again!
Post # 9
Member
354 posts
Helper bee
I go out to Rockaway beach and I think it’s perfectly nice for a beach day (though the town of Rockaway Park can be a little iffy). We usually just take the A train out (which is a trek for me since I live in Washington Heights), but it’s super easy and it drops you near the boardwalk where there are tons of great food and drink options.
For less of a city feel, Jacob Riis beach (also in the Rockaways) is a National Park and is pretty nice. I’m sure it will be busy on July 4th because there are large picnic and bbq areas near the parking lot. There is a ferry to Riis beach from Wall street – which would be pretty convenient for you coming from Hoboken.
Coney Island is fun, but it’s a little crazy with the hot dog eating contest on July 4th.
Last year I spent the day drinking at the 79th street boat basin, and watched the fireworks over the Hudson river from there. It was lovely. This year, I think we’re planning a picnic in Central Park with some friends.
Post # 10
Member
6512 posts
Bee Keeper
If you want to go to the beach for a day trip, I HIGHLY recommend Sandy Hook! We just went again on Sunday – it is one of our favorite places! I always feel like I’ve taken a vacation when I come back 🙂 You are right, it is an hour and a half drive, BUT it is only a half an hour ferry ride from downtown Manhattan! http://www.seastreak.com/sandyhook.aspx The ferry ride is PRETTY, too!
Since we just went to the beach, we are prob going to have a chill day and go to a few BBQs.
Post # 11
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
@babu22: I love the boat basin! That sounds like an awesome 4th of July. I’ve never heard of Rockaway beach or Jacob Riis beach, so I’ll have to check them out. Like I mentioned above, I’m pretty clueless about the area.
Even if we don’t make it out to the beach tomorrow, I feel like maybe we’ll actually be able to go to the beach this summer now that I know about these places. Thanks for the suggestions. 🙂
Post # 12
Member
4150 posts
Honey bee
@sarahbabs: That sounds awesome! I’m home during the day, and now I’m thinking about making a day trip to the beach by myself just to cure my homesickness. This makes me so excited!
Post # 13
Member
6512 posts
Bee Keeper
@hardtoconcentrate: Yay! I love sharing the joy of Sandy Hook – it is just so pretty!
Post # 14
Member
354 posts
Helper bee
@hardtoconcentrate: the main allure of the Rockaways is that you can get there by subway – so cheap and easy. And in the past few years, it’s sort of developed a hipster following (as documented here and here). As a native Californian, I love to take the train out there, get real baja style fish tacos at Rockaway Taco, walk along the boardwalk, hang on the beach for a few hours, then cap off the afternoon with a cold beer and $1.50 oysters at Bungalow bar, which has a huge patio overlooking Jamaica bay. Then you just hop the A train home!
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