July in New York City

Camping in Queens, Alley Pond Park

July was a lovely summer month here in New York City.  We did experience what one expects from a New York summer (e.g. suffocating heat paired with stifling humidity and the constant stench of stale urine) but, surprisingly, that was apparently an anomaly because most locals were decrying it as abnormal (at least the weather bit; the stale urine bit is normal).  To prove their point, the high heat and humidity only lasted a couple of weeks and the rest of the month consisted of absolutely lovely summer days including something we've missed terribly since leaving Utah, warm nights, no jacket required.  Man, have we missed these warm nights.

Although we found the high heat and humidity very uncomfortable, we didn't complain.  We've loved every minute of this summer weather because it's exactly what we wanted when we moved here.  Heat.  Real heat.  And a real summer.  It's been great!

Coney Island desserts

Besides the lovely summer weather, July also introduced us to our favorite part of New York, Coney Island.  Having just discovered it in early July, we've already been countless times, even forcing a visiting London friend to join us on one of our midweek treks.  (He was just as enamored as us, by the way.)

After discovering the Urban Park Rangers family camping program in mid-July, we've since camped in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island via this program.  We really enjoyed these urban camping trips and they've successfully reignited our joy in camping, which our last camping trip, to Yosemite (a very long time ago), had extinguished.

Enter the Dragon in Brooklyn

Mike accepted a long-term temp assignment in mid-July which has allowed us to start planning holidays and mini-breaks again, something we're really excited about because there's a lot we want to see in this region before we move abroad next year.  With Mike's new job and our new apartment, July is the month where everything appears to be coming together for us.