Cooking Up Some Fall Travel Plans

I can't remember if I've ever mentioned this on the blog, and Lord knows I'm too lazy to go back and check old posts, so I'll just lead with it even if it is an encore statement. The sixth grader takes after my granny and loves to cook. She is especially interested in baking, just like granny. What I wouldn't give to have had granny still busy in the kitchen these past twelve years, cooking up our favorites. The sixth grader was just a baby when granny passed away, so she never had a chance to learn at the elbow of the mistress of the kitchen.

The younger daughter has been telling us for several years now that she wants to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, at which point her daddy always adds the proviso... after you graduate from college. This child has always been a fan of the cooking channel. Her favorite shows are all about cake baking and decorating. She loves to pull up episodes of "Cake Boss" on You Tube and watch that in her bed in the evenings before lights out.

Even though we haven't quite left Europe yet, I've already started planning domestic travel for the fall. A life long fan of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, I have always longed to travel to NYC and line the parade route on a cold fall morning to enjoy the spectacle of floats, marching bands and huge balloons. I spent my youth parked in front of a TV on Thanksgiving morning watching the broadcast of it. Sure - it's one of the most horrific times of the year to fly, but that didn't stop me from booking Turkey Day in NYC several months ago.

The teen has been to NYC before, but the 6th grader has not. We'll spend Thursday together as a family, then the teen will split on Friday to hang out with an English high school buddy that's attending NYU. That means the husband and I get to play tour guide with the younger one that has never been to the Big Apple.

In the morning, I've had our travel agent extraordinaire arrange a private tour of the city. Since our afternoon is free, I asked the younger daughter what she wants to see. I figured she might be interested in Chinatown or the WTC memorial site. Without blinking an eye, the baker wanna-be told me she absolutely has to visit Carlo's Bakery in nearby Hoboken.

For those of you who aren't in the know, this is where the show "Cake Boss" is filmed. So that's what we're doing - having our private tour car drop us at the ferry so we can hitch a ride over to Hoboken for the younger daughter to worship at this house of fresh baked/decorated goodness. I bet she'll about pee her pants if she gets a glimpse of any of the bakery folks seen on TV in the show while we're there. 

At first I thought this was kinda silly, but quickly realized it would probably be the highlight of her trip. The parade is my dream, and she'll no doubt enjoy it, but the bake shop is all hers.