With as many times as I’ve been to New York, it’s somewhat shocking that I’ve never made it out to Brooklyn. Ok, I never thought I needed to go to Brooklyn – until I got there and saw that it’s exactly where I belong (when I’m in NY of course).

Brooklyn is beyond cool. Even in our most hipster outfits we were certainly not cool enough to blend in completely.

Hipster Outfit Checklist:

1. A tank top that screams “I just threw this on”
2. Ripped jean shorts that could have definitely come from a thrift shop
3. Polka dot sneakers (which could be classified as ironic since they’re not hipster, which makes them hipster)
4. Aviator sunglasses
5. Backpack

Alright, in a normal day I’m pretty opposite on the Hipster Scale as I was going for, so I’d say my attempt moved me a significant distance.  I’ll take it.

To save some money we took the 6:30 AM train out of DC, which put us into NY by 10:00 and in Brooklyn by lunchtime after we met up with my girlfriends.  It was worth the pain of getting up and out that early, since it saved us a night in a hotel.

The first stop was Smorgasburg: an outdoor flea-market of deliciousness.

Smorgasburg was overwhelming in the most exciting way.  There are more than 100 food vendors, and their foods range from the atypical to the “WHAT IS THAT!?” – try picking somewhere to source your lunch, you can’t.  Think you’re going to find a hot dog and hamburger place? What about a turkey sandwich? GO BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM! (that’s what I’d assume someone would yell if you asked that inside Smorgasburg).

Nice view of the city from here. Suckers over there, stuck between buildings while we’re over here chowing down on delicious cheap(ish) food, sitting on the green grass in the sun…

This photo below is of the hotel I’m going to try to stay in on my next non-work trip to Brooklyn. I have no idea what the actual name of the hotel is, but if the inside is as cool as their sign, I’m sure it will work out.

Our one and only tourist destination planned for this trip was the Brooklyn Brewery. Thankfully the group was on board because the line to get in was ridiculous (totally shocking that this has gone mainstream… so not hipster).  Once we were inside it was clear we made the right decision and stuck it out – the place was very cool, and the beer was cheap(ish).

Would we do the visit to the Brooklyn Brewery again? Probably not.  Would I recommend it to others? If they’re in the area and the line doesn’t look too long.

After the brewery we hit up an indoor beer garden around the corner with some friends that live in the NYC area.  It was inside an old factory building, very little signage on the outside and they served large beers.  To our surprise, a band showed up and brought the entire building to it’s feet dancing.  The band included a drum, trombone, saxophone, trumpet and a tuba.

Let’s go back!