Well, I did it.

I took the dogs with me on a mini vacation to New York City.

The husband and I planned to go to Brooklyn and stay the night because he was running in a 10K race through Prospect Park.  But, to stay at a dog-friendly hotel in Brooklyn would mean that I would have to take a second mortgage on the house.  I really could not find a hotel for less than $600. So, I found this great hotel in Jamaica. It was only about 30 minutes from Brooklyn and I only paid $119!  SCORE!

We arrived at the hotel around 11 p.m. We left our house around 4:30.  It is usually about a 3-hour drive, but we hit traffic, got off at the wrong exit, and had to stop at a rest stop because one dog threw up on me.  I was not happy by the time we got there and went straight to bed. (Could not even muster a picture of the hotel.) It was called The Garden Inn and it was really nice!

The dogs were wiped, too.

The next morning we got up around 5:30 to get to the race by 7.  It was only a 30-minute drive but in NYC this can easily turn into a 3-hour drive.

Shelby was awake and ready to go.

Cuda did not want to be bothered.

Our bad luck continued. We got into Brooklyn but could not find a place to park.  It was packed!  I knew that Brooklyn would be busy, but this was ridiculous.

We drove around for about 40 minutes and I finally told Bob to jump out and get to the start of the race.  I would find a parking spot and meet him there.

Bad idea.

After about another 40 minutes, someone finally pulled out of a spot in front of me so I swooped in.  By this time it was 8:30 and as soon as I got the dogs and I out of the car Bob called and said he was done.

Really?  Done? As in the race is over?

I saw nothing.

I met him at the finish line and apologized. He did do an awesome job!

I could not believe it took me over an hour to get a parking space. He was so tired he wanted to get some breakfast, so we went back to the car.

Bad luck getting worse.

We were blocked in by the Entenmann’s truck. I just started laughing. What else could I do?

After 20 minutes of trying to find the driver, we were off. Back to the hotel to shower and change.  I knew we had to do something to redeem this weekend. Bob suggested Coney Island!  I really did not want to go but agreed to try and make this weekend better.

So, we packed the dogs back in the car and took the hour (normally about 20-minute) drive to Coney Island.

I am so glad we did.

Our first stop was Nathan’s.

I have always wanted to go here after seeing it so many times on the Travel Channel.   I was determined to feel better so I ordered a chili dog.  I cannot remember the last time I had a hot dog — so good.

After all that food, I felt sick.  We decided to walk the boardwalk.

It was 70 and beautiful. I could not ask for a more beautiful day!  The dogs even got to run on the beach!

I did bring the stroller with me because I knew that Cuda would not walk anymore. Bob hates the stroller.

In the end, we had a great time.  I guess if you try to make a bad situation better, it WILL get better.