We're movin' on up to the West Side: Hudson Yards is fun for all ages

On May 24, we had the opportunity to tour the new Hudson Yards located on the west side of Manhattan by the Hudson River. We were able to see structures, stores and restaurants.

Our first stop on our journey was to the Vessel, located in the center of Hudson Yards. This beautiful interactive structure was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and his design practice Heatherwick Studio so people can enjoy a new view of the city. The Vessel has 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs, there being almost 2,500 steps with 80 landings. The Vessel opened to the public on March 15, and people were blown away at the amazing honeycomb-like structure. The Vessel, standing 150 feet tall, gives astonishing views of city, the river and far beyond

After we were done with the Vessel, we went to one of the coolest places we have ever seen, Snark Park.  Snark Park is a mixture of art, design, and architecture It was designed by artist Daniel Arsham, a color blind artist  who can only see black, white, gray and purple.  He is unable to see green and red hues.  Even though Arsham is color blind what he did was amazing.There were these pillars that had a bunch of different patterns in them. Some had disco ball patterns or faux fur, even one had walls covered in styrofoam balls. And one of the things that made Snark Park even better is we could actually go into some of the pillars. For example, there was one that had beaded strings. They had chairs just like the pillars that were more like thrones. To add to the fun they had some games setup such as mancala and checkers. But that is not it. Milna, our guide in Snark Park, took us into a room with black light and there were the most comfortable bean bag chairs ever. They were insane, when you sat in them you just sank in. Snark Park was such an amazing and fun place that we would absolutely go back too.  It is very kid friendly, they had really cool stuff to do inside. 

For lunch we stopped at Belcampo, which in Italian means beautiful field. The menu has many options, from burgers to salads and even steak tartare. The staff was very nice and polite answering any questions we had about the food. They were also very alert for allergies. The food was beyond amazing, it tasted like a five-star restaurant. The burgers were cooked to perfection, the fries were also really crisp and soft. But whatever you get it will be amazing. We highly recommend Belcampo for lunch. One of the favorites was the 100-day dry aged burger. It is a ½ pound of grass-fed and 100-day dry aged beef with raclette cheese caramelized onions, dijonnaise, arugula on a brioche bun. It also came with fries. This burger was different from a lot of traditional burgers with an extraordinary savory taste from the first bite to last. If you are hungry and in Hudson Yards, stop what you are doing and go to Belcampo.

After our meal we went over to Van Leeuwen, an ice cream shop that has vegan options. Nick had vanilla and Gabby had peanut butter marshmallow crunch. Ali had chocolate fudge brownie and Brandon had a root beer float. We all had our ice cream in a fluffy waffle cone except for Brandon. The ice cream was truly delicious and was like the cherry on top for the whole trip.

At the end of our amazing day, we were able to do something that most kids would absolutely love.  We were able to ride around on scooters in a store. The store is called Micro Kickboard, which has a fake little road for you to test out the scooters with, and they have tons of models for you to try.  Micro Kickboard is a store for all ages and you can test drive scooters, helmets, and cool accessories. We recommend you take a stop at Micro Kickboard because if you are kind of bored or just want to try something new, then this is definitely the store. 

Hudson Yards is a place that has it all for all ages. There are more than 100 shops and restaurants and we think it is filled with adventures.