[What To Do In Park Slope When...] Your Manhattan Friends Come For A Fall Staycation.

Image via Eric Ryan Anderson

The word "staycation" is maybe the worst atrocity that marketers have committed in the last hundred years, but I'm using it here because it's the only appropriate word for when your friends from Manhattan "come all the way out" to Brooklyn for some rest and relaxation time. Fall is a particularly frequent time for Manhattanites to travel the full fifteen minutes it takes to get to the Slope, expecting a full on autumn Festival as soon as they haul their asses off the R train. 

Rightfully so. People actually decorate shit for harvest/Thanksgiving/Halloween in these parts, and no one loves a cornucopia like this girl. 

SO, what do you do when you being asked to provide a relaxing fall-themed day for your Manhattanite friends?

First, I'd grab a hot bevvie...two amazing Fall options are grabbing a Tea Lounge hot chocolate (seriously might be made with crack) OR a Maple Latte from Gorilla. After grabbing your drinks, head over to Grand Army Plaza's Green Market to get a yummy baked good treat, or some in season fruit for a late breakfast. While you are there, pick up a pumpkin for part deux of your autumnal-themed day.

For part two of the Park Slope Fall staycation, you need to have brought some things with you. Make sure to bring some carving knives, a blanket/towel, and a large spoon. Please don't ask your Manhattan friends to smuggle knives on the train, because you know that's the only time their asses are going to get searched... and who the fuck is going to believe it was so they could craft a life-like version of Conan O'Brien's face on the side of a gourd?

I digress.

After buying your pumpkins, head to the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. The only requirement of this walk is talking about how superior Prospect Park is in your mind, compared to Central Park. Spend your early afternoon carving pumpkins, playing with other people's dogs/children (you'll need to ask for permission on both counts or you're just a creep), and taking fall-centric photos to post on a social network to show your suburban friends from college how "carefree and outdoorsy" New York life can be. 

After you've all had your fill of "nature" walk your asses on over to Brookvin for some much needed food and drink. Here's the deal with Brookvin...it's quaint but refined, something your city friends will appreciate. Order a selection of their yummy appetizers and toast the season with the PERFECT Fall libation, their Pumpkin Spiced Manhattan.