What to do for my birthday?

How much money do you have? None, a little, or a lot?

Edit: money for this birthday, not in general.

Since you have the entire day off, Friday, drive to the nearest romantic location and get a cabin, set it all up for a romantic dinner. See if she can get off work, but if not pick her up immediately after, and drive her to the cabin you have already rented. Your vacation starts the minute the two of you walk into the room, so make sure you have done your best earlier in the day.

When it’s time to go back, take her to work on Monday morning, and then return to the rental and pack everything up, so she won’t have to do anything.

Go to Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, have an impeccable slice of Delmar’s pizza, walk along the boardwalk, stop for some ice cream along the way, hang out at the beach and go to Coney Island.

That’s one day planned.

Spend the week-end at Lake Mohonk mountain resort in the Catskills. It’s old-fashioned and beautiful. http://www.mohonk.com/

90 minutes N. of NYC.

I took my lady on a weekend trip once, and since it doesn’t leave a lot of time, I found a local place that would go the hotel and set up romantic scenes of your choice. They get very expensive, but what @YARNLADY said reminded me of it, I went with the just a boquet of flowers and a card waiting, but they get very elaborate (rose petals leading to the room, BIGGER boquets, candles, stuffed animals, sex books, etc.).

Well, Long Island is right out. The drive alone would be hellish. But perhaps a nice B&B in the Long Island Sound area on the Connecticut shoreline might be easier to get to.

Get married. I asked your girlfriend and that’s what she said :P

@monsoon I guess I’d like to keep it under $400. We would be splitting the costs. It is only a weekend. I still have to buy her gift.

@drdoombot I live in Brooklyn. That is a nice idea but I’d prefer getting away I guess.

@gailcalled Wow! Sweet! That place is gorgeous! But too expensive for me at the moment.

@galileogirl Uhh, yeah, umm, right, uhhh I know, I know

Ya know, you can have one HELL of a weekend in New York. Make reservations at an expensive hotel. Take in a play or 2. Go to some fancy restaurants. Take the horse and buggy through Central Park. See the South Street Seaport. China Town? Little Italy? Have you EVER been to the Statue of Liberty?

@Quagmire Yeah, done all of those things.

What about Atlantic City?

@Quagmire Hmm. I’ve actually never been there. Not sure but I don’t think she has either. I’m not much of a gambler. Still, it is a good idea. I’ve heard there’s plenty to do there. I’ll look it up.

There IS plenty to do. The hotels, the entertainment, the gourmet food CHEAP (they really want you there to GAMBLE), the boardwalk, the beach. You don’t even have to drive. There are plenty of buses.

I don’t gamble either. I just did the slot machines. It’s definitely a place to go once, whether or not you gamble.

Let the day flow in appreciation for all you have. The rest will follow.

@Deepness: You are right about Mohonk House. I was shocked at the rates. I have been to several conferences there and had my room paid for; it is gorgeous.

There are other choices in the area if you are looking for beauty, nature, hiking, biking, rock climbing, fishing, antiqueing and charming little B & Bs.

Mohonk Preserve

Lake Minnewaska and the Shawangunks

@gailcalled Mohonk seems to be new New Paltz. Whoa! The memories! I partied up at Suny New Paltz every other weekend when I was 20/21.

New Paltz is more than the party hearty campus, I promise. My kids used to camp out and rock climb in the ‘gunks. There were hard-core climbers there with no money at all.

The areas around Bear Mountain, Garrison and West Point also have possibilites.

@Deepness, Niagra Falls is a good weekend trip as well.

@Quagmire: Maybe a very long round-trip drive from the city?

@Quagmire Funny story about Niagara Falls road trip I did a couple years ago. I had just purchased a 2006 Lexus GS430. I came home from work just before my birthday weekend and knocked out pretty hard. I woke up at 10pm wide awake. Spur of the moment spontaneous urge to do a road trip. Called up the nephews and told them to pack a weekends worth of clothes and their passports. Drove to Niagara Falls. Canadian side. Border agent gives me no hassle. On the return however, border agent asks me about my car, who the kids belong to and what I did for a living. Then she asks me “Do you have a note from the children’s parents allowing you take them out of the country?”

I said “It’s too late for that. I already got them into your country. Now I’m taking them back.”

I went to the Canadian side, too. Security has gotten more careful these days I see!

What about a weekend at a vineyard?

@Quagmire Well, the whole point is that I checked the Canadian tourism website before embarking on the road trip and it only said we required passports for entry. No mention of parents notes or anything other. This particular border agent was just fabricating shit to be a ballbuster.

@PandoraBoxx I don’t drink. Nice idea though.

Boat trip up the Hudson?

Or canals
http://www.nyscanals.gov/exvac/boatsforhire/index.html

Well, I don’t know. I have no money put aside, no place to go, its’ supposed to be hotter than Hell on my birthday, so I plan on trying out a new cooking recipe on the grill and sitting naked in a big bucket of cold water in the shade out back while the meat sizzles. If you stop by, knock first to give me time to cover up my giblets (and I don’t mean the ones on the grill).

Go Bowling

get inked.

Go have lunch in Central Park. Beautiful time of the year. Plenty to see and do, unless you live in the city.

If that is the case, go to the Hamptons. Get out of the city. :-)

@ChazMaz: Driving through Long Island to the Hampton’s is equivalent to the seventh circle of Hell, even off-season.. Head north; I also love the idea of a boat trip up the Hudson.

Yea, been a while since I did that drive. I keep forgetting how crappy it has become to drive out east.