I checked out Little Island, that new little floating park on the Hudson.

Sometimes things that are popular and mainstream are popular and mainstream for a simple reason: they are very good things. Avocado toast and White Claws aren’t flying off the menu because of some mass millennial delusion or deep-seated carelessness by the younger set about the value of money. It is because they taste good and feel pretty clean on the way down. Occam’s razor will tell you everything you need to know about brunches in the East Village.

That brings me to Little Island, the little floating park on the Hudson around 14th Street that just opened last week. It was designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the same guy who designed the Vessel in Hudson Yards (you win some and you lose some), and is made to look like leaves floating on the water. It is basically a hilly little greenspace with some winding walkways, a ton of plants, trees, and flowers, and a very cool wooden amphitheater overlooking the water. I visited with my parents last weekend (pictured!) who came up to visit from Georgia.

My one real problem with Little Island is that I’m pretty sure everyone else’s parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. and every other living descendant on the family tree also came up to New York City last weekend and decided to visit Little Island. I mean this place was absolutely packed—it felt like Disney World out there. At some points you could hardly turn around and/or would get stuck behind those slow walkers with limited peripheral vision that typically hold their weekend congregations on the High Line.

But that is the price you pay for making a good thing, and my overall review is that Little Island is a good thing. Hopefully it will clear out a bit as fall comes into view.