At Home On Long Island

At the end of our street in Greenport, New York

May 11, 2013

I can't believe we have already been in New York for an entire week.  We have fallen in love with Long Island and the quiet village of Greenport where we are living for two weeks.  We have been on the go quite a bit discovering this island from one end to the other, but have also found time to just enjoy being in our lovely apartment and taking long walks discovering every corner of Greenport.  We like being here before tourist season officially starts and have gotten a taste on the weekends as to what it must be like during the summer months.   We like the weekdays better.  There's no wait and we've gotten quite well acquainted with the guy who runs our favorite ice cream shop................

Sandpiper Ice Cream - Greenport, NY

May 12, 2013

 

We are able to walk to Sandpiper Ice Cream from our "home" which is the entire top floor of this wonderful house...............

Our "home" in Greenport, NY

May 11, 2013

The owners live downstairs and are delightful folks whom we've enjoyed getting to know.  The house is comfortable, spotless, well-equipped and a perfect place to hang out for a couple of weeks.

However, we certainly haven't spent much time hanging out in the house as there is plenty to do and see on this island.  Long Island is 118 miles long and and 23 miles wide at its widest point.  It encompasses four counties and includes the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.  Most people associate all of Long Island with New York City, however, nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, once one passes the town of Islip, the entire area becomes very rural with rolling farm land and wide open spaces.   You are never very far from the water with Long Island Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and numerous bays and inlets around every turn.   You will see bucolic scenes like this........

 

 

 

that are never very far from scenes like this..............

and always an easy drive or walk to the quaint village of Greenport or one similar to it........................

Here is a sampling of things we have done over the last week.

Sunday - Visited the tip of the North Fork of Long Island.  This includes the Cross Sound Ferry Dock where I had come onto the island from Connecticut.  We enjoyed Orient Beach State Park and walked the nature trail.  This park was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy and the damage/repair areas are easy to see. 

Monday - Decided to visit the South Fork of Long Island which includes the Hamptons, land of the rich and famous. We did this via Shelter Island accessible only via a short ferry ride and made our way to the Mashomack Nature Preserve.  This preserve occupies more than 1/3 of the land on Shelter Island and is managed by The Nature Conservancy.  We hiked one of the nature trails and had a great time in this very well managed preserve.   Driving all the way to the tip, we saw the beautiful  Montauk Point Lighthouse and then made our way back through the obviously well-to-do communities of the Hamptons.  This was a long day, but it was fun.

Tuesday - We visited the Horton Point Lighthouse and enjoyed the nature trail there followed by the more challenging Soundview Dunes hike.   Yes, it was just as it sounds.  Although a portion of the trail was in a lovely forest, much of it was trudging up and over sand dunes.  This is not easy!   Completing this called for a celebratory trip to Sandpiper Ice Cream for more Maple Walnut Ice Cream!

Wednesday - We traveled inland to visit the Walt Whitman birthplace and national historic site.  We both learned a lot about Whitman and his place in literary history.  We had an excellent tour guide and the museum is very informative.  Driving to this museum as a "destination" also took us through an area of Long Island we hadn't yet seen.

On Thursday, we left Greenport for a few days in New York City.  Bill loves the big city and couldn't wait to visit again.  Me, not so much!   I am definitely a country girl, but since it had been many years since I'd been to NYC, I was looking forward to it.  We had some pretty aggressive plans plus we were hoping to connect with a couple of friends while there.  Check back to see if all that happened!

Thanks for reading!