Sunday, July 24, 2011

It's hot in the city, let's go to the beach

Monday morning and it is our last day of vacation. I've always wanted to check out the beaches from Coney Island to the Hamptons so I decided to take the opportunity on this trip. I think it was a great ending to a fabulous trip to New York. First, we had to get to JFK to rent the car. We took the subway for one last time to the AirTrain. That connection drops you at the airport. We loaded the car and off we went. I brought Tom with me and he finally kicked in and helped us navigate although I have to admit I didn't use him a lot and made him mad by going off his route. He got over it.

One thing we quickly learned is that there are no free beaches or beach parking along this route. At this stop, we had to park in a lot reserved for condo residents. We ran up to the boardwalk, looked at the beach, snapped a few photos and got back to the car before it was towed or ticketed!

We started at Rockaway and stopped at many beaches between there and Southampton. We could see the beach and water here and there but weren't able to get on the beach without paying and since we were limited on time, we didn't get out. Lesson learned: next time, take the train from the city to Rockaway or Coney Island and spend some time on the beach.
We drove for a few hours and of course got hungry again so we stopped at the Massapequa Diner. From there we continued east to Southampton and shot this photo on some beach, somewhere along the way.

Here is one of the small beach cottages you find in Southampton. Isn't it adorable? Seriously, this area is gorgeous. I can see why the city dwellers escape here. I could escape here - if I could afford it. We walked around the village and bought a few books at the quaint bookstore. I picked up a few real estate magazines - not really magazines, more like books. The properties inside range from 800K to over 40 million. Beautiful homes but dang, they are HUGE and in some cases ridiculous.

The little black car in the back is our rental car. We are parked in a lot which is private and requires a sticker for parking. Note the cool surfer truck. I need to meet the owner of that truck! Stickers were present which means this person lives in one of those little beach cottages.

The next few photos don't truly represent the beauty of this huge roadside garden at someone's home. This garden wrapped around the corner and was in full bloom.




Many of the homes were surrounded by huge hedges. Many of these hedges were being trimmed while we were there. I guess it was hedge-trimming day?On the road into the village there was an interesting yard-art store. Of course we had to stop for the photo opportunity.

Lady Liberty IS a lot smaller than she looks!
Dinosaurs in the Hamptons!


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