Having dodged the brunt of Irene we drove to New Bedford Massachussetts where we spent the night. Many of the fishing fleet were still in as they had returned in anticipation of the hurricane. By the time we left New Bedford on Tuesday there was not a single ship in port.
We wanted to try a restaurant by the waterfront and found one in Yelp that looked like s great, seaman’s restaurant and bar. We arrived to find it was only open for breakfast and lunch. One of the patrons outside told us we would be safe in the bar, get the idea of the neighborhood! We told him we wanted to eat, so he recommended a restaurant down the street called Anthony’s. It was a great Portuguese restaurant and we had a great meal. Janice then tried to qualify for the USGA Mid-Am in the morning. The golf gods were helping others that day, so no qualification. We then headed for New London. CT to catch the ferry to Orient Point on the eastern end of north fork of Long Island. We caught the 4:00 ferry arriving at Orient Point about 5:45 and drove to an RV park in Greenport. Little did we know it may have been the only one to have power on the north shore of the Island (local id for Long Island). We got a good night sleep and headed to Locust Valley to see John’s sister, Carol, who just got power back. We stopped on the way at a vegetable stand and picked up some fruit and vegetables for the weekend. Carol and Parker’s son Clay was flying in with his lovely wife Talia (the wedding we went to in Hawaii, at the beginning of the trip) were arriving at 3:00, so we went to the airport with Carol and took the airport bus into New York City to meet Our daughter Kieran and son James for dinner. We met them at Grand Central Station and took the subway over to Kieran’s fifth floor (huf..huf..huf) walk-up apartment on 57th and 10th.
This gave us the opportunity to see Rocky, Kieran’s wonderful dog. We then went down to the lower east side to have dinner at Panna II. This inexpensive BYOB Indian restaurant was a hoot!! The food was fantastic and the decor just insane. We have never seen so many chili pepper Christmas lights in one place. Kieran told the waiter that it was Janice’s birthday (it wasn’t) all the lights went out and the waiters and all the other patrons sang happy birthday with the lighted disco ball above being the only light.
We then took a taxi back to Penn Station for the trip out to Locust Valley. It was funny for John, having spent so many years taking the trains from Penn station to Long Island. Thursday we ran errands and bought food for the weekend out at Shinnecock Beach. During the afternoon we helped Ginny, Carol’s good friend that had been driving Carol to the city for her daily treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering, get dinner ready for the 14 people that were going to be at the house for dinner. Lou, Ginny’s husband did a pork loin on the grill that was a sensation.
James’s fiance Mary had arrived late Thursday night and they stayed at a relatives house in Locust Valley. We picked them up in the morning and drove out to Hampton Bay, where Carol and Parker have a second home, currently being remodeled. We were going to spend the nights for the weekend in the driveway and the children are camping in the house. Kieran and her room mate Ana are taking the train around 5:00 to South Hampton. Clay and Talia, with Carol’s other son Billy arrived at the house just after we did to pick up the house trailer that Carol and Parker use for the beach. With all connected to the truck, we followed Clay to the beach about 15 miles away, the bird can do it in less than one mile! Arriving at the beach, Dawn, the guard on duty, had us park the Roadtrek in the employee parking area, giving us a pass for the three days we would be coming to the beach. What was great about it was it guaranteed parking regardless of how late we arrived in the morning. Being Labor Day Weekend, you can imagine how crowed the beach could become with the day campers. We all jumped on the pickup for the trip out to the beach with the trailer. The reduce the air pressure in the pickup and trailer to about 18 psi to track through the sand.
The day was just beautiful and we enjoyed the sun as the younger group got the trailer all set up. All the toys from diving equipment surfboards to kayaks and bikes were on or in the trailer. Carol. Parker Ginny and Lou arrived shortly after and the weekend was off to a great start. James. Billy, Clay and Talia headed for the beach where we joined them with Toby, their 11 year old golden retriever. There was great surf and the surf boards were put to great use.
Kieran and Anna went with Parker over to the other side of the bay to pick up the Hobe sail boat, what a trip they ahd over then thru the canal out to the ocean. It was sunset as they came back through the canal..beautiful..
OH MY!!! After that others went out with parker to sail, this is a picture of Mary and Parker sailed by us in the bay..Oh MY!!
A little history. Carol and Parker have been going to the Shinnecock Inlet beach for 35 years, camping originally in tents on the dunes, moving to a pop-up and on to a trailer. Clay and Billy have grown up at the beach each summer along with the many families that still go there. John’s children remember many a trip for weekends with Aunt Carol and Uncle Parker as they grew up. Now for the wonderful pictures from the beach..
