Head East

As much as I may complain about Long Island- the traffic, the crowds, the slow speed limits, the awful weather- sometimes I realize how beautiful parts of it really are. This weekend I ventured east with my mom to drive around the Hamptons. In my opinion, the Hamptons are even more beautiful in the off-season; there are practically no people except for locals, and the A-list celebs and billionaires haven't invaded just yet. It is still a peaceful, country New England-type town.

I usually only head way out east in the fall for apple picking (which you can read all about on Lydia's blog). But we decided, with little planning, to get in the car and just drive until we hit the end.

Once we reached the Hamptons we drove around all the beautiful neighborhoods, practically empty as the summer set hasn't arrived.



I'm not sure what these M&M-looking sculptures are supposed to be or what these crazy houses are for, but we had to pull over for a picture!

I certainly wouldn't mind a little country house like this; I'd live here year-round!

This picture is dripping with Americana- Norman Rockwell would love to paint all of Sag Harbor. 

Once we had driven around the Hamptons, we headed further east to the very end of the island, Montauk. After stopping at a few overlooks along the road to take in the breathtaking view, we reached a little parking area on a cliff. 

To reach the lighthouse, we hiked through a heavily overgrown area on a tiny, barely beaten path that dropped us out at the beach. 

From there, we trekked across these rocks (which was not an easy task) for about ten minutes until we reached the lighthouse!

Our view for most of our hike. A little scary but exciting! 

This place is old. We were surprised to see that George Washington had commissioned this as a historical site, A. the country was so new, and B. didn't he have a fledgling country to run, instead of running out to Montauk to see a lighthouse?

This sign was hilarious yet very serious. I wonder what kind of place this is...

Dinner was at the Clam Bar, a little shack on the side of the road offering fresh chowder and sea food. We knew it had to be good when we saw cars lined up and down the highway at different times during the day. Apparently this place has been featured on Sex and the City and is quite the pit stop for people on their way out east. 

Heading out east and just driving around was perfect and exactly what I needed before the home stretch as the school year comes to a close. I'm super busy with papers, finals, and projects, but I'm almost done and then it's back home for an entire summer!