NYC: First Trip to the Hamptons
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Cooper's Beach (Photos by Chris Wang) |
Happy Friday! I am currently trying out the Internet on my flight to LAX. I'm going to LA again to visit the bf for his birthday (yay happy birthday Jing!) I really want to get this post up before I land, but the spotty Internet may win over my determination.
For those of you in New York for the weekend, here's an idea for an awesome weekend before the end of summer!
A few weeks ago, my friend Sherry proposed a summer roadtrip -- after some deliberation, we decided to spend a weekend in the Hamptons! Problem was that I always heard it was really difficult to make a trip of it if you didn't have / know someone who had some baller house or rental out there. So what is one with modest means and meager connections to do?
Well, we ended up driving out there to enjoy to sun and sand and then stayed at a budget hotel on Long Island to shorten the back and forth drives... Here's a recap of one of the best roadtrips I've taken in a while (aside from my roadtrips in CA with Jing of course =) More info on logistics like transportation at the bottom!
Stop 1: Cooper's Beach in the Village of Southampton -- America's #1 beach according to Dr. Beach
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Look how clear the water is! |
When we decided to come to this beach, I was skeptical. How could a beach in the middle of New York be America's best beach? I've been to Hawaii's Waikiki Beach and San Diego's beaches and just didn't believe it. After getting here though, I must say that it has made New York seem like a better place to live long term with places like this so nearby.
Just so you know, Dr. Beach evaluates beaches based on 50 categories, including sand fineness, water temperate, width of beach, presence of jellyfish, water quality, etc. As you can see from these photos, Cooper's Beach's water was super clear and the sand was extremely fine.
Another plus is that it's not that crowded... makes sense since the place is EXPENSIVE. Parking is $40 on the weekends, making it the most expensive beach to visit on the Top 10 list published by Dr. Beach. I guess the people here want to keep things exclusive (so New York haha). We squished 6 people into the car there, so $40 divided 6-ways isn't SO bad to spend a day here! You can also rent umbrellas and chairs for $10-15 (expensive is a theme here) or just lay on towels like we did!
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Walking along the beach and collecting sea shells! |
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Look at my collection! |
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Katelynn had the brilliant idea of exfoliating our feet with the sand |
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The further we walked down the beach, the emptier it got.. all these empty chairs were right in front of the mansions! (Jenn Liu took this one =) |
Stop 2: Farmer's Market Stands Along the Montauk Highway
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| Tomatos fresh from the farm! (Photos by Chris Wang) |
After Cooper's Beach, we decided to drive all the way to the very tip of Long Island to Montauk and see the famous lighthouse and the rockier beach out there. Along the way though, they have a ton of farmers market stands with really fresh fruits and veggies. Since we were staying overnight, we couldn't buy any of that, but they had delicious bi-color (yellow and white) corn that they roasted and sold for $3 each. Mmmm after a long day at the beach, this just hit the spot. We put butter spray, cajun seasoning and lemon pepper on it. DELICIOUS! (I'm getting hungry on the plane just thinking about it now haha)
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Dew drops on the corn |
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Seasoning our roasted corn |
Stop 3: Montauk Lighthouse / Beach
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| Montauk Beach (Photos by Chris Wang) |
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| Love this photo of the lighthouse... it's my desktop wallpaper now! |
Stop 4: Zara's Restaurant / Bar
We randomly stumbled upon this place thinking it was some kind of AWESOME food place because of the huge crowd of people and the long line of cars parked along the road. Apparently we were mistaken and it was just the sceniest dive bar I've ever been to (i.e. like Gossip Girl in real life!) Once we realized that they didn't specialize in any food, we enjoyed a Pina Colada/Banana Colada here and bounced to find some deliciousness elsewhere. It was an interesting place to see though! This is the kind of thing people refer to when they think of the Hamptons. Anyway, I can't find it on any maps or websites though boo =(
Stop 5: The Clam Bar
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| Sunset at the roadside restaurant (Photo by Chris Wang) |
I was determined to eat some kind of LOBSTER on this trip! I've only had a lobster roll ONCE at a restaurant in San Jose that modeled itself after New England seafood places and this cute roadside outdoor diner had delicious ones! We all ordered a bunch of shrimp, crab and corn chowder and I shared a lobster and lobster roll with Katelynn. I don't have lobster that often, but I can say that it was super fresh and delicious! They also had the bi-color corn that I guess the region is known for, so I ate another cob of it!
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| Lobster salad roll! |
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| Mmmm whole lobster too |
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Getting to the Hamptons:
- Train: The LIRR makes it pretty easy -- takes ~2 hours from Penn Station
- Hamptons Jitney: It's a special bus that just takes trips out to the Hamptons
- Here's an article comparing the two
- Car: Beware of traffic! We got lucky though and didn't really hit any, but I hear it can get pretty bad, especially on Friday nights
View Long Island Roadtrip in a larger map