Monday, July 21, 2014

Long Island Love

Good Afternoon!

I am really trying to be better about getting here on more of a regular basis and on account that I am indoors today to catch up from our weekend away I decided to sit down and make time to tell y'all about our fabulous weekend! I mentioned on Friday that I was preparing for Jason and I to head out when he got home from work and anticipating a long drive ahead. As you can imagine traffic in New York City is never a treat but on top of that a Friday night didn't help matters much!

I will tell you although it will see that I took a lot of pictures I didn't! Truth be told I am sad about that because it was beautiful! But having said that as I mentioned in a previous post about my addiction to my phone I am really trying to curve that! Chris and Samantha were so gracious to invite us up there and we were so enjoying our time to be honest I didn't even think about my phone, and therefore there are a lack of pictures. We'll make do though!

Anyways shall we take a look at the pictures I did take?

Jason arrived home around the same time and I was ready to head out the door! He had a quick shower and we headed out the door! We live basically right beside the Holland Tunnel which was about to be the biggest pisser of the whole drive! Its genius if you ask me that they have 14 lanes of tolls at $13.00 a pop and then it instantly goes down to two lanes, if that's not asking for a cluster screw I don't know what is!

Makes Perfect sense right?

I was anxious to drive through Manhattan, obviously I wasn't actually driving but we have never driven through Manhattan (really it was all smart thinking on our part) in all our years there and driving through New York! Of course our GPS is crap and Jason instantly went into a frenzy which in turns throws me into a frenzy because we have the same argument over the stupid GPS and directions all the time. I'm just saying, our GPS screws up all the time and I insist Jason looks at a map and makes sure he knows where he is going FOR SURE before we get on the road to avoid the same mess we seem to experience every time we travel, and he never does... hence the drama. Thankfully we have phones, which I suppose were helpful.



As soon as we got into Manhattan I knew exactly where we were, and although I am sure the traffic would have permitted it Jason refused to let me out to get a purse on the side of the road! Ha! I seriously would have done it. 


Ignore the fact that these are not the most fantastic quality of pictures as they were obviously taken through the windshield. I didn't feel like hanging out the window was the best decision as there were police everywhere directing traffic, I mean we had somewhere to be an all. 

The traffic wasn't this bad the entire way but we definitely encountered traffic like this on parts of our drive. I didn't think it was too bad though, not nearly as bad as I was expecting! I suppose Jason was the one driving though, I was chatting away about anything and everything and singing away to the radio.. time flies when you're having a good time! 

We arrived to Chris and Samantha's house around dinner time and they were gracious enough to have cooked quite the chicken dinner. Jason was in chicken dinner heaven, that is absolutely one of his favorite meals so things were starting off pretty fantastic! We enjoyed the wonderful meal they cooked and then headed to the beach for sunset! Chris and Samantha grew up on Long Island so naturally they know all the best places to go, and are so fortunate to be surrounded by the ocean and have beaches so close to them. 

We packed a cooler with beer (Priorities!) and headed out the door! If you know me at all you know that I love the beach and what better time to be there then to catch a fabulous sunset.. and fabulous it was!









The beach was amazing and the weather was perfect for a night at the beach! Not too hot and not too cold! Sadly there was no bathroom so us ladies kept are drinking to a minimum, like hell I was going to pop a squat in the middle of the beach, especially with the lack of privacy. Although lets be honest I wouldn't do it if it was completely desolate. It was great to be out on the beach in my bare feet, I absolutely love summer and we really have been taking advantage of it as much as we can but let me tell you there is nothing better then beaches and boats for the summer!

Once the sun was completely gone and the bathroom was much needed we headed back to the house for drinks! It was great to catch up with Chris and Samantha, we haven't seen them since Alaska so there was lots to catch up on! They are in the midst of planning their wedding and its really such an exciting time! We thoroughly enjoyed the night and headed to bed excited for the next day on the boat!

We woke up the next morning to the best New York bagels ever! I was pretty happy to start my day that way! While everyone was finishing getting ready we headed to get some deli sandwiches for our day at the beach. Unfortunately the day was overcast but still warm so we were anxious to get out on the boat, it did my heart good to see Jason so happy. He had talked about going and visiting all week and being on the ocean in a boat is really his happy place.. it honestly could have been pouring rain and Jason still would have insisted on going! 



I was so excited to get in the boat, the water was calm and I was anxious to see what our day had in store! Some of the beach houses were absolutely incredible, but there were also a lot that were damaged from hurricane Sandy and it was so awful to see. On our trip to the beach Chris told us so many stories from his childhood and it was bitter sweet! I love being with someone in their hometown hearing about their childhood and listening to stories.. its so wonderful, but it was bittersweet because of a lot of his memories were in places that were destroyed by Sandy. You don't really understand the devastation until you see it first hand, we were in Alaska at that time and I remember it being so hard for them to be away from home at that time and although you hear stories and see pictures its nothing like seeing it in person. 


These wonderful ocean side restaurants and bars are just gone. Sandy brought so much destruction and devastation and rebuilding wasn't always possible. Its sad to think that lack of funds or fear of what may come took away these wonderful once full of life places. 


The boat ride was great and we soon arrived at our destination. Another pro to an overcast day was the fact that the beach wasn't busy at all.. oh, and did I mention it had a bathroom? WINNING! Chris and Jason got the boat set up and our stuff out while Samantha and I set things up on shore! 



The beach was fantastic! We had a great day, and it really didn't matter that the sun didn't come out! We so enjoyed being out the beach and just hanging out! It really was a fantastic day! We headed back to the docks around 5:00pm so we could get ready to do to dinner. As if Jason wasn't already having the time of his life we were going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner! 

The rest of our weekend was fantastic, we are so grateful to Chris and Samantha for the invite and the fantastic time we had! They were so wonderful to us and we really hope to get together again soon! Sadly Sunday Samantha had to work and although I didn't believe it would happen after Saturday night Jason was up on Sunday morning and ready to hit the road in order to avoid the traffic! Sunday's weather wasn't much better in Long Island so we headed out. 

The traffic wasn't that bad believe it or not! We had moments but the drive seemed to go by super quickly!




On the way home we had some great views of the city! I may not want to live there anymore but there is no denying the beauty of that amazing city! On our drive we ended up going over the Koscuisko Bridge on the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway (yes that's the correct information, I made Jason look it up to make 100% sure! Anyways while we were driving over this bridge we saw the most magnificent graveyard! Now don't get your knickers in a knot, its not morbid! It was extremely beautiful, a wonderful eternal resting place! Its called Calvary Cemetery




The place is just amazing, the headstones are works of art, the back drop is incredible.. and area is vast! This place is nothing short of amazing! 

So that was the deets on our wonderful weekend! If you are in New York visit Long Island, you won't regret it! See the beaches, have the bagels and love every minute of it like we did! 

I am headed off to finish laundry and all the fun stuff that comes along with Monday's! I started ready a fantastic book yesterday and will most likely finish it tonight so I will try to review it this week, also stay tuned for my great burrito debate, which ones are worth your time.. seriously, take my word for it, I am an expert!

Happy Monday all!








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