The Hike

Backtracking to Saturday, November 26th, it was a beautiful day sunny, dry with quiet breezes in the low 60s.  After several days of ernest Thanksgiving feeding it was time to get some exercise to work off the gravies, fondue, sweet potato casserole etc. so a road trip was in order.

Bernard and Katherine had been to Montauk on the South Fork once before but it had been a cold, rainy day and they only took a brief stop of ten minutes or so before heading west again.  Today would be different.

To maximise the day we took the shortest route to the South Fork which was via the North Ferry to Shelter Island on the ferry Mashomack then traversing the island north to south on Route 114 ending up at the South Ferry to North Haven on the South Fork, a trip of 30 minutes or so instead of an hour and a half by road only through Riverhead to the South Fork.

At Hither Hills State Park we stopped to check out the hiking map at Hither Woods

Here we decided to make our way to the dunes in the large Hither Hills State Park area to hike the Walking Dunes, dunes that continually change their shapes, positions and heights with the occasional howling winds off the Atlantic particularly during those pesky Nor'easters.
I was first to the top.

A view of the Peconic Bay from the South Fork

Looking over the crests of the dunes

When we got down from the dunes we drove to Fort Hope Sate Park adjacent to the Montauk light.  The Atlantic coast cliffs were eroded such that they were under-cut and were posted with warnings to stay 25 feet back from the edge.  No one did, however, as going close was the only way to really see everything, even thought there was ample evidence that many cave-ins had occurred at the base of the cliffs.

Montauk Light stood sentinel to the east

A closer view of the light showing the new building built in WWII, now with high tech equipment keeping the eastern end of Long Island safe from those who'd wish us harm.

Here an old sub-watching block battlement has fallen to the foot of the cliffs

The happy hikers at the end of the hike, tired, exhilarated, with a bit of sun rosiness on our faces ready to do whatever was necessary to get some fried clam sandwiches.

So long for now...

Thanksgiving in Cutchogue

Thanksgiving in Cutchogue is a four day affair beginning Wednesday evening and ending Sunday afternoon. The last four years, Kara, Katherine and Bernard have been a constant. We have our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday as a tradition which gives us plenty of time to make the pies and everything else that can be made ahead. We play lots of games the favorites being long-jump chinese checkers, scrabble and bocce ball in the backyard if weather permits and this year it was beautiful. Bernard and I have our annual chess tournament when the girls go shopping at the Tanger Mall, and yes, there is plenty of time. This year they left to shop at 10 am and got back at 4:30 pm. Don't know how they do it, just glad I'm not there! They all got neat stuff, the best being Kara's opera dress. So pretty. Saturday evening after the shopping we had a fondue dinner, the wine supplied by Bruce from afar. The wine was a most unusual wine, an elderberry wine from a Kansas vintner, not sweet, very dry with just a hint of berry. It paired perfectly with the fondue of which we all ate too much.

Saturday Fondue Dinner

Amy, Kara, Katherine and Four Delicious Pies (photo by Bernard)