Tuesday, September 30, 2014

At The End of The World

It's been a heck of a summer, folks. I lost two different relatives over the span of two weeks in July and it's taken me a while to get over that.

Since then I've finally done what I've been meaning to do and go into therapy. It's been going pretty good so far and one of the things I got off my chest was my desire to travel.

Well...travel, run away from my life, just not being here. And back in August I did just that.

As you might remember, I live on Long Island and I decided that the perfect one day getaway was Montauk Point, the easternmost point on the Island.

But to get to what is known as The End, I had to drive through 2 1/2 hours of an unfamiliar part of the island. You see, I had not been that Far East since I was a young child so as I drove through southern fork of Long Island I would've sworn I went to other parts of the country, let alone part of an island.

Seriously, the journey from here to there looked like this: Suburbs > Forest > Farmland > More Forest > Suburbs > More farms > Wineries > New England > Even More Forest > Beaches > End of the world.

"New England" describes that weird creature known as The Hamptons. Tiny cars and expensive stores as far as the eye can see. Frankly there was too much khaki and collared shirts for my taste. 

And that's not even getting into neighboring town called Wainscott, which is a Native American term meaning "This is where white people come from." I saw actual garden parties going on! Some inside upscale stores that had more windows than shelves. I thought those only existed in movies, but I learned something that day.

I took a quick detour in South Hampton to look around and I kept having anxiety attacks over a cop for being too poor for this part of Lobg Island.

Remember, I look like this: 


So you can imagine my disappointment when nobody really have a crap that I was wearing a Legend of Zelda tshirt and denim shorts. 

I also ate lunch at a place called Townline Barbecue, which gets on lots of those "Best of Long Island" lists.



I'll be the judge of that.



While it looks good, I must confess that none of what you see there had any flavor. It was moist and a nice, tender texture, but that's it. I couldn't taste anything. The ribs you see there were covered with a spice rub that was admittedly pretty good, but I'd expect that they'd have no flavor either of it wasn't rubbed.

It sure explains all the bottles of sauce that's at every table. You're going to need them.

But enough about that, time to see Montauk Point and its famous lighthouse.



I've gotten lots of compliments for this photo. You really couldn't ask for a more perfect day to look at this thing. Let's get closer, shall we?



Inside that house is a museum about the lighthouse and the history of the surrounding area. It's a pretty neat walk around. 



There used to be much more land, but erosion made the point much smaller. But let's look at the pretty surroundings. 





Those bluffs look so much bigger in person, pictures don't really do it justice. That big tower that you see in the middle of the second picture belongs to the infamous Montauk Laboratory, home to several weird projects that I'm not going to go further into in case anyone from the NSA is reading this. Hey, Carl. Nothing to see here.

Click to embiggen
Here's what the view from the top of the lighthouse looks like. Again, an amazing day. 


Here's the guestbook I signed. I thought I climbed it when I was younger but it turns out I just looked at it. It's a scary ass climb up there, lemme tell you. I actually hugged the ground the second I got out of the lighthouse. I just don't trust a steep flight of stairs held up only by a thin rope.


And here you have it, The End. Beyond that sign is a long long drop into the Atlantic Ocean. You can't get more east than that, guys. I hope you enjoyed this little travelogue, and I hope to bring you more in the future.