As much as we might have liked to, we couldn’t stay in Providence
forever, so after our lovely day (workshop, Newport) and very nice meal at Chez
Pascal, we got back in the MOMSTER the next morning and began the journey
home. MFO has a dear cousin who lives in
Bayport, Long Island and since we were “in the neighborhood”, she wanted to
stop by to see him. He is getting up
there in years, so these opportunities are not to be missed. Not wanting to “double back” to get there,
our inventive and imaginative trip planner (MFO) found a ferry that goes from
New London to Orient Point, on the very tippy tip east end of the island on the
“north fork”. So we drove down to the
port town of New London (home of the Coast Guard Academy) and queued up with
many others to take the ride across Long Island Sound to New York.
Eventually the behemoth appeared
And after some jockeying around, they backed the ferry into
the pier and disgorged the people who had left Long Island (smart thinking
folks, IMHO)
We were finally ushered aboard along with the other travelers,
parked the MOMSTER where told to, and went up on deck. The sun was out, and although it was a little
breezy but water was fairly calm which was a relief, since the crossing was
quoted as taking about an hour and a half.
It was a busy little port, with many comings and goings of other
vessels.
As we pulled away from Connecticut, we did get a nice view of
the Eagle, the USCGA’s "tall ship":
Although the port area was pretty industrialized, there were
a few indications of time past
We didn’t have much company up on deck (most people were
inside with either cell phones or laptops), but there were other travelers;
Finally we passed Fisher’s Island
Rounded a couple of marks and were welcomed to New York by
the ambassador
I had not been to Long Island in a long time, but at least
on the Eastern end of the place it was fairly pleasant with a lot of
agriculture and even quite few wineries that have popped up here and there.
For a while, the roads were mostly two lanes filled with people
that apparently had a lot less time than we did. But, between the hand held phone/GPS and
printed directions from MicroSoft Streets and Trips, we only made a couple of
wrong turns and eventually wound up in Bayport at her cousin’s house. He wanted to take us to lunch, so we all went
over to a little local place called "Bistro 25"
The hour was a bit late for lunch, around two thirty, but
they were glad to seat us and even let us sit in the main dining room since the
kind of bar/lunchroom area was occupied by a ladies club of some sort who were
having a great time, if you get my drift.
Of course we were there to talk and reminisce rather than dine, but it
was a very pleasant experience. The
server lady was extremely nice and just let us know that the soup today was a
mushroom bisque. I didn’t want to “load up” prior to the long road that awaited
us (we had decided to push for home regardless) so said I would have some of
MFO’s bisque and ordered the crab cakes from the appetizer menu. MFO added a mushroom (what the hell) risotto
to her order. Cousin also did soup, and
ordered a hamburger that turned out to rival any I had ever seen. A large, thick patty with cheddar and bacon (lettuce, tomato, etc.), but he
tucked into it with enthusiasm. Despite
the talk of bisque with two spoons, the lady brought me my own bowl, and
dispensed everybody's soup from a nice silver pitcher. I always like that touch. Both the bisque and the following three golf
ball sized crab cakes were just at my spicyness limit (which as I always admit
is not generous). Everything was pretty
good but the conversation was best.
But alas, to use a phrase coined by my friend on the other coast, the “traveling
Jones” took over and we had to leave for the portion of the trip I had dreaded
most. Given our location on Long Island (Southern coast),
and our destination (home) we had little choice but to traverse New York City
(as far to the south as we could), crossing on the Verrazano Bridge. And of course we would be setting out around
four o’clock, on a Friday afternoon. A
real stroke of genius, eh?. Upon departing
the restaurant, they asked us where we were going, and just kind of rolled
their eyes. But, nothing to do but tough it out, our attitude (aside from my
angst) was tempered by MFO’s always calm approach. We departed glad to see Cousin, and hope we
can do it again sometime..
I have maybe complained about this earlier, but somehow the
New Yorkers have a penchant for giving roads names in preference to
numbers. So although it is I495, or
SR27, most signage refers to the Long Island Expressway (or just LIE), and Sunrise
Hwy; and who knew the Southern Parkway is actually route 47? This only adds to at least my confusion as right seat navigation officer. You come up to one of those electronic information
signs, which is displaying knowledge like: WPW 10 Minutes; MBP 17 Minutes; BPW 12 Minutes. Boy that is helpful! I’m sure it is if you know you want to take
the Wantagh Parkway or the Meadow Brook, or maybe the Belt it is informative rather than mystifying... and frustrating.
And, is sometimes the fact (I should learn from this) the
reality was not as awful as the thought of it.
And while we did experience the occasional
For the most part we kept moving (not fast, but
moving). We passed by Kennedy Airport
(and the Van Wyck Expressway which leads to it (or I678 as the uninitiated would
call it)), and eventually saw
After (ponying up the cash) and crossing the bridge we traversed
Staten Island, and finally headed south on the New Jersey Turnpike. Another few instances of
And finally nearly midnight found us back in the digs. And so ended a very long but interesting day
and (equally quick) trip. We saw lots of things, ate some
good food, and had some learning experiences (like “no ticket” means you already have
one and don't need it, not that you can get one). I liked
the end points, but not the passages.
There sure are a lot of people who own cars in the world and live in the
“Northeast Corridor” A few friends and
loyal readers have given us some tips for “next time”, if there is one. Amtrak sounds interesting.. But, through it all we were
DFD
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