Land’s End

Ten years ago today our world changed. The 9/11 attacks were life altering, gut wrenching and completely unforgettable. All of us recall exactly where we were that morning, or what we were doing when we heard the news. It was unbelievable then, and remains so today. With this morning came a flood of emotions, and waking up here, in Manhattan, on the anniversary of this tragic day was more than I could stand to bare. We knew a trip to NYC this week would be different, but I had underestimated how emotionally taxing it would truly be. You cannot walk one block without experiencing either a memorial dedicated to the many that were lost on 9/11, or a police blockade or check point; the city’s best effort to avert disaster again. The heightened terrorist threat this week means roads are closed, security is high and police are everywhere. It brings about a mix of emotions. A sense of pride knowing they are there to serve and protect, fear knowing that there is a need and sadness realizing there is nothing that can be done to truly return the sense of security we all felt before 9/11.

While thousands upon thousands of people traveled from far away to attend the memorial held at Ground Zero this morning, I wanted nothing more than to be far away from it, somewhere peaceful and serene. The plan was to get off of the island and leave the “real world” behind us for just one day. And that is exactly what we did.

Despite having gone to sleep at 3:30am, we were up and out the door before 6:30 this morning. We took a taxi to LGA where we picked up our rental car and headed for Montauk. Montauk is a sleepy beach town at the very tip of Long Island. I had seen this beach in Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind (one of my favorite movies) and thought if it were half as pretty in real life, it would be well worth the drive. Plus, you drive through the Hamptons to get there, which sounded just fine to me.

We made our way across Long Island, heading east for quite some time. It was early and the roads were empty. We drifted on and off of the freeway, checking out small towns along the way. We drove through Amityville, Babylon and a couple of others before we arrived in Hampton Bay where we grabbed Starbucks (they were all that was open, apparently no one rises before 9 in the Hamptons) and headed to the beach. I was so happy to see the white, powdery sand was exactly as it had been in the movie, absolutely beautiful. We explored the beach for a bit before heading to Southampton. We cruised through the adorable town, caught tiny glimpses of the mansions that line the water front, and snuck out to another beach for a quick peek. I had read about the farmer’s market there in Southampton, and decided we must check it out. As we pulled up to the market I thought to myself “are they still setting up??”. It was a sad display compared to the frenzy of the markets back in California. There were about 8 tents, very little fresh produce, and about 5 consumers. We chuckled a bit. Not because of how small it was, but because of how we so often forget that the rest of the world is not like California; yet we find ourselves assuming it is. There is so much we take for granted in the Golden State, and today we realized our farmer’s market is fairly high up on that list. Regardles, we did manage to score some delicious cheese and a loaf of French bread and packed it up for an afternoon snack.

We ventured through the rest of the Hamptons and finally arrived at the Montauk Lighthouse. It was gorgeous. We took a nap in the parking lot overlooking the lighthouse and the beach (we were EXHAUSTED) for about an hour, and then headed out to explore the land’s end. Montauk lived up to its movie reputation, and I was a happy girl. We headed to Main street and found a little café that claimed to have the best lobster rolls around. I had never had one and was eager to try it, and, well, it was delicious. The lobster was warm, and coated with a little bit of butter, then stuffed into a toasted roll. The flavor was amazing, and I immediately regretted sharing with Kevin. I know I will think about that lobster roll for years to come.

After Montauk we headed northwest to Sag Harbor. The cheese man at the market told us they were having a festival up there this weekend, and who doesn’t love a festival? It was the epitome of a small town festival. There were food and craft tents all along the pier and whale boat races going on along the beach. The town folk were out enjoying themselves, the boys counts selling sodas and hot dogs, it was exactly something you would see on “Heartland America” or one of those shows. We had a great time at the festival, but it was approaching 4pm and we knew it was time to start heading back to reality.

We hopped on the highway and made a quick stop at a Costco somewhere in the middle of Long Island. I was sad to see it was exactly like ours at home. Oh well.

Within 2 hours of leaving Sag Harbor we found ourselves back in Manhattan. The clouds had rolled in and it was a gloomy night in the city. But, we had plans for the night and were excited, despite the exhaustion and gloom.

As luck would have it our friend Abbe, who we met last year through home exchange, just moved to Manhattan last week for her new job. She moved into her apartment 1 week before we arrived. Every time we try to get together with her in San Francisco or Tahoe, we can never manage to work it out. But now, across the country, we found ourselves seeing her for the second time in two days! I had e-mailed her a few days before we left, when the guy canceled on us last minute, to see if any of her friends were interested in an exchange. She said no one could pull it off on such short notice, but that she had a trip to Chicago Mon-Fri which meant she wouldn’t be home, and that she needed a dog sitter. So, here we are tonight, staying with Abbe, and Coco in her Midtown apartment. In true Abbe fashion she completely understated her home, saying “it will be clean and have air conditioning, which is better than what you have now!”. When we arrived we headed right to the 34^th floor (only the penthouse is above us) and into her beautiful apartment with gorgeous views of the Chrysler building just a few blocks away. Yes, this will do. (Granted, I’d much rather be on the 1^st floor, but I have Xanax on stand by if needed).

We had dinner with Abbe and she mentioned that she had spent the day in a bit of a funk, and that she thought it was because it was such an emotional day throughout the nation, but especially throughout the city. When she said this I was grateful that we were able to get away from it all for the day and just relax.