Last Tuesday the 2nd, I breached the mid-twenties era of my life when I finally reached 23 years of age. That Thursday, my boyfriend flew up from Florida and, after a Friday of reveling, we hopped into the car (Matt with a bit of a hangover) and headed out to the vast land called Long Island.
We drove for about three hours in a quite ridiculous rain storm. About an hour and half of that time was spent on the LIE, but the second half was a nice, scenic route on a smaller road through eastern Long Island. We passed through wine country, but decided to partake on the way back because of the truly worrying monsoon that was starting to pool on the roadway.
We reached Montauk Manor, our overnight of choice, in the later afternoon, just as it was getting dark(er than it had been the rest of the day). We drove up a winding path, ascending to finally reach the house on a hill overlooking the bay.
The outside of the manor was a spectacular sight, but it did not compare at all to the entrance hall. We walked through a courtyard with four gnarled trees, reaching to each other over our heads with their twisted branches. We passed through the tall double doors and entered into a hall with (I believe) marble floors, high ceilings, glass tables laden with holiday flowers, and hanging chandeliers. Check in was a quick process, and after dropping our bags off in our room, we decided to act on our hunger and drive down to the village in search of sustenance.
Unfortunately, that proved more difficult than we had given forethought to. It is currently most definitely not seafood season on the coast, and most of the little shacks and trucks that people wrote so much about on the internet were closed. On the other end of the spectrum, the restaurants were completely in the spirit of Montauk; for those who don’t get the image, think three or four dollar signs on Yelp.
In the end, we grabbed a Buffalo Chicken pizza pie and some Hoegaarden, then headed back to change into more suitable attire (ie. sweat pants) and eat. We killed almost the whole pizza, save one slice. It was wonderful.
I have now just realized that I never actually described the room. We got the executive studio room, which is a fairly small room, albeit one boasting a king size bed, a full kitchen complete with water kettle, and a very nice shower. It was way more than enough. We ate pizza in bed with some Top Gear on. I had a great night.
The next morning we woke up at 6 to get to the coast and catch the sunrise, but our plans were foiled by the fluffy looking formations of grouped water droplets known as clouds. However, we did enjoy the site of the light house decorated for Christmas, complete with lights and wreath. We also drove around the artillery roads, where we saw some bunkers and an old worn down radar. It was truly an interesting bit of history, one that I never really connected with LI.
Afterwards we headed back and had some complimentary breakfast, which in our case consisted of eggs, home fries, and a good liter of coffee. The restaurant where we were served is actually inside the manor, on the first floor. One wall is all windows looking outside onto a patio area, while the other three are decorated with lots of cute little paintings and Christmas ornaments; the whole setup was quaint and warm, and a wonderful place to have our morning meal in.
We had a few hours left after breakfast, so we went back to the room to quickly change into swim suits and headed to the first floor for some jacuzzi time.
The pool is not a big one, nor is the jaccuzi, but sufficient enough if you don’t plan to actually use them to work out. If you do want to get a sweat on that is not only brought on by hot water, then you could hit their exercise room, which although small, is normally equipped for a hotel gym.
By the time that we headed out at eleven, it was sunny and nice outside, which made our stop at Duckwalk Vineyards that much more enjoyable. If you’re ever driving out in Long Island wine country, I truly suggest you stop there. The main building where the store is located is a beautiful room with tall ceilings and windows spanning the whole height of the wooden walls. The tasting there costs $8 for a choice of 5 different wines, of which there are about thirty total to choose from, if not more. The bartender is an awfully nice man, engaging and funny; he gave a succinct description of each wine without being snobby and overbearing. It was a great end to the weekend, and we ended up buying two wines, a Windmill White and Gatsby Red, that the whole family ended up really enjoying.
If you would like to visit yourself, their website is .
All in all, a wonderful weekend. For anyone who has some time and a bit more money to spare, hit up Montauk Manor and Duckwalk Vineyards on your way out east.
Wandering Owl 