Four Deer and Brooke Shields - our time in The Hamptons

We had just over a week left in our Northeast adventure, and it seemed like a great time to check out The Hamptons, since (1) we were planning to fly out of Newark Airport and this brought us much closer, (2) we’ve never been to The Hamptons and (3) I’ve seen way too many movies/TV shows about that area of Long Island and really Needed to Know. Also, no one wants to go to The Hamptons in October, so we were able to get crazy good discounts on a big airbnb near downtown Southampton. I even checked prices for that house and others nearby during the summer and, just, wow. There was one place that was $40k per MONTH. And the reviews commented on how nice it was that the airbnb hosts met them at the door for that one 😱.

It was very clear that we were in the Bel Air of Long Island (I really wanted to insert a Fresh Prince joke here, but I got nothing). The first night we walked to dinner in the village and saw multiple deer casually hanging out munching on the large front lawns. We also saw signs for the “service” entrances for some of the properties.

Then, as we were going into our restaurant, who did we see coming out? Brooke Shields! (LOL)

The next morning, we went for a stroll on the beach nearby. It was gorgeous out - we enjoyed seeing the sun, surf, local wildlife, AND the ENORMOUS houses. As a result, we went to multiple nearby beaches for walks throughout the week and were not disappointed. Just beautiful - no wonder it’s such a popular place during the summer.

We also spent time in other parts of Long Island - we went to Montauk, which is at the very end of the southern fork of Long Island. The town of Montauk is cute and we bought some appropriate souvenirs. Also, the place we stopped in for lunch had the best clam chowder of all the ones Craig tried in the Northeast (he was definitely on the clam chowder tour). There’s a really cool lighthouse at The End (of the fork) - we had read that it’s only open Friday-Sunday in October, but “you can still walk around” so we went even though it was a Thursday. Yeah, really bad advertising - there’s a big ole gate and you can’t get anywhere near the lighthouse. I was really disappointed, but the area was pretty nonetheless.

We also went wine tasting in the north fork of Long Island - it was really nice and very reminiscent of the Bay Area wine regions. Some very cute towns, great vegetable stands, lots of wineries and some legit good wines. More on the details in a future wine tasting post, but here’s a teaser (is that not THE BEST name for a pastry shop?):

Last, I did it again - took way too many photos - so, here’s the gallery with the rest of them.