Winter in the The Hamptons

February is most definitely off-season in The Hamptons.

However last Saturday a few of us were desperate to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air and a blustery, wintery visit to the beach seemed like a good way to blow away the cobwebs.

Six of us (plus our newest, tiniest friend Amelie) headed to the fishing village of Sag Harbor for a walk and seafood lunch followed by a visit to the famous millionaire summer spot of East Hampton for some more chilly beach exploring and eyeing up the many seaside mansions.

The upside of February in The Hamptons is that the drive took only 90 minutes on quiet roads, we didn't have to wait for a table for lunch and we had East Hampton beach entirely to ourselves.

The downside was it started snowing pretty much as soon as we hit the beach for our walk!

{He's behind you...}

{My first time seeing snow on the beach I think!}

{No, not quite like beach weather back home in Mallloca!}

{I definitely want to see this beach again in summer}

Despite the weather we ended the day feeling pretty relaxed and had a beautiful drive home at dusk, spotting some more incredible dream homes as well as 5 or 6 deer running through the snowy forest.

One day vacation

Back at the end of August Dave went to Hawaii for work and was texting me pictures of palm trees, sushi, beaches and pool-side cocktails all week while I sweltered in humid New York. 

(He'd probably want me to point out here that he was also working very hard on serious volcano business). 

Due to my my new American schedule (far fewer days off than seems possible to survive on!) I was unable to go with him and so as some consolation I was desperate to get a final day on the beach before the end of Summer.

We decided to minimise travel time and head out to Long Beach for the day which is only an hour from Penn Station. 

Obviously as it was a hot and sunny weekend we were not the only New Yorkers who had this clever idea...

Thankfully there was plenty of room on the sand for all of us. Including some very energetic frisbee and volleyball matches.

We swam in the sea, jumped in the waves, snoozed under our umbrella and ate ice-crem on the boardwalk. 

It's no Hawaii but just being out of the city and in the sea was lovely. 

A perfect end to our first summer here.

Saturday at the seaside

A few weeks back, whilst we had the lovely Shantha staying with us, we spent a warm and muggy Saturday at Coney Island in Brooklyn.

The whole place was so colourful and we had so much fun! 

It was felt a bit like stepping back in time to a 1950s beach resort complete with boardwalk, amusement park, ballroom dancing and sideshows.

We relaxed on the beach, flew a kite and did some paddling in the sea.

Then explored the beach-side theme park. We didn't actually commit to any of the rides but enjoyed watching. Next time I need to try the log flume!

 Next was lunch at the Famous Nathan's (home of the annual July 4th hotdog eating competition!). 

Two varieties of hotdog for Dave, classic and corn-dog, whilst Shantha and I stuck with corn-on-the-cob and fries (I'm still put off by all those 'what's really in your hotdog' stories. Eyelids apparently).

We spent a good while walking along the board walk enjoying some of the best people watching I've experienced in ages (including groups of people playing music and dancing on the pier and lots of proper New York accents of the sort you really don't hear very often!)

As it turned into evening we enjoyed a few beers at one of the bars on the boardwalk. The place actually got busier as it got later and it really couldn't have felt more different to Manhattan!

 To end our day-trip on an adrenalin high we decided we should attempt the 100 year old wooden roller-coaster, The Cyclone.

 Shantha and I somehow ended up in the very front carriage, squished into the little sofa seats with just a rickety old bar holding us in. Eek!

I actually screamed the whole way round but it was amazing!!

 We will be back Coney Island!