Long Island, New York

I have traveled to Long Island before for business and once for a wedding.  But we didn't really know anything about the area.  Long Island is BIG.  And RURAL. Who knew that such a beautiful place existed so close to New York City??  The soil of Long Island must be very fertile.  Surrounding the quaint towns, we saw fields of sunflowers, and cabbage, and tomatoes, and pumpkins, and corn, and beans.  And fruit orchards.  Oh yeah, and field after field of grape vines.  There are more than 20 wineries on Long Island.  From our trip last year, we were familiar with the high number of wineries in the Finger Lakes area of New York, but we didn't have a clue that Long Island also was a wine region.

Long Island is edged by nice beaches -- duh.  It was disappointing to see that so many of them are private.  I am not familiar with private beaches, and I don't like the idea at all.  ("The sign said you got to have a membership car to get inside."  Five Man Electrical Band)  And those shores provide a smorgasbord of delicious seafood, some of which we sampled at the Southold Fish Market -- clam chowder with a fried cod sandwich and a fried oyster po-boy.