Montauk Point, Long Island

Today we were going to head out to Montauk Point, which is the very far eastern end of Long Island.  Lea and Mike, the couple we stayed with in DC, had actually gotten engaged there, so she was excited to hear we were going there.

Alicia and Gavin had left this morning for their trip, and so now we had the house all to ourselves.

We got an early start, because we were kind of afraid of what traffic would be like.  It was a beautiful drive, and you have to pass through the Hamptons on the way.  We did eventually hit a lot of traffic, and it was  a two-lane road, so you just had to creep along, bumper to bumper.  But we did eventually get there, and took a long walk along the beach.  It was so beautiful, and there was a pathway that went around the Montauk Lighthouse on the point that was formed by huge rocks.

Saleen got her first taste of salt water.  She is used to drinking out of creeks and ponds when we hiked, so I'm sure she was surprised when she tasted THIS water.  She jerked back her head, and then kept licking like crazy, like she was trying to get  the taste out of her mouth.  It was pretty funny to watch.

It was a very rocky beach, so instead of looking for shells, we looked for unusual rocks.  I ended up picking up about six rocks that were perfectly round, like golf balls, but were a soft pink color.  I'm bringing those back with me.

After the walk, we headed into the actual town of Montauk, and found some tasty burgers, fries and shakes.  There was a farmer's market going on, and it was just a popular place to walk around the look at shops.  We then headed back, kind of frustrated by the traffic, and the bumper to bumper creeping we had to do.  As we traveled, we revised our plan for the week. We originally planned to go visit Newport, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, but decided that their traffic would be just as bad, or worse, and we had had enough of that, so we decided to head straight to Keith's parents' home in Maine - out of the traffic, and out of the heat!

We got back to the house, got cleaned up, and headed out to meet a high school friend of Keith's, named Josephine.  She had made us reservations at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant.  I was excited about this, because I've never been to one!  It was fun to hear Keith and Josephine get caught up on old times.  Their high school class had just had its 40th reunion, but unfortunately, we had not been able to make it for that.  The meal was a lot of fun!  First, we had a cheese fondue appetizer.  The Melting Pot even has gluten-free breads, and desserts, so I was especially excited!  We got entrees with little pieces of salmon, chicken, and steak, and then they brought this pot of broth, and you actually leave your skewers in the boiling broth, and it cooks at your table.  You then have different dipping sauces that you dip the different meats in.  It was so entertaining, that before we knew it, three hours had gone by!  For dessert, we had the dark chocolate fondue, and had little pieces of strawberry, banana, marshmallows, brownies, blondies, rice krispie treats, and pineapple to dip into the chocolate.  It was so delicious, but we just could not finish it all.  We really enjoyed our time with Josephine, and it was a great end to another great day.