14&15.05 - Day 120&121 - Ithaca to Bridgehampton
Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th May - Ithaca, New York to Fairfield, New Jersey (Day 120) to Bridgehampton, New York (Day 121)
A day and a bit of travelling in order to get across to our friend Jamie’s house in Bridgehampton. So with that ahead I head out early to the Buttermilk Falls State Park to do one of the walks there - at 6:30am I’m the only person around and I follow the Gorge Trail up along the river which is frequently cascading down waterfalls in the narrow, steep gorge.
All of it matches up to the frequently seen advertising slogan ‘Ithaca is gorges’. It’s all very tranquil, the only sounds of birds chattering and the gushing water. On the trail I cross a bridge returning down on the Rim Trail, driving back to Rodeway Inn for fresh bagels and coffee.
Schoolwork is attacked after breakfast, once again Ithaca laughing at us as we leave in bright sunshine.
It’s three hours south-east to our solo charging stop at Allamuchy, but when we see signs for Scranton (and check the map to confirm it’s the Scranton) we swing by to take a photo under a giant mural of all the main characters from The American Office which Kate and I had watched (more than once) several years ago.
A picnic lunch in front of a tidy parade of shops at Allamuchy while the car charges from where it’s only 40 minutes to our Red Roof Inn at Fairfield for our overnight pit stop.
After unpacking in the returned rain we pop to Fairfield library for some more school work and reading before getting dinner at the West Essex diner where we’re faced with an impossibly long menu and a chatty waitress complaining about New Jersey drivers and how expensive everything is. One entree of pork nachos is enough for Kate and I to share, Sienna and Seb happy with kids meals.
We awake on Wednesday to continuous rain and so with little distraction it’s Cornflakes for breakfast and school work too. It’s only 30 miles until we reach gridlock around the George Washington Bridge to cross over Manhattan.
Although the monster utes are still around they’re much less prevalent now; fewer Ford F150’s and more Mercedes, BMW’s and Lexus’. Despite the congestion and tailgating, the closest we came to an accident was when a parked car suddenly started reversing out at us in the motel car park before we even got on the road.
On Long Island the traffic starts to thin out the further away from the city we get, though the rain remains. In Bridgehampton we arrive up the gravel drive to be greeted by Jamies and Lily, the 5 year old Golden Retriever.
3 out of 3, Jamie like Daniel and Maggie and Greg and Melissa before him has a lovely house, his in a quiet close, a ginormous back garden lined with 12 foot high hedges. The kids are as excited as Lily to spot rabbits hopping around the garden even if the rain keeps us indoors.
Jamie and I lived together in 2004-2005 when both working at TNS, our house with Tom and North at Oxford Road, Ealing Broadway always looked back upon fondly. In a house where we’d walk to and from work together and take turns making dinner for each, it’s only right that dinner tonight is an old go to of sausages and mash. A few local beers and wine to complement all the ‘do you remember when’ and ‘I wonder what happened to him / her’ conversations to close out the evening.
