After a long week at the end of Fall 06' semester,i finally got some time to chill out for one whole day.This was the Christmas Weekend and Shyam (my ex-roomie who is now working in DC) was here too,so we have someone to drive ur around...:P...so we decided on going to either Montauk (my Idea) or CatSkills (Shyam's Idea).We finally decided on going to Montauk first.We immediately rented a car at JFK and headed on out way to Montauk, the end point of Long Island in New York.We started our small journey to the other end of Long Island.Though it was just 5:00 PM,it
was almost dusk,you know how winters in NY are.Anyways there was heavy traffic untill we crossed the city.Her there is something i forgot mention,while we rented the car,we also rented a GPS unit.Its great.This was the first time we ever rented a GPS unit and man does it reduce the work of the navigator which usually if I.Anyways for those who never used one, it does help you alot.It give you the shortest route,give the estimated time by when you can reach there,tell you when to take a turn and it even speaks out in a girls voice.It also can tell you about the available Motels,Gas stations,Car rentals,movie theatres,amusement parks,diners etc.All in all,its an awesome invention.Anyways enuf about the GPS.We reached Montauk by around 8 PM and we stopped a Gas station to look out for Motels.It so happens that the Gas station is the only one in the whole Town of Montauk.We used the GPS to locate some Motels and we called them(the GPS does give you the Phone no.s too).It was kinda difficult to find a place for the night in Motels as most of them were closed as it was winter.Also the place was kinda
deserted,very very few people to be seen around on the roads.We finally could find a place at the "Montauk Motel" (some kind of Co-incidence i guess).The cottage which we got was cool.It was 100 bucks per day and man was it worth it.It had everything. 2 bed rooms, kitchen which i should say is very well equipped,TV,heat, a BBQ unit too.We dumped the stuff which we got in the cottage and headed out for dinner.Thank to GPS again helped us find some places to eat,but it being almost 8:30 and the fact the its Country side most of the places were closed.We finally went to an Italian Restaurant called Village Pizza,which was right in front of the Gas Station where we stopped first.They were almost about to close,but they did welcome us.Thanks to the old lady who was almost about to leave but stayed back to serve us..Had some Pizza and Pasta (which kinda tasted like feet...:(....).After dinner we dint know what to do.Because nothing planned and we wondered if we would have something to do at places like this.But hey, as always we had the GPS for rescue.We searched and found that we have a Bowling Alley 15 miles back on the same road where we came from.We called them and enquired till when they were gonna be open and got to know they would be open for a while.Then we headed towards the Bowling Alley.Had some fun time Bowling.Later after that,i drove a car for the first time in the US,though it was just in the Pakring lot of the Bowling Alley.Hey i missed to tell you,there was a road called the "Old Montauk Highway" which was quite like the roads in California with absolutely zero traffic(for those who dont know what it means......driving on it would be like a Rollercoaster ride).It was fun going on that road.Then after the bowling,having nothin to do we had to return back to the Motel so early at 12 Midnight.I tried to sleep early as we thought of roaming around alot in the morning,but only could manage to sleep at 4:00 AM after chitchatting,watching TV and searching online for the places to be seen in the morning.The next Morning we wpke up with a great difficulty at around 8:30,got ready and went to the "Montauk Point Light House" the oldest light house in New York city and the fourth oldest running light house in US.This light house was commissioned by President George Washington
in the year 1792.We roamed around the light house,on the beach surrounding it,took some pictures and njoyed the scenic beauty of the place.After that we went to have Breakfast at a place called "Mr John's PanCake House" (which again was just beside the Gas Station).I had pan Cakes for the first time in my life.They were great.While having the brekfast i was just observing people in the restaurant interact, i observed how everyone almost knew everyone else.Also i observed something strange, people addressed anything as a singleton, u know like THE postoffice, THE Bank, THE movies, THE Pancake House etc.It felt kinda weird, you know after living in NY for more than an year to know that there are places where you have things only one of a kind.But then i realized it used to be the same way back home in India,people used to know almost everyone in and around the neighbourhood,we used to have only one Bank,One postoffice,One movie theatre,one gas station in the neighbourhood and stuff.Felt kinda nostalgic too.I kinda fell in love with the place.We could not do much there as it was winter and most of the resorts and stuff were closed.If it would have been summer, we could have done fishing,boating, a swim in the beach, scuba diving etc.Over all it was a great experience to go away from the city for atleast one day if not for long.
