Touring the North Fork

Today was a beautiful day on Long Island. The weather was so lovely that we opened all the windows to enjoy the fresh breezes flowing through the RV. Mel commented that it was just like camping. Ha! Ha! We visited our campsite office with questions regarding tours to New York City. It was suggested that we take a jitney bus from Greenport to the city, but they had no information on where to find the bus. So, we took ourselves to an Italian restaurant, Portobello's, for a beautiful, quiet, private little lunch on the flower-ladened patio. Then, we headed to Mannituck, a little town, west of Greenport. On our way to Mannituck, we passed many wineries, but I took this photo because this winery was one of the treats that Donald Trump provided for the winning apprentices. It is called the "Raphael Wineries," and has a big sign in front of it acknowledging the apprentices' visit.
Our goal in Mannituck was to see the movie, The Lake House, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Both the local newspaper and Fandango said that the movie would be shown at 1:40 p.m., so we were not alone as ten or so other people stood in front of the theater wondering why it was closed. There was a number on the door, which I called, only to find out that the movie would be run at 7:40 p.m. instead. We have been baffled during our visit here because while there are charming little stores, restaurants, coffee houses, ice cream parlors, etc., they are never open. If there are times listed, they mean maybe. We thought that only happened in the deep south but I guess not.

So, we decided to seek out some historical sites for our amusement, but they were closed too. However, we did stop at the Horton Point Lighthouse in Mannituck that is pictured above. The lighthouse was commissioned to be built by George Washington in 1790, but wasn't actually constructed until 1857. Guess they had the same problems with authorizations versus budget as we do today. But it was a beautiful little park and we enjoyed the stroll through the grounds.

Before we headed back to Greenport, we stopped at a little corner ice cream shop, yes, opened on a Friday afternoon. Did you know that Hershey's make ice cream? We didn't but we really enjoyed it.

We made our way back to Greenport and while we were driving, I spotted Sunrise Bus Company, so Mel dropped me off to see if they had tour schedules, but they were, in fact, Greenport's Dial-a-Ride system. They directed us to the Hampton Jitney Company that was in town, so we stopped by there and picked up schedules for the campsite office. Then, we walked along the waterfront.

This is a photo of Greenport's preserved antique carousel that is housed in a steel and glass building. Families were enjoying the calliope playing as the children whirled around trying to catch the brass rings. Quite a charming place!

Then, we discovered that Greenport has a movie theater, too. It is quite small but a theater, nonetheless. Again, it was closed and the marque failed to list the movies and, of course, no phone number. So, we made our way back to the RV to settle in for the night. When we got there, I dropped off the tour schedules to the campsite office.

Once in the RV, I read through the information that the campsite office had given to us about Greenport and "voila" there was a phone number for the Greenport Theater. I called them to find out that The Lake House would start at 7 p.m. and so it was back to the Jeep and into town to attend the movie.

Besides movies, the theater serves as a gallery for area artists to display their works. We just fell in love with this little theater and its creativity in multi-tasking. In the hallway leading to our theater, the works of Scott McIntire were on display. Above is one of my favorites that should be self-explanatory.

Mel loved the theater where The Lake House was playing. While there were regular, but old, theater seats, in back on a bit of a platform were two navy blue leather loveseats, one of which we decided to occupy, since we were the first patrons in our seats. Because the theater was so small, it felt like we were in a living room with a really big screen. As other patrons entered, they, too, were surprised to see sofas, so it is uncommon. Regarding The Lake House, what a romantic, inprobable concept. I loved it and, of course, as with The Break Up, it is set in Chicago. Because one of the characters is an architect, the film focused on some of our most beautiful buildings. As always, I got home sick, but not enough to come home.