Let’s Party!

We slept in and left Southampton at about 11:00 this morning. Instead of taking the most direct route back to the car rental, we drove along the north side of Long Island toward Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, part of the National Park Service.

Sagamore Hill was the summer home of Theodore Roosevelt.

We walked around the property and visited some of the outbuildings, along with the exterior of the home and mansion. We also visited a second home Roosevelt built that now serves as the museum and visitor center. Unfortunately, reservations are required to tour the inside of the mansion. We did peek through a few windows, though, and used our imagination.

We then made our way back to the car rental return. Traffic heading into NYC leaves much to be desired, as you might imagine, but everything went smoothly.

From there, we took an Uber. I got dropped off at my hotel near the airport, while Mel continued on to his grandmother’s house. I checked in and rested for about 30 minutes.

DJ’s high school friend Leo lives in Astoria. He had heart surgery just a few weeks ago. I would have visited him anyway, but under the circumstances it felt especially appropriate. We took a walk around his neighborhood, and I was really impressed. Astoria is a great neighborhood. I think I’ll try to stay there the next time I visit NYC.

I spent about an hour and a half with him before Ubering to the main event: the big birthday bash and family reunion celebrating Mel’s grandmother, Joy, and the whole family.

The Uber to the party took me right through a lot of Brooklyn — my first time in the borough.  Many people might think NYC is dirty and crowed, which is a fair description sometimes. But to me, it’s so historic and interesting. It really does look like it does in the movies. 

The party is lit and still going …