Caumsett State Park

Having never actually been to Long Island, I thought I should spend some time exploring.  While looking at a map, my host suggested we drive up to Caumsett State Park.  Again, we didn't really think about the major storm that had just happened and that it may have negatively affected this beautiful park.  Actually, the park had survived the storm rather well, but some of the water-side trails were closed. 

The land was all privately owned before by Marshall Field III. He named the area Caumsett after the Matinecock Indian name, which means "place by a sharp rock." He immediately made it a sporting paradise and at some point had "facilities for every sport except golf." NY acquired the land in 1961.



















My hosts (yes that is a metal detector, but we didn't find anything)

Coney Island

While looking at the beautiful paintings my host had just lying around her house I casually mentioned, "I've always wanted to go to Coney Island."

A bit of silence.

"Especially in the winter because I think it would be nice and derelict then." This was said with my 'photographer hat' on.

My friend looked at me ecstatic. "Me too," she replied, "but no one will go with me in the winter."

"Well I will."

And thus we decided to head down to Coney Island with memories of that Seinfeld episode in our heads (the one when they never actually get to Coney Island -- it isn't as difficult as they made it out to be).

Both of us literally forgot for several hours that the coastal areas were currently cleaning up from a major disaster. Honest, this was not part of our plan, we completely forgot. Our heads were too full of the lovely dereliction (by the way, "derelict" quickly became our favorite word) with loads of closed down rides to photograph.

But clean-up was happening. Tens of volunteers were carefully sweeping and shoveling what must have been tons of sand off the boardwalk and back to the beach. The progress they had already made was quite impressive. The progress they continued to make was also impressive as we sat watching them while eating knishes (my first!).

It looked like Coney Island weathered the storm rather well.  Yes, there were perhaps hundreds of stuffed animal prizes in dumpsters everywhere, but the buildings looked sound.  The rides looked like they would run again, once the sand was dusted off anyway.





































Apparently Coney Island has many stray cats and the people feed them.

Manhattan

Over Veteran's Day weekend I went to NY. I realize that my timing is impeccable since the region was just hit by a major storm.  [I won't call Sandy major since she was only a category 1, but the meeting of storms was major.] My family has weathered several hurricanes, including one that made landfall during my sister's wedding -- luckily we were far enough inland to just get a lot of rain. We were evacuated for Gilbert, who then turned and hit Mexico; we survived Hugo; we moved just before Andrew. A tree fell in my backyard due to Hurricane Ernesto -- he was only a category one, so you might not remember him, but ironically this was the first time I had actually experienced personal damage from a hurricane. My family has, thankfully, never experienced any hardship from these storms. Sure, we lost electricity, I got to miss about 2 weeks of my sophomore year of high school for Hugo, several days of freshman year for Gilbert, but that was all. No major financial loss, no loss of life. We are very, very, very lucky.

Unfortunately, we know these storms are only going to get worse as the sea temperatures rise. I often speak poetically about how beautiful the eye of the storm is, but frankly, I'd be happy to never have the opportunity to see one again. The damage done is incredible. We traveled to Charleston a few times after Hugo to rebuild and the scene made me cry. I'm not talking about the obnoxious giant mansions people build on the beach (I won't go into my frustration regarding where we choose to build), I'm talking about extremely modest houses that were swept away. People who could not afford to replace their mailbox, much less their entire house.

New York, New Jersey, and other surrounding states, felt this pain at the end of October. It used to be if you reached October you could breathe a sigh of relief that you survived another year without major hurricane damage. Not anymore.

But I have to say, Manhattan didn't look too bad. I wasn't in NY to visit hurricane damage, so I didn't actually go all the way to Battery Park, but I did visit the High Line. The High Line is a raised rail-trail. It is on the West Side, so it weathered quite well. A couple of elevators were out, but a local told me that wasn't storm related.

Of course, Manhattan was not the hardest hit area. We should remember that recovery doesn't happen in a day. People will be cleaning up and rebuilding for months to years. Some areas may never recover. I recommend donating to the Red Cross or you could pay your full tax load (no deductions, no tax havens) because every person I over-heard talking about rebuilding was talking about FEMA.

And now that I've depressed you, some photos for your visual enjoyment...