NYC - or not

Susie had a conference at SUNY Stony Brook, which was on Long Island, so we packed up the family and made a flying trip downstate. We were very excited at the prospect of seeing New York City, as none of us had ever been there. We knew that Long Island wasn't exactly New York City, but we thought that it was close enough to at least be cityish, and we were looking forward to some diversity and some good ethnic food, neither of which we get in Fredonia.

Alas we were sadly disappointed!

Long Island could have been any suburb in America. We could get a glimpse of the city from JFK, but that was as close as we came. In fact, we didn't see much of anything else until our last few hours when we got some free time and drove down to Port Jefferson, which is a great little arty enclave. We didn't have a lot of time to walk around, but we did stumble upon an authentic Spanish restaurant much to our surprise and great pleasure.

We stopped and sat out on the patio and had a meal the likes of which Rach had not tasted since actually being in Spain. It was a beautiful day, and Jackie was in a great mood. We had a wonderful view of Long Island Sound and the shops surrounding the shore.

We had arroz con pollo (which Americans try to serve but never make correctly) and camarones al ajillo, and for dessert there was flan all washed down with the best sangria this side of Malaga. Rachel was on cloud nine and dreaming of the Costa Del Sol.

It was the perfect respite before heading back to JFK through major traffic and a mad dash through the terminal just in time to make a turbulent flight back home.