We stayed in the village of Dunewood, Fire Island, which is so tiny it doesn't have a single store! For provisions, we had to walk fifteen minutes to Fair Harbor, which has an old-fashioned supermarket with a general-store kind of vibe, a fire department, a restaurant, a liquor store, and a pizza shop. Since it was the off-season these establishments were closed more often than not, so when we did go shopping we really had to stock up. At the beginning of the week we bought a bunch of groceries at the Pioneer Market and then we did a lot of cooking at "home" in the house we had rented in Dunewood.
We spent tons of time just frolicking on the beach near our house, as well as wandering the inland paths of the island which were full of gorgeous flora and fauna and character-filled beach cabins with their requisite rusty bikes, wagons, and surfboards always nearby...
We are not typically big bike-riders. I grew up loving to ride, but ever since moving to NYC I have been intimidated by the idea of taking a spin on a bike through the chaotic streets here. I'm just not that brave! Well, it didn't even take us 24 hours of being in the idyllic, peaceful, car-free bicycle paradise that is Fire Island before we were itching to jump on some wheels. So we walked to the relatively large town of Ocean Beach and rented this getup:
Taro and I took turns carting the kiddos and riding the other solo bike we rented. We went as far as the terrain would allow and it was an absolute blast. We loved it so much that we are now inspired to rent bikes here on the Upper West Side to tool around in Central Park (perhaps even this weekend!?!)
The sky and the ocean on Fire Island were in a constantly-changing, incredibly beautiful and dramatic conversation with one another. I wish my photos could even begin to convey their magnificence and dynamism. It was really wonderful to experience this beautiful beach with so few other people around.
Towards the latter part of the week, we were joined by Riki, who of course jumped right into adventure-mode and did everything from beach babywearing to bike-riding, to ocean-dipping with us. It was so great to have her!
One of our favorite adventures was trekking to the remote Fire Island Lighthouse:
There was a lovely museum inside, and I was tickled to read the following caption on an exhibit of photos showing the families that had lived there as lighthouse keepers. Yay for lighthouse home birth!!!
All in all, it was a magical, memorable, completely fantastic week. We can't wait to return!
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