My favorite vacation spot was one I went to every summer as a child -- East Hampton, New York -- otherwise known as the summer getaway of the rich and famous.
Current or recent Hampton residents include: Jerry Seinfeld, Sean "P Diddy" Combs, Calvin Klein, George Stephanopoulis, Steven Spielberg, Rachael Ray, Howard Stern, Kelly Ripa, Chuck Scarborough, Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Jeff Zucker (CEO of NBCUniversal), Martha Stewart, Kathleen Turner, and Billy Joel.
The Maidstone Club (est. 1891), is THE place to hang out and rub elbows with the ultra wealthy.
On the other side of the Maidstone Clubhouse is their pool, surrounded by 30 or so "cabanas," and past the white awning is their private beach.
When I was 10 - 16, I spent a month every summer with relatives in East Hampton. I changed into my swimsuit in one of the cabanas visible above and frolicked in the pool or in the sea. It was wonderful!
My favorite part was going to the Maidstone's seaside cafe with my cousins and ordering sandwiches, fries, or ice creams and signing the bill with my grandfather's name. I'd never been in a place where you just put down someone's name instead of paying money. My teen-self thought it was the best thing in the whole world!
My aunt and uncle had a house on the beach. The cousins and I took the walkway over the dunes and then played in the ocean and seashore. It was usually deserted. Only long rows of mansions' residents had access to the mile of pristine sands, and they were often busy jetting around the world or at one of their other homes...
There was a stone jetty built from the shore to about 50 yards out in the ocean. The rocks were slick with algae and mussels and dangerous to walk on, which made them irresistible to us kids.
My favorite memories are the salty smell of the sea and the roar of the waves that lulled me to sleep every night.
Visit others on the hop and see where their favorite vacation spots are! And don't forget to enter the rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post.
The book I'm giving away in the rafflecopter is:
The Soul Cutter is hunting again.
Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online. Skepticism makes life safe—all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search.
In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start—the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. Élan's only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn—and hiding dangerous secrets.
When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.
Élan is fighting for her very soul.
The rafflecopter closes midnight on Monday, June 1st. There are SIX books available to win. (Press the light blue arrows below Melanie's name on the rafflecopter to see the other books offered.)
The winners of the books will be announced on this blog on Tuesday, June 2nd. Good luck to all who enter!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Maidstone Club (est. 1891), is THE place to hang out and rub elbows with the ultra wealthy.
On the other side of the Maidstone Clubhouse is their pool, surrounded by 30 or so "cabanas," and past the white awning is their private beach.
When I was 10 - 16, I spent a month every summer with relatives in East Hampton. I changed into my swimsuit in one of the cabanas visible above and frolicked in the pool or in the sea. It was wonderful!
My favorite part was going to the Maidstone's seaside cafe with my cousins and ordering sandwiches, fries, or ice creams and signing the bill with my grandfather's name. I'd never been in a place where you just put down someone's name instead of paying money. My teen-self thought it was the best thing in the whole world!
My aunt and uncle had a house on the beach. The cousins and I took the walkway over the dunes and then played in the ocean and seashore. It was usually deserted. Only long rows of mansions' residents had access to the mile of pristine sands, and they were often busy jetting around the world or at one of their other homes...
There was a stone jetty built from the shore to about 50 yards out in the ocean. The rocks were slick with algae and mussels and dangerous to walk on, which made them irresistible to us kids.
My favorite memories are the salty smell of the sea and the roar of the waves that lulled me to sleep every night.
Visit others on the hop and see where their favorite vacation spots are! And don't forget to enter the rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post.
The book I'm giving away in the rafflecopter is:
Soul Cutter
YA Horror/Romance
Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online. Skepticism makes life safe—all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search.
In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start—the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. Élan's only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn—and hiding dangerous secrets.
When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.
Élan is fighting for her very soul.
The rafflecopter closes midnight on Monday, June 1st. There are SIX books available to win. (Press the light blue arrows below Melanie's name on the rafflecopter to see the other books offered.)
The winners of the books will be announced on this blog on Tuesday, June 2nd. Good luck to all who enter!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
49 comments:
Hey Lexa!
Good very early morning from England! :)
East Hampton looks like quite the place for a vacation. You have some marvellous memories from your younger years there. Bet it seems like yesterday. Have you ever returned. The smell of the sea air and the soothing sounds of the waves would tempt me.
I shall now take the liberty of sharing your post. Enjoy your weekend, Lexa.
Gary :)
Looks like a swanky place to take a vacation! But how much fun is it to have a beach all to yourself?
My wife would love to go there, but I've never had a desire to visit the Hamptons.
I have no favorite vacation spot from when I was a kid; we never went on vacations.
Every summer...that's wonderful. It looks like a beautiful spot. I don't know if I could afford it, though. ;)
Wow, your choice is super posh and pricey. I'm watching The Affair and think it's set here. Beautiful. :)
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What a great place. I love deserted beaches, so that definitely sounds like the place for me! Just a few more dollars to earn before I can, though :-)
Looks really wonderful and nice photos!
How very cool... hanging out with the ultra wealthy in your teens. The place looks very impressive. Have you ever been back?
I lived in East Hampton for a year. We were not members of the Maidstone Club. We did our swimming either on the public ocean beach (whose name escapes me now) or at the beach on Three Mile Harbor where my girls took swimming lessons. The locals referred to the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day as "The Hundred Days' War," and Billy Joel wrecking his car was an annual occurrence.
Strange thing: there were also a ton of black widow spiders in the area where we lived. Never found any inside, fortunately, but they were all over the woods around our house.
What nice memories you had. It is a beautiful area and some of my friends in New York used to visit there when they were young.
Wow! The perfect age for making lasting memories! Very special.
Gorgeous place! I would love to visit there, but I can imagine it must be an awfully expensive spot to vacation. Am I right? Who knows maybe one day when we re-visit Downeast we can take time to stop in at the Hamptons even if it's just to breeze through.
My favorite vacation spot- the Pine Tree State #bloghop
Beautiful. What wonderful memories from your childhood. When I was a kid, we went to Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico a lot. Lovely beach, but nothing as fancy as the Hamptons. Our little motel rooms were comfortable. We were happy.
Lexa, sounds wonderful, and how nice to have some relatives with wealth to be able to give you a taste of that world. Have a great weekend.
oh how I'm loving reading everyone's fav getaways! Love the Hamptons but I rarely get to go since I don't know anyone who lives out there and it's crazy expensive to stay in a hotel or anything. Though every now and then I love to spend a few hours there (I'm on the center of LI so it's about 45 mins from me)...it's just so fun to walk around and window shop, and have some lunch and ice cream! :)
Lovely photo's and a perfect spot to flee to, amazing!
Wow, Lexa, that does look nice. I'm jealous, I tell you, jealous!
Cool vacay spot! I live in Florida, so the beach definitely holds fond memories for me, too :)
Lucky girl you are. I love beaches.
That looks like a great place to vacation!
Thanks for hosting this blog hop. It's been fun reading everyone's favorite vacation destinations.
So beautiful! I bet those are some wonderful memories!
I've always wanted to go to the Hamptons just to say I've been. All the pictures are beautiful--and I would've loved to just sign my grandpas name and not have to pay too!
The Maidstone pool looks awesome. As for me, I love any beach.
I can definitely see myself vacationing there :)
Sounds heavenly. I can see why you miss it. I hope you get back there someday soon, Lex!
I love Manhattan with the smells, the crowds, and sites.
Any place with a beach is fine with me!
That vacation spot is yummy, indeed. I wish my grandfather had let me sign his name on a bill. I would have been very excited.
Lovely memories of a beautiful place (but now I'm wondering if I'd recognize the names of your grandparents...seems everyone there is well known!).
It sounds like you had a beautiful time there!
That looks amazing!
Hi Lexa! Great idea for a blog hop. I'm a fan of Revenge which is supposed to be set in the Hamptons. Love the pics. Looks amazing!
Denise :-)
That looks like a posh place!
Must be quite expensive...? But GORGEOUS!
The smell of the sea and the roar of the waves - the perfect pre-sleep conditions...
"My favourite memories are the salty smell of the sea and the roar of the waves that lulled me to sleep every night."
That sounds perfect! :)
Looks awesome! Now I really want to go swimming (except for the fact it's winter here :P)
Wow. I only know of the Hamptons from movies. How exciting to rub elbows with all those famous people. That recent resident list is pretty impressive. Thanks for hosting this hop. It's quite fun to travel vicariously to so many cool spots.
Wow. What a vacation spot and reminds me of the TV show revenge.
Beautiful pictures. As I sit looking out at yet another rainy British spring Sunday, I'd giving anything for a walk on that beach.
Wow, it looks like heaven! I love being around the ocean. And eating yummy food and letting other people pay for it, lol! ;)
I'm not surprised this came top on your list - so many lovely memories for you to last the rest of your life - loved that all you had to do was sign your grandparent's name to pay for things - so old school :) Thanks for doing this blog hop - it's turning out to be great fun visiting everyone! Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace
Whoa, that IS swanky. But full of great memories, too. I like mountain hikes the most for vacations.
I'm not even a beach fan, but you made it sound pretty darned nice! And your teenage self was right...it is the best thing in the world to hand over someone else's name in lieu on money! LOL
Wow, the Hamptons! Impressive place to visit. You're lucky you got to when you were a kid and had it shape some fond memories. Very cool!
I've seen Hamptons in 'Revenge' and now seeing your post...I so want to go there!
A house on the beach, my idea of bliss, Lexa. We tried a weekend away, but didn't work for my husband, needs longer and in one place. Can't move from village to village as we used to do, but think he could manage a week by the sea, we are not too far from the coast. I am trying to set up a blog page but need my grandson for the coding, so will have to wait, back to blogger. I shall still add my thankful thoughts over the weekends.
I would love to own a big house in the Hamptons, as long as I had a staff to clean it. LOL!
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Wow, that looks amazing! What a cool experience. :)
Hi, Lexa,
First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
LOVE the Hamptons. I'm from NYC, so I visited them as well in the summers when I was younger. Back then, it was mostly families and friends visiting. The WORLD wasn't so much into the rich and famous back when I was a kid... LOL.
But your memories are similar to mine and summer were a truly memorable event. I could never wait until school let out!
I have never been to the Hamptons- but I have heard it is the place to visit. :) I loved seeing your photos and reading about your memories. I would have gotten a kick out of signing my grandfather's name too! :) I love to be near the saltwater.
~Jess
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