Labor Day Weekend at Port Jefferson

Sipping a smoothie at Toast Coffee House

What do you do on the last long weekend of summer? Javi and I had been searching online for out-of-state travel options, but couldn't seem to find the right place that would also fit within our budget. It's a good thing, though, that Holly suggested we go somewhere within New York, but outside of the city. Great idea, Javi and I thought... why hadn't we thought of that?? Why go far when there is so much to discover in our own state?!

So Javs and I looked for places that we could travel to without a car, and came across the website of Danfords Hotel and Marina in Port Jefferson, Long Island. The hotel looked promising on the website, and the reviews on TripAdvisor were pretty good, so Javi and I booked an overnight stay.

Javi and I left for Penn Station Sunday morning, boarded the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road), and rode until the last stop (Port Jeff). We had to switch trains halfway through, but the whole train ride took a total of only 2 hours. Once we arrived at the Port Jeff train station, all we had to do was cross the street to Island Wide Taxi.

The taxi ride consisted of 5minutes driving down Main Street, and as we got farther away from the train station, more and more little shops started to pop up. The busier the village got, the closer we were to the marina. Before we knew it, we were right in front of the Danfords Hotel.

The front porch of our hotel

Below: The hotel lounge room at night

We arrived at Port Jeff at about 12:00 noon, so naturally, we were hungry for lunch! Here's a view of the port from the Steamroom:

What is the Steamroom, you may ask? It is a casual restaurant that serves cheap and delicious seafood! Here are a couple of shots of Javi with his oysters and lobster:

If you're going to check-in to the Danfords, keep in mind that check-in time is at 4pm. Since Javi and I had about 3 hours to go before we could actually see our hotel room, we decided take a better look at Main Street on foot.

What we saw was a quaint little town of artisan shops that sold everything from religious decorations, to pet accessories.

I was able to even buy my sister a locket at a shop called Pattern Finders (picture below). The lady at the store was such a sweetheart, and took so much time and effort into fixing the locket neatly into its box, and then tying a purple ribbon around it.

I wasn't the only shutterbug on this trip. Below are a few photos of sites that caught Javi's eye:

Below: Port Jefferson Village Center, where they hold art exhibits, car shows, and even weddings. Mary Anne was the nice lady who gave us a brief background on the town, including information about the Dickens Festival, which is held every first week of December.

Here's a video I found featuring the Dickens Festival:



Finally, after having walked through Main Street AND East Main Street, it was 4pm. We checked in and because we were so exhausted from walking in the heat, Javi and I took a little nap in the room. When we woke up, it was time for dinner!

During our day walk, we had noticed a Spanish restaurant called Costa de Espana. Although its main entrance was along another street, we decided to enter through the more interesting way (to the left of the picture, where the trees are, there's a stairway that goes down to the restaurant):

Javi was so excited because he loves Spanish food and always has to see if the cooking is at par with the food his family would have when they used to have dinner with his Abuela. A particular favorite of his is the Paella at the old Alba's restaurant in Manila. So as expected, Javi had Paella Valenciana (seafood), while I had Pollo al Ajillo (chicken with garlic).

When asked if Costa de Espana's paella met his expectations, he replied "It's okay... but I still miss Alba's." Yeah, okay... he tells me this after he practically finished the entire casserole that night! :P

Here we are after dinner. Special thanks to the waiter who insisted that he get the poster behind us as a background!

So to end this entry, here are 3 comments on our overall experience:

1. Port Jeff is a lovely village with friendly people and a lot of history. It reminds me of how the fictional vilage, Stars Hollow, is depicted in the TV series, Gilmore Girls.

However, unless you have a car, you can't really explore the rest of the county, which they say is quite scenic. If you don't have a car, a day trip is most recommended, as you can explore the town (the important part of it, anyway) in even half a day.

2. There is a ferry that offers to take folks to Bridgeport, CT. I was told by a colleague of mine who lives several minutes away from Bridgeport to NOT go there, as Bridgeport is not at all safe, nor is it a scenic place to explore.

3. For those of you who are interested in visiting Port Jeff for a day or two, check out the Port Jefferson Village Center website at http://www.pjvillagecenter.com/, as they normally have weekend events. Case in point: next Sunday, they're having a car show!

All in all, it was a great experience to get away from the city for a couple of days. Because of its small-town charm, Javi and I may go back again for a day trip this time, or maybe join in on the Dickens Festival this year... I just wonder how weird Javi and I would look in those costumes!