Sands Point Preserve

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have another tolerable summer day, with temperatures in the low 80's and low humidity (today, it's back up nearly 90). This time, I visited the Sands Point Preserve. It's now a preserve on the tip of the Port Washington peninsula (aka 'East Egg') - it once belonged to the Gould family, who built a house that looks like a castle (it's a little cheesy...). There are currently two castle-like mansions on the property, as well as a more manor-like house that was home to the Guggenheim family. The Castle tends to have a lot of kid-friendly exhibits going on inside the castle (for those of you who grew up on or around Long Island, I'm sure you remember going to see the 'Dinosaurs Alive' exhibit at some point). The rest of the property that's NOT covered by castle features several hiking paths, each around 1 mile in length, some of which hug against the coast. Hiking through the woods is not a favorite of mine (I need some sort of 'visual payoff' for my efforts, and a bunch of trees just doesn't cut it), but it was nice to be away from the crowds, and I tried to focus on interesting tree formations and the play of light and shadow. Oh, and I surprisingly came out with only one bug bite!