“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”  — Elliott Erwitt

This time of year I get a little antsy.  I start to romanticize travel and spend my moments of “free time” searching for deals to warmed destinations.  Living Social travel teases me with $149 per night Mexico specials… then friends post enticing pics from their winter getaways… and I want to join in!

Here are some photos from a last minute summer getaway we took a few years ago.  My brother in law and his family holiday in Fire Island every summer.  Never heard of it?  Neither had I but it is SO worth investigating.  And saving.  And making happen.  Get there  by way of plane, train, and ferry…. then do nothing but walk and ride bikes for the rest of your stay.

This place is like stepping back in time.  “Fire Island is a thin Atlantic Ocean barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island, New York. It’s known for protected beaches interspersed with seasonal resort communities. On the western tip, Robert Moses State Park offers picnic spots, pitch-and-putt golf and access to the 19th-century Fire Island Lighthouse.”  There are a series of little towns along the boardwalk that seems to go on for miles, right down the center.  Day trippers come and go but many lucky families anchor in and stay the summer.  The local store knows you by name and kids buy ice cream and groceries on their accounts with little more than finger swipe on the touch screen.  Life seems simple.  Trust is part of the culture as doors are left unlocked and bikes set out, lock free, everywhere.

I can’t imagine we can get back here just yet but someday it is a must do.  My daughter is fast approaching independence and this seems to be a place to slow her, and us, down.