So...this is the parking lot for Stony Brook medical specialty center. This is actually pretty…read morefitting for Stony. Their main campus is surrounded by a lot of trails and forest. Also kinda in the middle of nowhere, like main Stony.

Be not afraid. I have spoken with the trees here in reverent conference . . . a quiet army of…read moreconiferous pine: They do not wish us harm. . . they were laid to seed in the mid to late-Twentieth Century by the hands of Men, calculatingly plotted in an exact network of evenly spaced rows and columns. . . The saplings have since grown and now stand in excess of 60' tall, having endured more than time and inclement weather since their planting. . . an aged woodsman hath told me this forests' size once doubled the earth it now stands on, that half the acreage was destroyed by the encroaching expansion of the F0rest Lab0rat0ries, to the South. There are many contemporary theories of the ultimate purpose of these trees, from being planted either to measure time, for use in pagan rituals, or for a decorative demonstration of a Neoclassical ideal: Mans' attempt to control Nature. Here they stand, still awaiting a greater call. The forest can be seen from passing traffic on Commack Road, where its unusual gridlines create a notable strobing effect as you drive past, though the forest is best viewed and experienced from beneath. The Mysterious Forest is on private property beyond a fence & security gate. It is not open to the public.

Need more vendors. Claws is overpriced and overrated. And do some quality control with the…read moreyellowjackets.

There are a few issues with this place. Before you go consider the following:…read more 1 - They charge you 10 bucks just to get in. And that's it, you get NOTHING extra except to be allowed to enter. You are literally giving them $10 for the privilege of spending large sums of money inside. Doesn't even get you discounts. 2 - No shade. The only place with shade is by the main eating area. But that tends to be full most of the time, and it's only for eating. We did find shaded seating in the eating area, but expect to do a bit of searching. 3 - No additional seating. The only place they provide to sit is the eating tent (see #2). You should bring lawn chairs if you wish to sit somewhere else. 4 - Expensive food. I would think that these festivals would provide some time of price break since you are supposed to be tasting everything. Wrong 5 - Cash only. Many NON FOOD vendors offer the option of visa and MasterCard. Unfortunately NO food vendor does....very annoying. But guess what? They instantly point you to their "convenient" ATM machines which charge you $5 per transaction just for the access of your own money. 6 - Not as much seafood as you may think. I only noticed 2 vendors selling seafood, but most vendors aren't even selling food at all. It's more of a flea market that also has a bit of seafood. We had a lobster roll and it was delicious. The CLAW restaurant area was pretty good, but the prices look to be the same as if you went to their restaurant which is open all year long and DOES NOT charge you $10 just to come inside. I recommend you just skip the festival and go directly to their restaurant instead. The only way I would come back is if someone paid for the entrance fee on my behalf. And if I were to enjoy the music, there was a band playing a lot of familiar songs. And if you want to come just to enjoy the music, I suppose maybe that's worth the $10. But personally, I was there for the food. And parking is horrible. Try to get dropped off by someone, then picked up again.

It was a lot of fun ! Plenty of delicious food,and enjoying playing The Who done mystery!Being with…read moreall our friends having fun enjoying the food and playing a game and walking around the town was Amazing!!

Ok where do I begin? My family & I had a BLAST!! I think I found it on Yelp in the event section. I…read moreput a family text out to the youngens in the family. Since I read there would be walking & riddles to be solved. And the older fam aren't too fond of the unknown & puzzle solving LOL. The ones that responded decided as a group to do the Cupcake Conundrum in Patchogue. What a great way to explore the different shops on Main St. I don't wanna give too much away because that's where the fun is. Solving the clues & finding the next spot. We got to try Locale where we dined on Mussels in wine sauce & a Margherita Pizza. Both were delicious! That's where we got our first clue. Then there was The Paper Doll Curiosity Shoppe which we all loved and Todd was so friendly & such a pleasure to talk with. Fun stuff in the store. Like the funky glasses with mustaches that we received & wore for the rest of the day like it was normal. We were stopped several times by curious onlookers who wanted to know about the glasses. We proudly told them "We're Food Detectives!!" LOL Several wonderful restaurants including 2 desserts. All of the food was delicious & enjoyable. Remember drinks are not included, and we were fine with that. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. A great way to get to know more about Patchogue's updated Main St. Fun times were had by all! 10-21-2018

"Get your motor runnin' Head out on the highwayyyyy...."…read more I'm a City and Highway driver. I actually love to drive when the conditions are ideal. For that matter, who doesn't? After cruising East off the seemingly always Clear-Clearview Expressway, I then navigate through a nice stretch of picturesque, early sunrise, tree lined view of the Northern State Parkway. For those who don't know, the autumnal foliage is a worthy glance while on the NSP. In my experience most of the portion I've driven on this parkway has been relatively pothole free and provides this speedster a pleasantly smooth, curvy ride, pre and post rush hour traffic. For some reason Troopers appear to be less active on the NSP than any stretch of the notorious LIE. But don't be fooled, always ensure you have your navigation on for police activity and obstacle notifications to enhance a trouble free driving experience. "...born to be wilddddd..."

My Favorite Highway hands down you can keep the rest of the pothole crater infested crunchy…read moreparkways in NY. I'm a Driver and the road is my oyster.

I like urban legends and supposed mysteries, so the Lake Ronkonkoma story caught my eye. It's…read morerelatively nearby, and a nice drive out to Long Island if anything. So I made a trip out there with my boyfriend to see the lake and the mural specifically. Not that I was expecting anything phenomenal, but I was still disappointed. There's nothing inherently special about the mural, other than the fact that it gets repainted every so often. It's just a mural on the side of a deli. Drive up, park, look for 50 seconds, go grab lunch, leave. Eh. And I like to spend time looking at art, so for me to shrug and move on, you know it's nothing really to sneeze at. What would be more interesting is if someone made a little gallery showing every face change over the years. I wonder if the deli guys have one. The lake was better. Still nothing particularly special, though watching the Weird U.S. YouTube video Craig linked about the lake helped with appreciating it.

There's a legend, or urban myth, about Lake Ronkonkoma. There are plenty of variations of this but…read morethe basic idea is that a disgruntled Indian princess cursed the lake so that each and every year a male will drown in it. Supposedly this is true that every year a male does in fact drown. I can't back this up with any real figures. So in the last few years someone has begun to paint a mural of this princess on the side of the Lakeside Deli in Ronkonkoma. This mural generally gets repainted every now and then with a slightly different mood or variation on this theme. Sometimes the princess looks sad and you can see a tear, sometimes she looks angry and sometimes she just looks like a princess. So it pays to come see this since you never know when it'll be changed and you'll miss out on the previous one forever. You don't want that, don't piss off the princess. She seems to hold a grudge. If you're interested in this lore, here are some links: http://wotan.liu.edu/~esenig/myth.html http://www.geocities.com/aardduck/lady.html WEIRD U.S.: The Curse of Lake Ronkonkoma http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkRpyRn6xM

Not to be confused with Gong Island (Taiwan, since it's full of Gong Cha Bubble Tea shops), Prong…read moreIsland (lots of outlets), Dong Island (male stripper central), Wrong Island (trespassers will be shot), or Bong Island (it smells like weed...ew). I have mixed feelings about Long Island. For many years I didn't come to Long Island and then one day I did, excited about it too, and my experience was quite disappointing. Firstly, nobody came to my concert, and then the police chased me off the island literally. And I'll never forget how aggressive and threatening they were. Some of the worst police interactions I've ever encountered, and maybe you wouldn't expect that in New York state, but there's the truth. Now since then I've had a lot more positive experiences, not with cops though, especially when I come here for food, because I used to make the trek out on to Long Island for Hummus World, which I first tried that first day on Long Island, which is one of the best things I've ever eaten anywhere in the country. So sad though. Unfortunately things change and it closed down and broke my heart. Of the remaining things I've tried on Long Island, which are hundreds in the last 4 years, I've come to see that the island is a refuge from the craziness of New York City, and if you want to get out of there, things get a little bit more peaceful and a lot more suburban, and hell of a lot more green. There's a lot of amazing pizza as well on the island, but none more so than Little Vincent's which is my number one recommendation on the island, along with the Bubble Tea in Great Neck (Mr Wish) which somehow manages to supersede almost everything in New York City itself, and is the best location of Philadelphia's own chain, just by Great Neck Plaza. Other than that I haven't found food that I want to tell you all about and insist that you try, but I'm still exploring and even though it'll never be one of my favorite areas in the Northeast. Long Island is a part of the country which often gets overlooked and forgotten and has hardly any tourist visitors, which makes for a very strange, secluded, yet busy and slow, yet aggressive environment. And if you want me to put my Long Island in your Boston Back Bay, just let me know, but first please take off your Red Sox, I prefer it that way.

If you're having trouble finding street parking keep a look out for free parking lots you can park…read morein. My friend and I were welcomed wonderfully by the staff. We got a table fairly quickly and were greeted by a wonderful waiter Dennis! He was sooo happy and greeted us with a smile! The food was DELICIOUS! The Troffolini was incredible! What made the sauce special was the sweetness of a pair. The baked clams were incredible! Not only did our main dishes look beautiful, but they tasted fantastic! A perfect place to catch up with a friend or go for a date! Thank you to everyone at Americano Pie Bar for their great service!

Americano Pie Bar was excellent. honest, attentive service and the pear pasta was absolutely…read moredelicious. Definitely a spot worth coming back to.

It's been 48 years, and I can still smell the fresh marinara. The China hadn't been used in weeks…read more The ironed white linen felt almost starched. Tonight was a revisiting to memories of earlier times with family and friends. The first taste of Steve's veal meatball instantly transported me back to the lakeside home of the Del Nino family. I never expected the Spaghetti & Meatballs entree to be so simply delicious and authentic. The thick and creamy bolognese vodka sauce with the Pappardelle went so well with the pasta, it felt like a lasagna in my mouth. The crab cake appetizer beat out Roy's Hawaiian Fusion for the top spot. It had more crab in it than any other version my wife had ever tried. And the chocolate chip cannoli was freshly piped, flanked by 4 almond biscotti with an essence of anise. This restaurant is truly a hidden gem, and may awaken distant memories of better times.

Service: Good. The server was nice and gave good recommendations. The tight space was hard to get…read moreattention from our server sometimes. Food: Fried Mozzarella - Fine. Small balls has more breading to cheese ratio. The sauce comes in pan on the side to be able to share. I wish for more cheese. Fried Calamari- under salted. The squid was tender and crispy but under seasoned. Linguine in White Clam Sauce- All chopped up! When getting this dish, I would usually get clams within shells on the plate. All the clams were chopped up. Fra Diavolo-messy! The seafood dish was filled with shelled items. I was not given a shell dish to discard them so it was very difficult to eat. Chocolate Mousse Cake- pass!! It is chocolate cake with a mouse like frosting. It was dry and wet at the same time. Such a disappointment. On to my next adventure....

My kiddo & I joined the event together and we're glad to learn different products and YouTube…read morechannels for beginners. I learned what type of guitar size is best based on age and height! The whole event was very informative. I enjoyed learning all the information provided by Jay. Thank you Jared for organizing another great guitar event & Jay and Amanda for hosting us!