Shu Swamp

At the Shu Swamp Nature Preserve, we were close enough to touch the swan! Almost.

Sagamore Hill

We visited Theodore Roosevelt's old home at Sagamore Hill, a national park.  The tour of the house was one of the best historic tours I have ever taken; the Park Service ranger was incredibly knowledgeable about the house and TR himself.  Fun fact: TR was the first president to be able to run the US from a non-Washington location, because of the invention of the telephone.  Definitely worth a visit!

Planting Fields Arboretum

We visited Planting Fields Arboretum, which is a very nice state park that used to be a private estate owned by William Coe and his wife.  (Coe made serious money in maritime insurance; his wife was the heiress of Standard Oil, which of course made her much richer than he.)  There are a number of buildings worth visiting on the estate.  Coe Hall is a beautiful old mansion that at one point was used by SUNY Stony Brook before their campus was built.  There are a number of old greenhouses that have some nice collections of plants.  All in all, worth visiting.