Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts

North Brunswick, NJ to Tarrytown, NY
Our first rainy day, we awoke still a bit tired from the accumulated effects of travel. We drove north, but not far, stopping at Tarrytown, NY, in the Hudson River Valley. We booked a room at Tarrytown House and Estate, a beautiful facility on 26 acres overlooking the valley. Tarrytown House features two impressive 19th-century mansions, a carriage house and a cottage, as well as a contemporary atrium-style building with conference facilities and other buildings with guest rooms.

Since Tarrytown is famous as the home of Washington Irving, we followed the lead of his character Rip Van Winkle and rested at the hotel most of the day.

High temperature here for today was 46 degrees!!
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Atlantic City, NJ to New Brunswick, NJ
Before leaving Atlantic City this morning, we planted our "There She Is" letterbox near the statue of Bert Parks. Then we searched, and searched, and searched for a place to plant the other box we created for Atlantic City. We visited all the city's parks, a number of churches, and other places likely to have plentiful landscaping. There just wasn't a suitable place, so this homeless couple is now carrying a homeless letterbox around with us. We're confident we'll find a home for it before this journey ends. We considered planting it on some of the support beams under the boardwalk. (Of course, we would have felt compelled to change the name.) However, when we walked below deck to check it out, we saw where someone had stored his clothes there and he soon came down to see whether we were bothering his things, so we abandoned that as a potential site.

One of New Jersey's best known landmarks, Barnegat Lighthouse stands at the northern tip of Long Beach Island on the south side of Barnegat Inlet. The original lighthouse, built in 1834, was of inferior construction and toppled into the inlet twenty years later. A 172-foot brick replacement was completed in 1859. Barnegat Lighthouse's "day mark," or color pattern, is red on the top half and white on the lower half. This color pattern easily distinguishes Barnegat Lighthouse from other lighthouses along the Jersey coastline during daylight hours.

Like many East coast lighhouses, individuals are allowed to climb to the top during visitor season. As one of the tallest lighthouses in the US, Barnegat provides a challenge well rewarded by the view from the top.Today's Summary:Location: Atlantic City, NJ to North Brunswick, NJ
Miles: 154
Letterboxes: 3 found, 1 planted
Stairs: 217 (Whew!)
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Atlantic City, NJ
The decorator of our hotel in Atlantic City, the Sheraton, embraced a Miss America theme and pushed it to its limits. Why not? The address of the hotel is 2 Miss America Way.

On display in the lobby are the dresses and crowns (or replicas) from some of the past winners. Margaret Gorman was just 16 when she was named the first winner in 1922. Of course, she was wore a flapper dress. She won again the next year, the only contestant to win the title twice. When she almost won again in 1924, the rules were changed to prevent a winner from competing again.

Jean Bartel's long sleeved and form-fitting gown in 1943 was a reflection of war era fashion. Ms. Bartel is credited with introducing the scholarship program and establishing Miss America's wholesome, modern image.
In addition to the gowns, many portraits of winners are scattered around the hotel, both in public areas and in guest rooms.

To give everyone the opportunity to have that special Miss America feeling, the venerable Bert Parks stands in the hotel gardens, standing ready to crown any lady who happens by. Near his feet are some outdoor speakers. We thought it would be really cool if a switch on the sidewalk started playing Bert's "There She Is, Miss America" when someone walked up for a photo.

We couldn't leave Atlantic City without spending a little time in the casinos, mostly as observers. Watching people gamble and lose amounts of money they didn't look like they could afford to lose, especially at the table games, was a little depressing. We lost $4.00 on the slots, got bored, and quit. As part of our 37th anniversary celebration, we went to a performance of Le Grand Cirque, playing at the Tropicana. (Of course, no photography is allowed during the show, so we borrowed this image from the internet.) It was entertaining enough, nothing in the league with Cirque du Soliel, but then the ticket prices were considerably lower than those for the famous Montreal group also.Since it was our anniversary today, we decided to plant a couple of letterboxes to commemorate our visit to Atlantic City. One is going near the statue of Bert and is called, of course, "There She Is." The other will make its home in a park somewhere in the city and is called "Taking a Chance on Love."Tomorrow we'll hit the road again, headed ever northward. We've enjoyed some cooler weather the last couple of days, as has the South. Long Island is likely to be our next stop-- unless we change our minds along the way.
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Rehoboth Beach, DE to Atlantic City, NJ
Eager to leave Delaware behind us, we boarded the Lewes-Cape May ferry this morning for the 17-mile ride to New Jersey. Quite a feat, little Delly, to make New Jersey seem appealing! Several of today's ferry crossings had been cancelled due to high winds, and the bay was quite choppy, doubling our relief when we reached the Jersey shore. Driving up the New Jersey coast was a lesson in the concept of "off season." The coastal towns, teeming with visitors in the summer months, were deserted. We felt as if we were driving through one ghost town after another. Until Memorial Day, hotels and restaurants in these hamlets are open only on the weekends-- some of them, at least. Many are closed completely off season. Finding a Subway restaurant open in Wildwood, we stopped for lunch. Ordering was an interesting challenge because they were out of stock on so many items. Kate, the employee on duty, told us that the owner didn't want to order too many supplies because they were open only on weekends. But no oregano? Since we were the only customers, we had the opportunity to chat with Kate while we ate. She emigrated to the U.S. from Russia a couple of years ago and is studying international law. When we commented on the fluency of her English, she told us she had begun studying English as a young child. By age 7, she was attending an English immersion school where she was speaking English five hours a day. Kate will be married this summer to a young guy she met last summer when they were both working seasonal jobs on the New Jersey shore.

As the day waned, we decided to stay in a city we thought we'd never return to-- Atlantic City. We found a great price on a room in a non-casino hotel and are looking forward to seeing the Le Grand Cirque show at the Tropicana tomorrow evening for our anniversary. Then we'll move on up the coast on Tuesday.
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