April 2023 (and some past trips)
New Jersey is a mixture of quite lovely and well, the rest. Near the border with Pennsylvania there are farms and rolling green hills and some cute towns on the river. Then there is New Brunswick where I visited my friend Julie when she attended Rutgers for graduate school. Brunswick area then was definitely not the safest nor the prettiest so saw no reason to return. I do like everyone I have met from New Jersey, both my current friends and those from my past. My first job out of college was in Gardena (LA area) with a very small New Jersey based company selling computer repair services…mind you it was 1989 and an economic downturn so I took what I could get (lots of stories but for one, my first day started with a swat team in the parking lot). All the techs were from New Jersey and at first appearance looked like they belonged in a biker bar or topless bar, the latter of which they went to many days for lunch – different times. They were crass but were great colleagues, fun to hang out with both at and after work, and just really good guys. Ken and crew helped my more times than I can count with none of the bro culture stuff. Even the topless lunch thing, though not for me and thankfully no longer part of the work culture, was not exclusionary as the guys did invite me. In the 90s it was kind of a thing and continued into my next job where I finally relented to join my State Farm colleagues, including my then boyfriend, for lunch at Texas Lucy’s (a nicer version of Hooters). At least the food was good. Anyway, back to present day. I don’t have a lot of photos due to photography burnout and finding no good spots to pull over on the byways to photograph the farms but included what I do have.
ATLANTIC CITY. In 2004 while living in Manhattan, I spent an evening in Atlantic City. A group of us had the bright idea to rent a limo and head to Atlantic City thinking we could gamble until midnight and then head back and sleep on the way and then a few hours before we had to be at work. Well, we did not gamble much as the tables had higher than expected buy ins and we found the town itself to be less than glamorous. At departure time we had to track down a couple of the drunk 20 something who had broken off to go clubbing which took hours so we did not get going until at least 3am and then trying to sleep in a full limo is a no go. Work that day was rough! There is a well known seafood restaurant here and I met the owner at a restaurant bar in Arenal, Costa Rica some years ago so considered driving there, but decided to keep moving along.
PRINCETON. The town of Princeton and the abutting campus are lovely with beautiful buildings and a photo worthy campus chapel (one of the few buildings other than the library I could go into). There is a nearby river and I would like to have explored on a kayak but it was not yet the season so rentals were not available so after one night I moved along.
FRENCHTOWN. I landed here on my drive to Pennsylvania and stopped in for coffee. I spent a pleasant morning listening to a man play guitar and sing on a bench while I sipped a fantastic coffee from Early Bird Espresso. I looked into staying here as there is a bike trail along the Delaware river but unfortunately nowhere to rent bikes so decided to stick to my plan.
DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA. As I wrote in my Pennsylvania blog, this is a very large area straddling multiple states. After failed attempts to enter the park from one direction and to camp in another area, I finally found a great hiking spot in Columbia, near the Penn border. I hiked the Mount Tammany Red Dot and Blue Dot Loop Trail which led to some amazing views as well as a bunch of teens toking up on the knob overlooking the valley.
PATERSON GREAT FALLS NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK. Given where you are in NJ, this is a cool spot but not go out of your way worthy. It is in a very sketchy neighborhood so other than the small falls, not somewhere you want to walk around. The picture I took should save you the trip.
ELLIS ISLAND. Went here years ago when living in New York and my parents came to visit and anyone with possible ancestors entering here should go.