adventure and travel to discover the unknown and uncommon…with kids
Our destination was Cape May. With its Victorian homes, seafood, long stretches of beaches, and lots and lots of people; it’s hard to get more New Jersey than Cape May. But our first stop was a place that was quite the opposite: quiet and abandoned and lonely. The town was Shell Pile, NJ.
It was time for a change; something different. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut, letting life go by doing the same things in the same place. It was time to break free.
So we have moved to Nashville! It’s the result of a year plus of research and planning. It should just be a better quality of life all around.
But moving is never easy! It can be a pain and has definitely been for us. We’re more or less settled in now, or at least as much as you can be in a tiny apartment (our house hasn’t sold yet- know anyone who wants a great house in N NJ?). It’s what happened leading up to the move that was…um…an adventure.
Continue reading “moving to nashville”
In the early 1900’s archaeologists surveyed a small cave known as the Fairy Hole. In it they found pottery pieces, flint, and arrow heads; evidence that the cave was once used by the Lenape Indians. The Lenape were the native people who lived in Northwest New Jersey. The cave is thought to have been used as a resting spot for the Lenape as they traveled or hunted. It is also in close proximity to several burial sites, so it could also have been a religiously important site. Continue reading “the indian cave”
The space between Christmas and New Years was gloriously empty! Nothing on the calendar, just empty days waiting to be filled. So I decided it was time to take the kids on a little adventure. But, our outing ended up with a little more adventure than I attended it to!
Secaucus, New Jersey. Located in Hudson County just miles from New York City, it’s not exactly the wilderness. Yet it is located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, a large area of wetlands. Our destination was not the marshes that surrounded the town nor one of the factories that we passed. Our destination was Snake Hill (aka Laurel Hill or Graffiti Hill or Fraternity Rock), a massive hill of diabase rock jutting 150 feet into the sky from the banks of the Hackensack River. It’s a familiar sight to anyone who travels the NJ turnpike as it protrudes out over the eastern spur of the turnpike.
I work in New York City. I have to go in (from New Jersey) usually around 2 days a week. NYC, to me, has become traffic and crowds and parking garages and more traffic. My days in the city revolve around choosing the best way in to avoid traffic, sitting unmoving trying to get to my next call, and deciding between driving around the block in a vain attempt to find a parking spot on the street vs parking in an overpriced garage. It strips away any of the fun that is NYC. Many days my favorite view is the NYC skyline in my rear view mirror as I am back in New Jersey (yes I do realize that there are not many people who would be happy to be in NJ…)
But this Christmas my friend and I decided to bring our daughters in for a girls weekend! It was a great way to see New York through the eyes of a tourist again; to see all that it really has to offer. To see it through my 10 year old daughter’s eyes!
Last month, on a beautiful fall day, we decided to go on a hike. The day was perfect: bright blue skies to serve as the perfect backdrop to the reds and oranges and golds of the changing leaves. The day was unseasonably warm which was a good thing because we were headed to a corner of New Jersey known for its history of death and mystery.
The Jersey Shore! Home to sun, surf, sand, and elephants.
Elephants?!!
That’s what I thought when my sister asked me if we wanted to join them on a visit to Lucy the Elephant on our way down to Cape May. “It’s only the oldest example of Zoomorphic Architecture out there”, my brother-in-law said. I can’t resist anything old and unique so of course I said yes! Continue reading “an elephant on the jersey shore”
On a warm spring day this past year we went on a short hike to explore another forgotten building. We hiked up an old rutted road that was slowly being reclaimed by the forest. The road climbed and twisted and soon we found ourselves staring up at a whitewashed tree with a huge white owl on a branch! Had we wandered into a magical wonderland? No, we had found Outlook Lodge! Continue reading “slow fade”
Going skiing seemed like a great idea at the time. There were two snowfalls within a week and all of the local resorts were finally open. It sounded great on December 30th anyway when we made plans with friends to go skiing on New Year’s Day. It was another story on January 1st.
After not getting to bed until 2am on New Year’s Eve, morning came all too quickly. We groaned as the winter sun began to filter into our bedroom and wondered if skiing really was such a good idea. But, we were meeting friends, so we were committed.
We headed 15 minutes down the road to Mountain Creek in Vernon, NJ. Yes, I said New Jersey. Please don’t laugh. There really are mountains in New Jersey…kind of.
I live in New Jersey. Now I know what you’re picturing when you hear “New Jersey”: big cities, lots and lots of people, gangs, the Thruway, garbage, the mafia, etc. This is not the New Jersey I live in. I live in rural New Jersey. No, this is not an oxymoron, it really exists! Way up in the Northwest corner of the state is farmland and mountains and lakes and…people without teeth!?? You see, while the rest of the country laughs at New Jersey, New Jersians laugh at us! According to them, my county has more cows than people, family trees that don’t fork, and the dirt roads are full of lifted pick-ups with gun racks and dead deer hanging out the back. In other words, we are a bunch of rednecks! Continue reading “where the family tree don’t fork”
7feetnorth 