Surviving NJ

Archive for the ‘New Jersey’ Category

You can read more about the Drifting Sands motel in Long Beach Island here.

We stayed at the Drifting Sands Motel this past week in Long Beach Island. This was my first time staying at this particular hotel/motel. I generally stay in one or two others, but they were fully booked. We liked that the room was large and clean, but were a bit disappointed with what they called a “partial ocean view”. I’ll be honest, I had to get on my toes, and lean to the left, and I saw about 1-2 inches of ocean. Maybe some of the closer rooms had a better view. I had a great view of the sand dune. It’s okay though, I enjoyed sitting on the balcony regardless and enjoying a light breeze. They supplied the deck area with two chairs.

What I liked a lot was the parking was assigned, which means you can actually find a spot, and it’s not in the most inconvenient possible. I liked their outdoor shower so you could clean off extra sand before going up to your room. I also liked the location of sort. While it’s on the busy circle, it is half way to both ends, which makes driving to either side of the island easy.

What we missed? We missed that there wasn’t a pool. We love a pool at the beach. While we swim in the ocean, we also like to swim in the pool. If you have small children, and the waves are rough, the pool is a nice option to have. Usually every time we go down, we swim in both the ocean and the pool each day.

Would I stay at this motel again? Yes, I liked it well enough, but we’re partial to another because we’ve been going to it for so long.

New Jersey often gets a bad rap from outsiders, but people who live here know our state has a lot to offer. We’re the land of beaches, diners and farm stands. While Jersey folk are divided on where North Jersey ends, and South Jersey begins (hint: Trenton and Route 95 in my eyes), everyone can agree that New Jerseians offer a lot of personality, whether you like it or not! Not sure what there is to love about New Jersey? Here’s a list of 50 reasons I love New Jersey in no particular order.

1. Long Beach Island
2. Six Flags “Great Adventure”
3. The Old Red Mill in Clinton, New Jersey and the great Ducky Race
4. Wildwood boardwalk
5. Charming Hopewell Boro (Main Street USA)
6. Atlantic City Casinos
7. Liberty Village in Flemington
8. Old West BBQ in Annandale (fall off the bone Babyback Ribs)
9. Trenton Makes Bridge
10. Rutgers and a renewed football team (my husband went to Rutgers)
11. NJ State Theater
12. Adventure Aquarium
13. Lots of great malls, including my favorite Quaker Bridge Mall
14. Diners, lots and lots of diners with great food!
15. Old Barney: Barnegat Light’s Lighthouse
16. Cape May, New Jersey (Charming Victorian town)
17. Easy Access Roads: 95, 195, 295, NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway
18. Ocean City, New Jersey
19. NJ 101.5 “Not New York, Not Philadelphia” (I miss Craig Carton with Rossi at the 2pm slot)
20. Jenkinson’s at Point Pleasant
21. Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, can you say rollercoaster?
22. Grounds for Sculpture (gorgeous grounds, great for walking during spring and fall)
23. Princeton University
24. Lakota Wolf Preserve, Columbia, New Jersey
25. Scenic Route 29, River Road
26. Long Valley, New Jersey
27. Farm Produce Stands, and our own sweet yellow corn
28. Pennington, New Jersey
29. Hunterdon County
30. Location, location, location: close to NY City, Philly and Washington, DC
31. The Showplace, Beach Haven, New Jersey
32. Trenton Thunder
33. Somerset Patriots
34. Blueberries, and pick your own orchards
35. Small State, Big Personality
36. Hoboken, park your car and take the path train to New York City
37. Crabbing on the bay
38. Bon Jovi
39. Lambertville Station
40. New Jersey Devils
41. Columbus Farmer’s Market
42. Popcorn Park Zoo
43. Uncle Will’s Pancake House
44. Bruce Springsteen
45. Frenchtown
46. Every other Jersey Shore location not listed! There’s something for everyone
47. Campbell’s Soup
48. Joe Pesci
49. NJ.com
50. “At least we drive better than New Yorkers”…so we aren’t at the bottom!

There’s a piece of me saying I should head to the Jersey shore today and do some picture taking. The other part of me says I don’t feel like driving there and back today. I may wait for April or a warmer day, so I can enjoy a drive with the windows down. On the other hand, a Tuesday in March  is pretty quiet, so I’d be able to snap those pics undisturbed.

Decisions, decisions…helpful now, yes….driving a total of 4 hours today (2 hours each way)…no.  

If I go, I need to decide soon, so I can get out of here all ready…maybe my stalling tactics are telling me something. Another day will work just as easily.  

Good news for New Jersey readers! When you have a New Jersey blog, I guess it makes sense to cover some NJ news, eh? LOL

Anyway, the NJ Senate is pushing forward a plan to give people paid leave for family leave. When you have a baby, or if a family member is ill, you can take off up to 12 weeks currently, but it’s on your own dime. It means you’re not paid.

New Jersey is looking to become the third state to offer paid leave in these circumstances. California and Washington, DC are the other two areas that offer paid leave.  

If you’re looking for more info, you can read the details here.  

We headed down to LBI yesterday for a ride, lunch and a leisurely afternoon. I took this yesterday, along with some others. While it was quiet, winter is not as dead as it used to be. Yesterday there seemed to be a lot of activity at the real estate offices. I guess people are looking for summer rentals, and buying homes. There were tons of open house signs all over.

We stopped and had lunch at Buckalews, then made the ride back. I love driving to the shore when it’s not mobbed with people. Open roads, the sun shining and good music on the radio, made for a great day.

New Jersey was tired of having no say in the elections. By the time our elections rolled around, things had been decided. New Jersey has changed to be a part of Super Tuesday. Let’s see what rolls around and what the final outcome will be tonight.

New Jersians said…"We want a say in who will be our next presidential candidates."

Do you?  

I’m really frustrated that Corzine wants to raise the tolls 800%. He’s screwing New Jersey folks who have to travel that on a regular basis, let alone everyone who uses it. Yes, you read that right, if you aren’t from NJ, our Gov wants to raise our tolls 800%. Worse yet, he wants to lock that bad boy in place so nobody can change it legally.

NJ 101.5 is looking to give New Jersey folks a chance to be heard. They are holding a rally on the steps of the Trenton State House. If you’d like to be a part of it, it will be on February 8th at 12 noon. Jim Gearhart and Jersey Guys Ray Rossi and Casey Bartholomew will be there. You can read more about this by clicking on the link above.

Here’s the fun part, is the Gov making cuts in legistlation? Are they looking at changing things there? Yeah, okay, that’s me laughing…because that would be the smart way to look at things. Let’s see, does a small state need an OBSCENE number of school districts? Yup, not even going there… 

Anyway, if you’d like your voice to be heard, check out their "When Pigs Fly" rally. Corzine was quoted:  

"Pigs will fly over the Statehouse before there’s a realistic level of spending cuts that can fix this mess."

Last night on "Drive-ins, Diners and Dives" on the Food Network, Guy traveled around New Jersey visiting diners in the state. Usually he covers 3 or 4 places in a show that are scattered around the area. Last night, being that NJ is the Diner State, he focused on New Jersey alone.

He visited different areas like Cliffton, Heightstown, Hackettstown and others. The first place they

visited though caught my attention, and that was my very favorite NJ town, LBI. If you’ve been reading my New Jersey category of my blog, you’ll see I have pictures galore of LBI!

The diner he visited was Mustache Bills, which is less than a mile from Old Barney, the lighthouse at Barnegat Light. Mustache Bills is a NJ diner that is open on weekends from 6 to 3 I believe. The reason I know this, is 90% of the time I drive by it, it’s closed! I started to question if it was open, but then saw the odd hours. We went down one time to see, and sure enough, it was not only open, it was hopping busy!

It was awesome to see our New Jersey represented on the show! Another great place to grab some chow in LBI if you’re looking for great breakfast food is Uncle Will’s Pancake House. It’s one of my favorites, and probably the reason there’s a line always waiting to get in during the summer!  

The Giants are headed to the Super Bowl. Being an Eagles fan, you’d think I’d have wanted the Packers to win last night. Let me be honest, I was glad the Giants pulled it off. I’ll tell you why, before you start jumping on me.

I think it’s a good boost for local businesses. If people are excited about the game, they’re likely going to support the local small businesses to prep for the game, or to watch it at small taverns and bars.

New Jersey folk are quick to bitch, and with Corzine’s stupid "rape us at the tolls" plan going on, we have reason to. Now we have reason to cheer about something good, instead of something bad.

Let me just point out that both the New York Giants and the New York Jets play football in NEW JERSEY, yet neither team carries our name. Just saying….

So congratulations to the Giants on their win, and here’s hoping it boost local business with the excitement and party planning.  

If you’re looking for a great little cafe in Central Jersey, I have a jewel to share with you. There’s a little cafe at the top of the hill near the High Bridge train station called Cafe Hola! It has great baked goods, smoothies, milkshakes, along with sandwiches, fruit cups, soups and more.

It’s adorable inside, and offers fresh food. You’ll always find fresh baked goods like muffins, turnovers and cookies on the counter. In the fridge case you’ll find pies, cakes and other goodies to choose from.

My son is sold on the banana shake, and I’m fond of one of their smoothies. If you choose one of the fruit smoothies, you can even get home made yogurt added in.

Check out Cafe Hola! next time you’re in Hgh Bridge.