(ALL-VACATION) NOTES FROM A (4TH OF JULY) FRIDAY AFTERNOON
signing the declaration of my
mind.
For your consideration: another curious collection
of thoughts, reactions, and vacation observations that didn't make it into a
full-length post this week (or last week, or even the week before that). So
they're sort of like a whole bunch of silly, semi-tacky souvenirs from our
vacation. But without the little box of salt water taffy to go with
them...
• First, the obligatory travel stats: we logged just under 1,000 miles (from Pittsburgh to Sinking Spring to King of Prussia, through Philly and all the way to the very last tip of New Jersey in fabulous Cape May, then back north and south again, through Delaware and Maryland with a quick stop in Baltimore, for two days in our nation's capital, then back home to the ‘Burgh), spent time in eleven cities, stayed in two hotel rooms and one fabulous townhouse, dined at 17 different eateries, played miniature golf at four different courses, lounged in four different pools and three different jacuzzis, and took one really cool river cruise.
• Along the way, we did what every self-respecting, road-tripping family does to pass long hours on the road: we played the License Plate Game. By the end of the trip, we’d rebounded from last year's disappointing total of 42 and spied our now-almost-automatic 45 states (plus the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces). The fives plates that eluded us: Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and North Dakota.
• That's right. For the first time in four years, we found evidence that the people of South Dakota are allowed to leave their state. On a car parked two spaces to our right in the Cape May Lighthouse parking lot.
• Which means that Wyoming is now the only plate to elude us each of the last four years. I'd planned to declare it the new National Champion of License Plate Elusivity, but then, of course, we saw one. In Squirrel Hill. Less than twenty-four hours after we'd returned.
• And, yes, we saw a license plate from Hawaii. Eleven of them, in fact. Nine on an auto-transport truck heading east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (we're still trying to figure that one out), one on the Garden State Parkway near Stone Harbor, and one on the Mall in Washington D.C.
• You may remember that last year, my favorite bike-riding-on-the-boardwalk moment came when I rode past a woman who, while riding her own bike across a wildly uneven stretch of boardwalk planks, extended a disposable camera in one hand and tried to snap a photo of the ocean. This year, my favorite bike-riding-on-the-beach-trail moment was when a woman rode by me, with one hand on her handlebars and the other holding a cell phone to her ear, shouting, So how's the weather back home?
• You may also remember that last year, my favorite Raging Waters water park site was the Jerry Garcia look-alike attempting -- and actually being allowed -- to ride the slides in shirt and shorts and shoes and socks. Though not quite up to that peculiar par, my favorite site this year was the forty-something woman riding the water slides in Timberland hiking sandals.
• I resisted the temptation -- and, let me tell you, it wasn't easy -- to ask if she'd lost her sherpa.
• Best T-shirt we spied along the way: the one at several shops on the Wildwood Boardwalk, in bold New York blue-and-white, that declared, Eighteen Wins and One Giant Loss.
• Best Roadside Sign we spied along the way: the one at a stand along New York Avenue in D.C. that advertised the can't miss combination of FIREWORKS and AZALEAS.
• Runner-Up, Most Shocking Thing We Saw Along the Side of the Road: an ostrich, happily strolling just inside the fence of a South Jersey front yard.
• Winner (& Quite Possibly All-Time Champion), Most Shocking Thing We Saw Along the Side of the Road: a thirty-something woman, squatting no more than ten yards off the side of New Jersey State Route 83, facing traffic, hands on her knees and pants around her ankles, peeing.
• Let's just say that, even if she'd been wearing a helmet, I still could have told you what color hair she had.
• Once more, I am compelled to recommend the high quality, reasonable rates, and outstanding customer service offered up at Homewood Suites. The chain has long been the Official Hotel of the Hermann Family, and it continues to distinguish itself on just about every road trip. If you can find one anywhere near your next destination, I urge you to give it a try.
• I also, for the second time in three years, urge you, should have a hankerin' for Mexican food while in our nation's capital, to get yourself (before 6 o'clock) to Lauriol Plaza. Great ambiance. Spectacular food. And a Saturday evening hostess who, as one of my dining companions cheekily pointed out, should probably be the next head of FEMA.
• A full-length post on this subject will soon follow, but... One of the highlights of our time in DC was a trip to the brand-spanking-new Newseum. Just the right mix of exhibits and interactivity, with some truly wonderful integration of technology and a room full of original front pages -- preserved under glass, of course, but encased in rolling drawers for easy access and scrutiny -- from throughout history that, more than a few times, damned near brought me to my knees in wonder and reverence. Highly recommended for everyone, but especially for news junkies and lovers of history.
• Is it just me, or is the new Sideling Hill Service Plaza little more than a giant food court stuck inside a miniature ski lodge?
• And, finally... After some reluctance, several recommendations, and finally agreeing to take the plunge, I can say that an E-ZPass technology really is the road trip equivalent of iPhones and DVRs and high-def television; once you've experienced life with it, you'll never, ever again want to experience life without it. The time it saves is great, the aggravation it saves you from dealing with yet another surly PA Turnpike toll taker is even greater. Throw in the bonus of using it all over the eastern seaboard, and, well, I can't imagine why I waited so damned long to get it. From Pittsburgh to Philly to Delaware to Baltimore to Breezewood (where, in keeping with their dedication to slowing down your travel as much as humanly possible, they have only one -- count it, one -- dedicated E-ZPass lane), I actually looked forward to arriving at a toll booth.
• Though, of course, I looked forward to them far less on the way home than on the ways East and South...
• First, the obligatory travel stats: we logged just under 1,000 miles (from Pittsburgh to Sinking Spring to King of Prussia, through Philly and all the way to the very last tip of New Jersey in fabulous Cape May, then back north and south again, through Delaware and Maryland with a quick stop in Baltimore, for two days in our nation's capital, then back home to the ‘Burgh), spent time in eleven cities, stayed in two hotel rooms and one fabulous townhouse, dined at 17 different eateries, played miniature golf at four different courses, lounged in four different pools and three different jacuzzis, and took one really cool river cruise.
• Along the way, we did what every self-respecting, road-tripping family does to pass long hours on the road: we played the License Plate Game. By the end of the trip, we’d rebounded from last year's disappointing total of 42 and spied our now-almost-automatic 45 states (plus the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces). The fives plates that eluded us: Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and North Dakota.
• That's right. For the first time in four years, we found evidence that the people of South Dakota are allowed to leave their state. On a car parked two spaces to our right in the Cape May Lighthouse parking lot.
• Which means that Wyoming is now the only plate to elude us each of the last four years. I'd planned to declare it the new National Champion of License Plate Elusivity, but then, of course, we saw one. In Squirrel Hill. Less than twenty-four hours after we'd returned.
• And, yes, we saw a license plate from Hawaii. Eleven of them, in fact. Nine on an auto-transport truck heading east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (we're still trying to figure that one out), one on the Garden State Parkway near Stone Harbor, and one on the Mall in Washington D.C.
• You may remember that last year, my favorite bike-riding-on-the-boardwalk moment came when I rode past a woman who, while riding her own bike across a wildly uneven stretch of boardwalk planks, extended a disposable camera in one hand and tried to snap a photo of the ocean. This year, my favorite bike-riding-on-the-beach-trail moment was when a woman rode by me, with one hand on her handlebars and the other holding a cell phone to her ear, shouting, So how's the weather back home?
• You may also remember that last year, my favorite Raging Waters water park site was the Jerry Garcia look-alike attempting -- and actually being allowed -- to ride the slides in shirt and shorts and shoes and socks. Though not quite up to that peculiar par, my favorite site this year was the forty-something woman riding the water slides in Timberland hiking sandals.
• I resisted the temptation -- and, let me tell you, it wasn't easy -- to ask if she'd lost her sherpa.
• Best T-shirt we spied along the way: the one at several shops on the Wildwood Boardwalk, in bold New York blue-and-white, that declared, Eighteen Wins and One Giant Loss.
• Best Roadside Sign we spied along the way: the one at a stand along New York Avenue in D.C. that advertised the can't miss combination of FIREWORKS and AZALEAS.
• Runner-Up, Most Shocking Thing We Saw Along the Side of the Road: an ostrich, happily strolling just inside the fence of a South Jersey front yard.
• Winner (& Quite Possibly All-Time Champion), Most Shocking Thing We Saw Along the Side of the Road: a thirty-something woman, squatting no more than ten yards off the side of New Jersey State Route 83, facing traffic, hands on her knees and pants around her ankles, peeing.
• Let's just say that, even if she'd been wearing a helmet, I still could have told you what color hair she had.
• Once more, I am compelled to recommend the high quality, reasonable rates, and outstanding customer service offered up at Homewood Suites. The chain has long been the Official Hotel of the Hermann Family, and it continues to distinguish itself on just about every road trip. If you can find one anywhere near your next destination, I urge you to give it a try.
• I also, for the second time in three years, urge you, should have a hankerin' for Mexican food while in our nation's capital, to get yourself (before 6 o'clock) to Lauriol Plaza. Great ambiance. Spectacular food. And a Saturday evening hostess who, as one of my dining companions cheekily pointed out, should probably be the next head of FEMA.
• A full-length post on this subject will soon follow, but... One of the highlights of our time in DC was a trip to the brand-spanking-new Newseum. Just the right mix of exhibits and interactivity, with some truly wonderful integration of technology and a room full of original front pages -- preserved under glass, of course, but encased in rolling drawers for easy access and scrutiny -- from throughout history that, more than a few times, damned near brought me to my knees in wonder and reverence. Highly recommended for everyone, but especially for news junkies and lovers of history.
• Is it just me, or is the new Sideling Hill Service Plaza little more than a giant food court stuck inside a miniature ski lodge?
• And, finally... After some reluctance, several recommendations, and finally agreeing to take the plunge, I can say that an E-ZPass technology really is the road trip equivalent of iPhones and DVRs and high-def television; once you've experienced life with it, you'll never, ever again want to experience life without it. The time it saves is great, the aggravation it saves you from dealing with yet another surly PA Turnpike toll taker is even greater. Throw in the bonus of using it all over the eastern seaboard, and, well, I can't imagine why I waited so damned long to get it. From Pittsburgh to Philly to Delaware to Baltimore to Breezewood (where, in keeping with their dedication to slowing down your travel as much as humanly possible, they have only one -- count it, one -- dedicated E-ZPass lane), I actually looked forward to arriving at a toll booth.
• Though, of course, I looked forward to them far less on the way home than on the ways East and South...
Posted: Fri - July 4, 2008 at 04:52 PM
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Published On: Aug 28, 2008 10:24 PM
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Published On: Aug 28, 2008 10:24 PM