NJ Lighthouse challenge
So, this weekend we participated in the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge. Now, for those of you who are wondering what that is, let me quote directly from their website: The New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge® is a not-for-profit event presented by The New Jersey Lighthouse Society, Inc. for the purpose of raising public awareness of lighthouses in general and New Jersey’s lighthouses, specifically. It is a rain or shine, two-day event held during the 3rd weekend in October when 11 land-based lighthouses and 2 Fresnel lens sites are open for visitation and climbing. During this weekend, the public is invited to visit any or all of the sites along the Challenge route.
At each site visited, participants of the Challenge receive a complimentary souvenir depicting that particular lighthouse. Collect all 13 and you will receive a complimentary "completion" souvenir at your final stop to commemorate your achievement.
Well, we completed 12 of the 13. Go us! And despite the weather and the sniffles and coughing, we had fun.
Pictures of the adventure can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8800472@N08/sets/72157622483122163/
First, a note on the weather. Those of you who live in the mid-Atlantic region know very well what the weather was like this weekend: Cold, windy, and rainy. And by cold, I mean highs in the mid-to-upper 40's. Now, that's not Winter cold, but it's a damn sight colder than October has any business being in these parts. Making matters worse, the storm was a Nor'Easter, a particularly brutal form of storm that makes things very difficult in the northern half of the Eastern seaboard of North America. Not only can it bring Arctic air, but it also causes much higher tides (and subsequent flooding) than normal. This was to be a recurring problem for us.
So, our tale begins on Friday afternoon, when we left home to head for our hotel room in NJ at the Hampton Inn Woodbridge. We left several hours later than I had intended, but that was due in large part to an inability to get things ready earlier in the week due to people being sick. In the end, it took us 5 hours to get there; I had figured on 4. And that's with us avoiding the lines on I-95 at the various tolls by taking US-40 from Baltimore to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The only vaguely disconcerting thing about the room was that we were given the obviously ADA-compliant room. Not a problem, per se, but it was very obvious what they had to go through to make it so.
Saturday: Got up nice and early on Saturday to get a running start on the day. Packed out the room, then hit the free breakfast.
Side travel note: I highly recommend staying at Hampton Inns when you can. The free breakfast almost always offsets the slightly higher per-night charge. And when you travel with 3 others, that one meal can add up quickly.
After breakfast, we got in the car and took off. Our first stop was Sandy Hook Lighthouse. Getting there was vaguely disconcerting due to the high tides. The water level was almost to the edge of the road in some places. F was excited by the various displays of military gear as we drove up. This was a fairly straightforward stop; we got our pictures (including some of F posing with a missile) and took off.
Next stop was at Twin Lights Lighthouse. This was more interesting as due to road construction and weather conditions, we had to double back a few times to get to the lighthouse. Once we got there, though, it was generally decided that this was one of the cooler lighthouses on the whole trip. We got our souvenirs, then walked around the Lighthouse, taking in the sights.
Once done, we saddled up and headed for the Sea Girt Lighthouse. Here was the first time I was glad I had the GPS unit. Google Maps was a bit confusing regarding the route, and would have had us go a way where a road didn't actually exist. Despite the flooded roads and bad maps, we made it to the lighthouse in good time and took in the sights. Had a bit of a wait outside as there was apparently not an easily accessible ladies room in the house itself, so mousecat0 and B had to go across the street to the public pavilion. While waiting, I got to see some seabirds fly backwards (the wind pushed harder than they flew) and got some fun pics of the surf.
From there, we headed to Barnegat Lighthouse. This was a quick stop for us, as mousecat0 and the kids have been here before, and I've been there more times than anyone can count (having spent at least half the weekends in the spring and fall and at least 2 weeks in the summer there for half my life will do that). We then hopped over to the Barnegat Light Historical Museum, which used to be a 1 room schoolhouse, so the kids got to see some of the school equipment used then.
By now, it was lunchtime, so we stopped at Greenhouse Cafe, which placed second in the 2009 LBI Chowder cookoff and also captured a "Critic's Choice" award. In addition to having a bowl of their (New England style) clam chowder, I had an open-faced pastrami melt, which was fan-friggin'-tastic. mousecat0 had a club sandwich on pita bread, which she liked.
Next stop: Tucker’s Island Lighthouse. In addition to being ready for the Lighthouse Challenge, they were also ready for Hallowe'en. At the front door to the lighthouse/museum, there stood a life-size animitronic pirate skeleton. Naturally, the kids wanted their picture taken with it. We got our pictures here, then headed to Atlantic City and the Absecon Lighthouse. Now, I was not aware of this, but mousecat0 had never been to Atlantic City before; now she has. She may have even enjoyed it more had she been feeling better.
Ludlam’s Beach Lighthouse was the "bonus" site on the list, and the next in line. We chose to skip it, however, as the weather reports were saying that there was extremely bad flooding in the area. Since we neglected to bring either pontoons for the car or oars to row with, we felt that this was the better option.
On we went to Cape May County Historical Museum. This was to be our last stop for the day, as we were all cold, wet, cranky, and tired. Our visit here was brief, and once done, we headed for our motel.
Saturday night, we stayed at The Knolls Motel in Wildwood. Small place, but suitable for a one night stay. I set things up enough so that electronic devices could begin recharging, then we headed down the street to the HotSpot Diner for dinner. Not a bad diner; food was decent, service good, but the dining room was empty. I blame the weather. Once we finished eating, we headed back to our room where I uploaded pictures and we watched NCIS until we fell asleep. Alas, I didn't sleep well, as I tend not to do anyplace not "home".
Sunday: we got up about an hour later than the day before, packed out, and had breakfast at the HotSpot Diner My morning was made when I realized they offered a scrapple omelet. YUM! Fortified with coffee, hot chocolate, and food, we headed for the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse. The first thing we noticed when we got out of the car was the COLD. Holy Moly, was the wind biting. Not much time was spent here, as there wasn't a lot of historical info for me to look at. We then tried to leave Wildwood; alas, the way we knew to use was flooded out. Badly. A wonderful police officer gave us some good directions to an alternate routs, and we were on our way.
The rest of this leg of the journey was uneventful, and we reached the Cape May Lighthouse without undue fuss. By now, the wind had died down and the dayhad warmed up, so we spent a little more time here. Once done, we made a quick stop for fuel, then headed on to our next stop.
Sadly, our next stop was destined to be a bit of a PITA. We were going to the East Point Lighthouse, but the main road leading to it was flooded. mousecat0 and B went up to the small crowd gathering by the first flooded area with our books, as there was someone there signing the souvenir books. As we waited, I watched a Ford F-150 safely cross the flooded areas, and when the ladies came back, they mentioned that they were looking for someone to try and get through to let the people at the lighthouse know what was going on and to try and get some of the souvenirs. We loaded up, strapped in, and headed out. Very glad we were driving the Trailblazer. Once at the lighthouse, we explained the situation to the three volunteers. Two of them were ready to send the souvenirs with us, but the third was being a PITA about it. To be fair, he had no way of knowing who we were, but when you acknowledge that most of the people *shouldn't* try to ford the flooded areas, then perhaps the better thing to do is to not be a braying ass.
Just sayin', is all.
Well, we took the news that someone would be coming out back to the people at the flood. It was about now that I noticed that there was a warning light on on the dash: The battery wasn't charging. Great. Thinking that perhaps something got wet that shoudn't have, I kept on going towards our next stop, hoping to find a diner so we could let things dry off. Find a diner I did: the Maurice River Diner., Now this was a DINER. Waitresses that were either just out of High school or who had been there forever. Desserts that stood a foot high. Quick service. Great food. Portions that could feed a family of 4. I had the Chicken Parmesan sandwich - the fries were just how I like them: Hot, crispy, and substantial. No Shoestring fries for me, thanks.
After lunch, we wandered over to the farm market next door and looked around, but nothing caught our eye. Back at the car, I started it up, and found that the warning light had gone out. Good. We cut across South Jersey to the Tinicum Rear Range Light, and then down I-295 to the Finn’s Point Lighthouse. Both of these are Rear Range Lighthouses, and are fairly skeletal in their construction. Still, once we visited these, our trip was done, so we headed for the warmth and comfort of home.
And now, the Dose of NyQuil I took is beginning to sink it's green-fangs of death into me, so I'm a-gonna call it a night.
Remember: You woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning. By definition, that makes this a good day.
Peas. Out.
At each site visited, participants of the Challenge receive a complimentary souvenir depicting that particular lighthouse. Collect all 13 and you will receive a complimentary "completion" souvenir at your final stop to commemorate your achievement.
Well, we completed 12 of the 13. Go us! And despite the weather and the sniffles and coughing, we had fun.
Pictures of the adventure can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8800472@N08/sets/72157622483122163/
First, a note on the weather. Those of you who live in the mid-Atlantic region know very well what the weather was like this weekend: Cold, windy, and rainy. And by cold, I mean highs in the mid-to-upper 40's. Now, that's not Winter cold, but it's a damn sight colder than October has any business being in these parts. Making matters worse, the storm was a Nor'Easter, a particularly brutal form of storm that makes things very difficult in the northern half of the Eastern seaboard of North America. Not only can it bring Arctic air, but it also causes much higher tides (and subsequent flooding) than normal. This was to be a recurring problem for us.
So, our tale begins on Friday afternoon, when we left home to head for our hotel room in NJ at the Hampton Inn Woodbridge. We left several hours later than I had intended, but that was due in large part to an inability to get things ready earlier in the week due to people being sick. In the end, it took us 5 hours to get there; I had figured on 4. And that's with us avoiding the lines on I-95 at the various tolls by taking US-40 from Baltimore to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The only vaguely disconcerting thing about the room was that we were given the obviously ADA-compliant room. Not a problem, per se, but it was very obvious what they had to go through to make it so.
Saturday: Got up nice and early on Saturday to get a running start on the day. Packed out the room, then hit the free breakfast.
Side travel note: I highly recommend staying at Hampton Inns when you can. The free breakfast almost always offsets the slightly higher per-night charge. And when you travel with 3 others, that one meal can add up quickly.
After breakfast, we got in the car and took off. Our first stop was Sandy Hook Lighthouse. Getting there was vaguely disconcerting due to the high tides. The water level was almost to the edge of the road in some places. F was excited by the various displays of military gear as we drove up. This was a fairly straightforward stop; we got our pictures (including some of F posing with a missile) and took off.
Next stop was at Twin Lights Lighthouse. This was more interesting as due to road construction and weather conditions, we had to double back a few times to get to the lighthouse. Once we got there, though, it was generally decided that this was one of the cooler lighthouses on the whole trip. We got our souvenirs, then walked around the Lighthouse, taking in the sights.
Once done, we saddled up and headed for the Sea Girt Lighthouse. Here was the first time I was glad I had the GPS unit. Google Maps was a bit confusing regarding the route, and would have had us go a way where a road didn't actually exist. Despite the flooded roads and bad maps, we made it to the lighthouse in good time and took in the sights. Had a bit of a wait outside as there was apparently not an easily accessible ladies room in the house itself, so mousecat0 and B had to go across the street to the public pavilion. While waiting, I got to see some seabirds fly backwards (the wind pushed harder than they flew) and got some fun pics of the surf.
From there, we headed to Barnegat Lighthouse. This was a quick stop for us, as mousecat0 and the kids have been here before, and I've been there more times than anyone can count (having spent at least half the weekends in the spring and fall and at least 2 weeks in the summer there for half my life will do that). We then hopped over to the Barnegat Light Historical Museum, which used to be a 1 room schoolhouse, so the kids got to see some of the school equipment used then.
By now, it was lunchtime, so we stopped at Greenhouse Cafe, which placed second in the 2009 LBI Chowder cookoff and also captured a "Critic's Choice" award. In addition to having a bowl of their (New England style) clam chowder, I had an open-faced pastrami melt, which was fan-friggin'-tastic. mousecat0 had a club sandwich on pita bread, which she liked.
Next stop: Tucker’s Island Lighthouse. In addition to being ready for the Lighthouse Challenge, they were also ready for Hallowe'en. At the front door to the lighthouse/museum, there stood a life-size animitronic pirate skeleton. Naturally, the kids wanted their picture taken with it. We got our pictures here, then headed to Atlantic City and the Absecon Lighthouse. Now, I was not aware of this, but mousecat0 had never been to Atlantic City before; now she has. She may have even enjoyed it more had she been feeling better.
Ludlam’s Beach Lighthouse was the "bonus" site on the list, and the next in line. We chose to skip it, however, as the weather reports were saying that there was extremely bad flooding in the area. Since we neglected to bring either pontoons for the car or oars to row with, we felt that this was the better option.
On we went to Cape May County Historical Museum. This was to be our last stop for the day, as we were all cold, wet, cranky, and tired. Our visit here was brief, and once done, we headed for our motel.
Saturday night, we stayed at The Knolls Motel in Wildwood. Small place, but suitable for a one night stay. I set things up enough so that electronic devices could begin recharging, then we headed down the street to the HotSpot Diner for dinner. Not a bad diner; food was decent, service good, but the dining room was empty. I blame the weather. Once we finished eating, we headed back to our room where I uploaded pictures and we watched NCIS until we fell asleep. Alas, I didn't sleep well, as I tend not to do anyplace not "home".
Sunday: we got up about an hour later than the day before, packed out, and had breakfast at the HotSpot Diner My morning was made when I realized they offered a scrapple omelet. YUM! Fortified with coffee, hot chocolate, and food, we headed for the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse. The first thing we noticed when we got out of the car was the COLD. Holy Moly, was the wind biting. Not much time was spent here, as there wasn't a lot of historical info for me to look at. We then tried to leave Wildwood; alas, the way we knew to use was flooded out. Badly. A wonderful police officer gave us some good directions to an alternate routs, and we were on our way.
The rest of this leg of the journey was uneventful, and we reached the Cape May Lighthouse without undue fuss. By now, the wind had died down and the dayhad warmed up, so we spent a little more time here. Once done, we made a quick stop for fuel, then headed on to our next stop.
Sadly, our next stop was destined to be a bit of a PITA. We were going to the East Point Lighthouse, but the main road leading to it was flooded. mousecat0 and B went up to the small crowd gathering by the first flooded area with our books, as there was someone there signing the souvenir books. As we waited, I watched a Ford F-150 safely cross the flooded areas, and when the ladies came back, they mentioned that they were looking for someone to try and get through to let the people at the lighthouse know what was going on and to try and get some of the souvenirs. We loaded up, strapped in, and headed out. Very glad we were driving the Trailblazer. Once at the lighthouse, we explained the situation to the three volunteers. Two of them were ready to send the souvenirs with us, but the third was being a PITA about it. To be fair, he had no way of knowing who we were, but when you acknowledge that most of the people *shouldn't* try to ford the flooded areas, then perhaps the better thing to do is to not be a braying ass.
Just sayin', is all.
Well, we took the news that someone would be coming out back to the people at the flood. It was about now that I noticed that there was a warning light on on the dash: The battery wasn't charging. Great. Thinking that perhaps something got wet that shoudn't have, I kept on going towards our next stop, hoping to find a diner so we could let things dry off. Find a diner I did: the Maurice River Diner., Now this was a DINER. Waitresses that were either just out of High school or who had been there forever. Desserts that stood a foot high. Quick service. Great food. Portions that could feed a family of 4. I had the Chicken Parmesan sandwich - the fries were just how I like them: Hot, crispy, and substantial. No Shoestring fries for me, thanks.
After lunch, we wandered over to the farm market next door and looked around, but nothing caught our eye. Back at the car, I started it up, and found that the warning light had gone out. Good. We cut across South Jersey to the Tinicum Rear Range Light, and then down I-295 to the Finn’s Point Lighthouse. Both of these are Rear Range Lighthouses, and are fairly skeletal in their construction. Still, once we visited these, our trip was done, so we headed for the warmth and comfort of home.
And now, the Dose of NyQuil I took is beginning to sink it's green-fangs of death into me, so I'm a-gonna call it a night.
Remember: You woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning. By definition, that makes this a good day.
Peas. Out.