New Jersey Shore and Cherry Blossoms

Just got back from a really great 3 day weekend along the Jersey Shore.  It's really ashame that term, Jersey Shore, will forever be sorely marred by the god awful behavior of the group of MTV reality show personalities. The Jersey Shore is really quite beautiful and serene in many parts and certainly a major family entertainment destination in many of the coastal cities. They have elaborate boardwalks with amusemnt parks, concessions, hotels, restaurants, souvenier shops, mini-golf, swimming pools, etc.  The other thing that is most striking about development along the shore is the HUGE houses and prolific construction of more HUGE houses along the shoreline. It's hard to believe there is any recession when you drive along the New Jersey Coast.  Houses like the ones pictured below went on for miles on the coast......this is just a tiny sample to give an idea....don't know who owns these but it's such a show of wealth in such hard times.






This was Bob's birthday celebration get away and I managed to get us a good deal for a B & B in Cape May from Groupon.  Cape May is at the southern tip of New Jersey. It's a quaint seaside, Victorian themed town with beautiful architecture,  interesting WWII landmarks, bird observatories, a number of migratory bird marshes. a lighthouse, great beaches, etc. We made a fairly direct drive there and once we were out of Northern New Jersey and the industrial scene that it is, the surroundings were much more lush with forest and marshes.  We got into Cape May around 4:30pm after a 3 plus hour drive, walked about the city, along the beach, and to neighboring communities (they are all very closely tied together), got caught in a bit of rain and a lot of wind but overall it was a great walk. Later that night we had a great dinner in our B & B while there was a terrific thunderstorm going on outside. I broke down and had a crab cake for dinner.........I love a good crab cake and this one was one of the best I've eaten. Suspending my vegetarianism is always a bit of an internal struggle before, during, and after such a meal but it was really delicious and I did enjoy it very much. For dessert we had a really fabulous warm chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream.

The next day we had beautiful sunny clear weather in the 60's, a bit of wind, but overall a magnificent spring day. We visited the Cape May lighthouse, climbed the 199 steps to the top and got great views of area, then took a walk along the marsh area near the beach to view egrets, swans, ducks, osprey, geese, etc.  We then took off and drove right along the beach all the way up to Atlantic City, stopping briefly here and there and taking in the scenes of beach life. It was the perfect weekend to be there because it wasn't very populated and the weather was good.  We decided to make a stop in Atlantic City since it is such a destination point for so many people.......to not go would have been like driving through Nevada and not making the short exit to check out Las Vegas. We parked at the Bally Hotel and walked through their casino to get to the boardwalk.  It's a total scene in the casino--loud, garish, blinking lights, blinging sounds, all the sights and sounds one associates with casinos.  Bob played the penny slots with one dollar and lost 92 cents after which he didn't have enough money to play any more games........because despite supposedly being penny slot machines, you have to play a minimum of 20 cents per spin. So between losing some and winning some, it came down to just the 8 cents left.

We then walked a fair distance on the boardwalk and this one is pretty cheesy.........it was like going to one of the big street fairs in mid-town Manhattan only it's near the beach.  We did indulge in french fries and a milk shake while walking around. Lots of big name hotels and casinos along the way.  The beach there is really beautiful and I would HOPE that people who go to Atlantic City actually spend some time away from the casinos to walk along the beach.  We quickly decided that while it was good that we made the one time visit just to check it out, we will likely not find ourselves ever again in Atlantic City unless very, very, very unusual circumstances present themselves for us to return.

It was getting quite late in the day by the end of our Atlantic City adventure so we then made a beeline to our B & B in Spring Lake, NJ. It's about an hour plus drive north of Atlantic City if you take the Garden State Parkway, about 2 1/2 hours north of Cape May and about 90 minutes from Manhattan.  Spring Lake is considered the European Jewel of the New Jersey Shore. It's so much calmer and less commercially developed than what you find in the South Jersey Shore.  There are a string of small towns that line the shore in this area and all of their boardwalks connect to make a contiguous boardwalk that goes on for miles and miles and miles.  We took a 5 mile walk on the boardwalk right along the ocean. It was fantastic:  the fresh air, the ocean breeze, sun, expansive views, and no crowds. We will most definitely return to the Spring Lake area, maybe even rent a condo for a week some year. It's so close to Manhattan too which makes it very accessible and doable even for a day trip. We then drove along the coast to check out Asbury Park, of the Bruce Springsteen fame.  We didn't really search much for the places he performed and frequented--we mainly just drove through it to say we were there!

Geese at Spring Lake, just a couple of blocks inland from the beach

Swans on Spring Lake

While staying at the Spring Lake Inn, I read a travel magazine about New Jersey and they mentioned the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Branch Brook Park in Newark. We were going to pass by Newark on our way home so we decided to go see the Cherry Blossoms. Bob and I always made it a point to go see the cherry blossoms in the quad at the UW campus--I loved that visit and looked forward to it each year. I was reading on Facebook how someone had plans to go see the cherry trees at the UW and it made me feel very homesick to not be able to do that. Getting to see the magnificent cherry blossoms at Branch Brook Park was so impressive, there are so many trees that go on and on and on and on. They are definitely cultivating a spectacular collection of cherry trees throughout the park. We saw lots of new ones and wonderfully old matured gnarly ones. The park is quite long and expansive and cherry trees occupy a great deal of park. Being able to walk and drive among all the trees in full bloom was such a visual feast and the wafting scent from the trees was fragrant and gentle. It certainly made up and more for missing the cherry trees at the UW. What a way to end our weekend trip. So we came away liking the New Jersey shore very, very much, at least to visit and vacation.  This is just the tiniest impression of all the cherry blossoms there.  I have other great pictures but they are just taking too long to upload, I suspect way too much detail with all the thousands of blooms on the trees. The trees covered hundreds of acres.

Getting back to Manhattan was a bit shocking to our systems having been out in so much nature for the last three days. especially having so much vastness of the ocean in view constantly, to all of a sudden have our view completely confined and blocked by buildings and people and cars and advertisements..............

At least walking along our street on 43rd, there are trees blossoming and daffodils are in full bloom around the tree trunks.  Bryant park, which we drove past on our way to our parking garage, is awash in tulips and daffodils. I will most decidely take a walk there tomorrow.