Fall Odyssey 2006
September 29, 2006--Lawrenceville, NJ to Farmingdale, NJ (181 mi)

I woke up this fine overcast Friday morning in New Jersey at 9:30am--bit of a sleep in today. I caught up on my email at the hotel and didn't get out for the day until 11:15am. I drove 40 miles back into downtown Philadelphia, PA in time for noon bells. I was excited about touring Philly for the first time ever. Afterall, it was hometown to Benjamin Franklin, Rocky Balboa, Bobby Clarke and his amazing 1970's Flyers. Not bad for starters.

I parked in a garage near Independence Hall and then made a bee line straight to the historical building. You actually have to reserve a time to tour the grounds there so I bought a ticket and then spent the hour wait at other interesting spots. The skies had cleared up to form a perfectly crisp blue canopy for my little tour.

The Independence Hall tour was cool. I just love American history, and this was where a lot of very significant stuff happened. Above are views of the Hall's exterior, and below is a shot I took inside where the Continental Congress was held back in the 1770's--this was taken from General Washington's vantage point in the room (his table being the one front & center in my photo). It was here that Congress appointed Washington to be the Commander-in-Chief of the American Army (as it were at the time) in 1775.

Besides Independence Hall, I toured a few other historical district gems such as the Betsy Ross House, the Christ Church Burial Grounds, and of course the Liberty Bell Center. But before I got to all of that I made sure to stop for a "dog" at a street vendor (see photo below).
Here's a shot of the Christ Church Burial Grounds right there smack in the middle of the big city. The headstones here are really, really old. Even Benjamin Franklin and his wife are buried here under a very plain marble slab (see photo below) onto which it is considered good luck to toss a penny. I didn't toss coins though--I didn't want to risk pissing off Franklin or anything.


When I first walked by the Liberty Bell Center at noon there were maybe 100 people jammed up in a huge line up. When I came back later on after seeing Independence Hall I waltzed right on in to see the Bell without waiting at all. It's all in the timing--that Philadelphia hot dog was calling my name anyway. I spent maybe a total of 10 minutes checking out the Bell. Yep, there it is. Snap a few shots, and off I went. The photo (below) of the Bell has the Independence Hall in the background--making for an extra cool photo op.

So I drove 80 miles round trip to get to Philly and I only stayed for 2-1/2 hours. THAT's how bad I wanted to see the place. I really would have stayed longer, but I decided that Philly will be one of those towns that I fly to later on and give it its' proper due--probably take in a Flyers game while I'm at it.

My goal was to head to the Jersey shore, so I plotted a course across the Garden State going from Trenton to Ocean Grove, NJ. But first I stopped in to get my hair cut near the snooty town of Princeton, NJ at 3:30pm. Afterwards I stopped in at the Quaker Bridge Mall and bought a few pairs of pants. My old jeans were worn to tatters and I was looking like more of a bum than I usually do. I had a spaghetti & meatball dinner at a place called The American Cafe before I headed back out on the open road. While I was walking back to my car in the mall parking lot I came upon a little black car that had the most incredible collection of bumper stickers. I snapped a few shots of it (below). My favorite sticker spirited the slogan: "Are you stalking me? 'Cause that would be super".
As I drove toward the Altantic coast in the darkness I called up my friend Julia to get directions to a hotel for the night--she was my personal-remote GPS assistant for the evening. Julia steered me to an Econolodge in the village of Farmingdale, New Jersey which is 10 miles inland from the coastline. I checked in at 11pm and then I went back to a roadhouse called Mulligan's Grill that I passed coming in on the backroads. There was a great little trio rock band playing there that night called "American Hawk". The Hawk were great! I stayed for the final 2 sets of the evening. These guys were the consumate pros--great players and great rock vocalists in general. I really enjoyed catching their low key show in what I considered "the middle of nowhere". I spoke with the Hawks themselves during their break. I spoke with their drummer first. He introduced himself to me as "Ought". I had to ask him 3 times to clarify his name because I've never known the name "Ought". Ought clarified that his name is spelled: A-R-T at which point I remembered that I had driven soooo faaaaar in the previous 11 days that I was now in the land of the HEAVY eastern seaboard accents. I enjoyed talking with Art and his bandmates about music and travels. I fully intend to see these guys in concert again some day. They were even nice enough to shout out good-bye to me as I left Mulligan's at 1am. What a fun day!