Aussie Navy Wife

Monday, September 5, 2011

Last day of the Jersey trip!

So we head back home today after a fun filled few days. We have decided that rather than take the road all the way, we would take the car on the Cape May Ferry service all for fun!
We packed up the car, fed the kids, stopped for a Coffee for Col and drove about an hour down to Cape May. we stopped at the info centre as we wanted to have a look around the township and also organise the ferry.

They gave us a few maps and we headed for the Cape May lighthouse :) It is a really nice coastal area down here with quite a bit to see and do! We arrive at the car park and see a few wooden platforms. One has telescopes set up and a few people with binoculars on. So we headed over to see what they were looking at!! Turns out this place is the best bird viewing area in the world. You can see thousands of Hawks migrate each year from this platform. Whilst we didnt see the migration we did enjoy watching an Osprey hunt for food. It managed to grab itself a fish from the pond and took off. There were other types of birds around and the boys enjoyed watching them through the telescopes that the bird watching experts had set up. They do daily counts here on the numbers and breeds!

After a while we headed over to the other platform, this was the access to the beach. It looked really nice but we didnt have the time to swim today! there was also the remnants from an old WW11 bunker on the sand. We headed over to the lighthouse but decided not to climb this one. we had a pretty good view of the ocean area from the platform anyway. It was also getting really hot and we wanted to look around the old town mall!

Mitchell took this photo of Mummy and Daddy!!

We drove back to the township and went for a wander around. I loved this area a lot, including the fudge tasting! Lots of shops selling funky things and some great ideas on different clocks, wine racks etc. We discovered a Christmas shop and went in for a look. We ended up buying our first US Chrissy decoration and a funky wine rack to hang on the wall in the bar area at home! The Chrissy dec is a snowman with Cape May on it..............and so begins my next collecting item!! I have decided to try and collect a Chrissy decoration for every place we visit so when we get home we have some awesome memories to hang on our tree! Only problem is I will have to do some online shopping now to buy some from the places we have already been! lol Oh and hubby picked me up another shot glass to add to the collection :)

It was time to head to the ferry terminal and book our trip back across! It cost $55 for all of us including the car, which was great! We went into the terminal and enjoyed a tasty lunch and I popped a couple of seasick tablets (just incase!!) before they called us to drive the cars on. Once parked we got out and went up onto the seating areas. It was quite windy, so the boys all put jumpers on! the cruise across was really nice and just long enough, 80 mins! There was cafe, small arcade room and tvs on....oh and of course a bar! col enjoyed a beer and I resorted to a cup of tea! This part of the trip home was truly the calm before the storm.....a MASSIVE one at that!

We departed of the ferry in Lewes and started driving and within 20 mins we were stuck on a single laned road that resembled more of a car park. At first we thought maybe there was a car accident, but no, it was just holiday traffic. Only problem was we still had over 300kms to go!!! Some parts broke into 2 lanes and the flow went a little better, but then it cut down to one again. It was 4pm when we left the ferry and after a massive storm, heaps of rain and very little visual line markings on the road and finally hitting a 3 laned motorway, we pulled in at home at 10:30pm! Oh and that included one stop at maccas for 'dinner' which was terrible!!

Even with 2 lanes it didnt move much quicker!!

Crossing over a bridge in Maryland, yep it was raining!

And so this brings us to the end of our road trip up to New Jersey! we all had a blast and above all hubby fulfilled his dream :)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

New Jersey ~ Fathers Day & Asbury Park

It is Sunday morning in the States so today we will have our Aussie Fathers Day!!
The kids came in and gave hubby his pressies from them. First was the card with a little note as we ordered him the Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run" music book so he can learn some of his fav songs to play on guitar! Sadly all shops had sold out and the order was not in!
Next pressie was a $100 gift voucher at the music shop in Downtown Fredericksburg so he can learn how to play guitar a 'little' better than he does now!!! lol It is something he has spoken about for so long and being proactive I thought I'd help him along lol!!!

Today is also a special day for Col as today he lives out one of his childhood dreams to visit The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, where Bruce became who he is today.
So we start with a cooked bacon and egg breaky and jump in the car. As noted in my last blog I had a little surprise I had discovered, so although hubby was driving he had no idea of where the navman was taking us! lol As we got closer I started to get excited for him as I knew this would just make his day! Navman voice over states turn right into 10th Avenue....hubby breaks out in song. It is one of Bruces songs!! Still he did not realise why we were driving down 10th Ave and I played dumb when he started singing!! lol by the way 10th Ave is in Belmar, not Asbury park, which helped keep the surprise at bay! We travelled along the Ave a little and then I saw it!!!! Knowing he would have seen it at the same point of time, I say to hubby surprise this is the corner of E street and 10th Avenue and you are about to see an 8 foot replica of Bruces guitar, that has just recently opened as a tribute to him!!! Of course this was THE very place that Bruces band got its name from. The smile on Cols face was priceless!!! He couldnt believe it! So of course we parked the car and had some pics taken! I was so happy for him as the day was even more memorable now :)

We left the guitar and headed for The Stone Pony! It is a bar where many musicians played and still do! The likes of Bon Jovi, who is also a Jersey boy has played there :) There was a group of bikies out the front when we arrived, taking pics etc. One of them had Bruce tunes belting out and again hubby broke out in song!! lol He had a grin from ear to ear and couldnt believe he was actually there! We went inside and it is a pretty amazing bar. Heaps of signed guitars line the walls, newspaper clippings and concert tickets are under the top of the bar, photos etc. There was a nice tribute to Clarence Clements who recently passed away, he was Bruces sax player. We took a heap of photos and some video. Sadly the bar was not open to drink at but the lady letting people in for a look explained that the Wonder bar down the road was open and this was Bruces local, he is often seen there. You can guess where we ended up right! But not before a stroll down Asbury park boardwalk and a bite for lunch!

The stage where it all begun!

Guitar signed (at the bottom) and donated by Bruce :)

"dreams can come true"

The boardwalk was nice, again lots of souvenir shops and the along the beach. You have to pay to use any of the beaches up there. Not sure if it is the same for Virginia. Anyhow its about $6 an adult per day and the locals or regulars to the area can buy a season pass! It is a much nicer beach then Atlantic City and about 20 mins north of where the Jersey Shore show is filmed. There was a little water park and mini golf place. We went into the Paramount theatre building and strolled around there. We found a funky record store. the guy was really nice and chatted to Col about Bruce and music etc. he showed the boys a record player and how it worked.....keeping in mind our children have grown up with cd's! lol So that was really great of him. He also told Col to pop across the road to the Wonder bar as he may see Bruce there!

So over the road we went! Sadly Bruce was not there, but hubby was able to sit and enjoy a beer and be almost as close to Bruce as he could be! We brought a couple of bowls of FRIES ( not chips lol) and chilled there for almost an hour. It was time to pull hubby away as he was not to meet his idol that day!

We went back to the boardwalk and done the other end, tried our luck with icy poles this time, but alas success was again not to be!!!! We stopped "down to the river" (another of Bruces songs and Cols fav) for a couple of quick snaps and then started to head back to the car, which included one last "Bruce Tour" item! The carousel! No longer used as a carousel but a local theatre production place. The Asbury Park journey came to an end and we headed back for the Condo!

The River, one of Bruces songs :)

The carousel

Looking towards Atlantic City, so much prettier from here!!! lol

Hubby writing cute messages in the sand :)

Our night was not to be over as we had a sitter coming over to have the boys for a couple of hours so Col and I could enjoy a kidfree dinner and flutter at the Casino! I was REALLY hesitant leaving the boys with basically a stranger but it all worked out well. Miss Brandy worked at the local information centre and we had met her the day before. Working for the local county, she had been police checked etc. We had all her details and the kids thought she was awesome! She reminded me of Whoopi Goldberg lol We left the boys and went to Trumps Taj Mahal casino. Found a nice restaurant and had a great meal! It was very tasty and not over priced at all :)
Dinner overe we went into the gaming room. We found a pokie machine and put $20 in it, 3 pushes and I managed to have us pull $75 out....happy days! we printed out the ticket and then headed for the black jack tables. Hubby changed up $60 and it was $15 each play. I was getting a little bored so wandered off and put another $20 into a machine.....I was back 5 pushes later with nothing!!! Lucky for us Col had won on a few hands, so all up we cashed in about $160 and came out in front :)
It was nice to have a date night but I was happy to get back and find the boys still in the Condo!! The kids were all still up watching a movie and Miss Brandy loved them to bits! She was so funny telling us about Mitchell.......oh my that baby was gaaaaaaassy, he had so much gas......just like Whoppi in the Ghost movie....HILARIOUS!!