Day 8: The Garden State

7 days into the road trip, and the time is flying by.  I really can't believe that it's been a week....

Slept pretty well at the Sheraton, but I think that I had 4 separate, detailed dreams -- all of them incorporating the ice machine (just outside my door).  I checked out and headed down to the waterfront.  I had looked at the inner harbor online the night before, and it seemed like lots of parking around that area, and right near the Visitor Center, etc.  I really just wanted to wander around a little bit, and the one destination I had was a store called "The Best of Baltimore" which was supposed to have items from Charm City Cakes.  [All of you Food Network fans with me????]  I had thought about driving to the actual bakery, but as their website is emphatic on the subject of "you can't come in", "the windows are covered and you can't see in", etc. I decided that I would simply pick up a few Charm City related items.

I was able to park right next to the visitor center, but I quickly regretted moving my car at all (versus leaving everything at the hotel), as it cost me $10 to park for less than an hour.  Constant re-emphasizing to me of all the reasons I don't want to live in a super-size city.  Medium-size is PERFECT for me!

I found the store, and the very limited selection of Charm City items.  I didn't buy any of that at all, but did pick up a few things including a Baltimore Christmas ornament.  Something I started doing years ago when I was traveling a lot, and getting tired of t-shirts and sweatshirts.  Now, it's really fun to decorate the Christmas tree and remember all the places I've been and all the great times/stories.  [Oh, and sometimes I buy jewelry when I travel too!  ;-)  ]

Leaving the city, I drove past Camden Yards, where both the Orioles and Ravens have their fields.  And then a HUGE flyover ramp to get onto I-95 north.  [I was thinking that Tiff would have seen that coming up on her right and had to have found SOME way to get around/past it and into NY a totally different route!]  Along the MD portion of 95N were many "Service Centers" which were like what I've been through in/out of Chicago where you find gas and food and tourist information in one center accessible from both north and south of that particular interstate.  However, something I thought was totally different was the fact that they also seemed to have real "service" centers, like auto repair shops.  Tires, oil changes, repair bays, etc.  Pretty sweet, but, of course, also very crowded.

[And, oh by the way, why again did I pick the month of August for a road trip??????  It's hot, hot, hot no matter where I go -- at least so far -- and it's crowded.  EVERYONE is traveling too.  Shouldn't all those kids be in school???  And all those adults be working????]

Something else I quickly noticed were unmarked police vehicles.  And, yes, I only knew what they were because they had cars pulled over about every mile for the first hour or so of my trip.  Mostly Ford Explorers, but really a mix of a lot of types of cars.  Must be more cautious.  :-)

I haven't carried a whole lot of cash with me so far on this trip, and haven't really needed it thanks to gift cards, generous friends, and my own credit cards.  :-)  And I start hitting tolls.  The first one is $2.  "okay, I think, I've got about $10, I should be fine."  The next toll is $4, then $5.  Really????  I dig in my console for the quarters I keep there for parking meters.  Hmmmmm.....  So the next exit I see with any type of convenience store, I pull over to get some cash from the ATM.  [by the end of this leg of the trip, almost $20 in tolls, and they certainly aren't spending it on the roads!]

I pass signs for Aberdeen Proving Ground and then the Decoy Museum.  [In conversation with Lisa later that night, we discussed whether this meant it was a fake museum designed to lure people away from the real museum (e.g. a "decoy") or if it was a museum full of wooden ducks.  Turns out the latter.  Apparently, there are a lot of people interested in the history of wooden duck decoys in the Chesapeake Bay Area, and the sport of "waterfowling" in general.]

I knew that I had crossed the Jersey state line when I passed a white Cadillac on the shoulder -- all tricked out in gold detailing -- with a man standing behind it wearing black socks and white loafers, with black knit shorts, and a red.velour.sleeveless.vest!  zipped halfway up and covering about 1/3 of his stomach.  Lovely!  Oh, and gold chains, and a huge watch.  So.... if I had been asked for a description of the man, that's all I could have told anyone.  No idea roughly how old, or what he looked like, any facial hair or whatever.  In that brief moment of me passing him I was able to completely absorb the outfit, but nothing about him.  I would have been no help to the police if they needed me!  :-)

Throughout this whole road trip, I've got some rough idea of where I am and where I'm heading from Google Maps, but I'm really relying on Garmin for the tactical day-to-day driving.  And Garmin decides that I should approach Wayne, NJ via what Lisa affectionately calls "the "A$$-crack of NJ".  I will say that I have to agree with her.  At one point, I had to text her to tell her that I was on Main Street (of Paterson, NJ) and that Garmin said I was only 4 minutes from her house, and I was scared for her......  Turns out that she lives in a very nice part of the state, and has just bought a home in another very nice part of the state.  Whew!

And when Garmin said "Arriving at Destination", I was actually in front of a hockey arena.  Huh???  I followed the road up and around the arena, and the Residence Inn was behind it.  Okay.  [she's in temporary housing until she closes on and moves into her house.]

Lisa had left me a key, so I went on in and got caught up on email and daytime TV.  She arrived home with mini bottles of wine (as per the day she had!),  and we chatted for a while before deciding on dinner at The Office.  Not the sitcom, but the sportsbar in Ridgeway.  [which is actually a very nice part of NJ also -- kinda like Oakwood.]

We found seats at the bar just in time for kickoff of the Giants/Jets game, so yes, we pretty much had front-row seats for the gouge to Eli Manning's head.  Ick!  We started with parmesean and truffle chips, then I had a lobster roll (Yay!) and sweet potato fries!  More conversation -- did you know that property taxes in NJ are 12.5%????? -- and then back to the Residence for a final round of chatting then bed.

Lisa needed to get up early, but my brain wasn't quite ready to shut down, so I finished a book I was reading "Think Twice" (pretty good) and then turned off the light around 1am.  Again, the witching hour!