Colleen Makes (the trip to Hamilton), Rush Hour Takes (a long freaking time)

I haven't been sitting still since last I wrote, I promise. I just haven't been moving as far at one time.

Last night I stopped by New Brunswick Presbytery's meeting in Hamilton, which is the homeland of my dear sister-in-law. My boss took one route and I took another to see which was more efficient. He took the same route I took from camp to I-95 last summer for the mission trip, down Route 31 through cornfields and small towns. I took 206 South for a loooooonnnng time. It probably would have been fairly evenly matched but it turns out that it was a terrible rush hour on 206 and I arrived late. Oh well.

I traveled further on 206 than I'd been before. I always like charting new territory. Usually I take that road between 287 and I-80, sometimes maybe a little further north when I'm "going to town" up near camp. Just past where I'd usually reconnect with 287 was the little town of Pluckemin, quite darling. After that, it was just lame rush hour off and apart from the cute sections of the towns I was passing through until I hit Princeton, which is totally lovely. After that it was just a few minutes on a few interstates and state roads till I got to the church.

Hamilton was fine by me. Right off the interstate. Diner. Wawa. The church itself is really pretty, built in the early 1920s. Needed some work, but quite lovely. New Brunswick Presbytery is pretty much the smallest in the state, with less than 50 churches, and many of those churches are really small, too, with less than 100 members. It's interesting because some towns have several Presbyterian churches with low membership, but it seems no one wants to part with their building or pastor to consolidate.

On the way home I took a short jaunt to Trenton to see the Trenton Makes bridge lit up. I can't explain my love for this bridge. It's just one of those random things about New Jersey that I just find absolutely charming. I was also sort of stalling hoping to hear back from a friend who lives nearby, but alas, his phone was on silent and he missed my message. Another time, perhaps. Goodness knows I'll find some reason to end up back in that part of the state before too long, if not just to visit a friend then for something else interesting...