Avenel

Church visit of the week: First Presbyterian Church of Avenel, where my friend Jason is the pastor. He was the chaplain at camp in 2007. I ran into him randomly at Princeton Seminary while I was hanging out there one day with a bunch of camp friends (he was there for a meeting), I asked if I could visit his church, and he said yes. Done and done!

So today was the day. I didn't really experience holiday traffic given the times and directions I was driving, thank goodness. Jason's church was one of the smallest I visited, but as always, I enjoyed it. Worship was a very comfortable combination of traditional and contemporary, and I really like Jason's leadership and style of preaching.

I wasn't sure what to expect of Avenel. It's just up the road from where I lived while attending Rutgers, and I spend enough time in the Edison area visiting friends. I wasn't sure if it would bear stronger resemblance to the suburbia of Edison or the more post(ish)-industrial areas to the northeast-- Rahway, Elizabeth. Along Route 1 it looked to be more like the more manufactury areas, but as soon as I exited into Avenel, it struck me as pretty pleasant. The church itself was a more modern building than I've seen this winter and spring. I suspected that the sanctuary was built in the 60s or 70s, and upon looking it up on their website, it seems I was right-- dedicated in late 1965. Very kind of oddly-shaped, open sanctuary with some pews that looked like people in the past might envision furniture of the future. It was different and I kinda liked it.

Of course, I was just thrilled to be visiting an old friend and a new town.

Mercer County

Today, for camp, I ran a little experiment in marketing. I read in a marketing blog somewhere a suggestion to have a camp information table in farm markets, under the idea that the same people who find the physical and community wellness of a farm market attractive, would find the spiritual wellness and community of a camp to be likewise. I emailed all of the farm markets in NJ last month, and Trenton was the first one to write back.

My drive to Trenton was not uninteresting. Last night, I mentioned to a few friends here at camp that I planned to take the now infamous Route 206 straight there. They made attempts to talk me out of it, suggesting that Route 31 was the better way. Route 31 has been exhausting me lately-- I don't know why it feels way longer than it is. It's all sorts of windy with intermittent traffic lights, just like 206. But I decided I'd give it a try, and took one route one way and one the other. Both were during rush hour. Result: I stand by my initial decision to take 206, and would again in the future.

As for the success of sitting in the farm market... not so much. At least, not as much as I'd hoped. I spoke with a few families, but it seems that between it leading up to a holiday weekend and the fact that this market is open year round, seven days a week, it just wasn't a particularly busy day. I enjoyed sitting amongst farm stands with fresh, ripe strawberries and beautiful flowers. I spoke with some older folks who had neat memories of the area. The farm market we were standing in used to be a brick yard. The roads used to be fewer and further between. Of course. But I always enjoy hearing stories.

The other delightful part was when my friends Kate and Pam showed up to say hello. I'd had my boss post on camp's facebook page that I was in the market and people should come by. They were bored in Princeton so they did! I kind of love love love the extended community of Johnsonburg-- there are really just wonderful people from that family all over the place. It was really nice to see them both, and after I was done at the market, we drove up 206 for a few minutes to stop at this lovely cafe in Lawrenceville, the Fedora Cafe. Oh my gosh go there sometime!

from http://fedoracafe.webs.com/cafepics.htm

I actually had a chai milkshake, which was pretty excellent, but I had a bite of Pam's amazing raspberry brownie, too. The place was really cozy, not in that it was super small, but in that there were these sweet couch/bench seats in a window that we sat in, with cushions everywhere. Apparently the place doesn't have wifi, so Kate said that it's her favorite place to go read/study when she needs to free herself from distraction but not feel like she's just sitting alone at home. The decorations were fun and the staff was good. Go there. Awesome. And I'm just so happy that I got to see those sweet ladies today and make such a nice pit stop before driving back to camp. Mercer County played a great host today.

je ne sais PA

Busy weekend. Lotta driving.

Part 1: camp to Bethlehem, PA: My good old friend Tim got married to a really cool girl this weekend, and I was honored to be there. The drive wasn't too long or too bad, although despite my several years behind the wheel of a stick shift vehicle, I still struggle not to cry or barf or die when I come upon a large, steep hill that I have never come to before. Well, apparently Bethlehem is hilly. It wasn't too bad for the most part except for one hill at a stop light. I did make it without stalling though.

The wedding took place in a beautiful historic church in a very beautiful historic part of town. I found Bethlehem to be a really nice mix of post-industrial city and gorgeous old town. Really old brick and stone buildings that have been kept up very well with old steel mills in the distance. And hills. Plenty of those. And a fun wedding!


Tree of the day: the tulip poplar that I stood under as I took this in front of the church

Part 2: Bethlehem to my big brother's place: This drive was boring, but let's talk about where my brother lives. I was initially frustrated by a very long road without any house numbers (my first time to his new place), but I found it and enjoyed a pleasant evening out with some friends and then back home on the back deck enjoying the fresh smells of lots of plants. What I would find the next morning was an incredible yard with many lovely trees and flowers.

Tree of the day here: Honeysuckle tree. I've only ever seen honeysuckle as a bush but my nose was extremely happy to find this tree. Also, driving out of his town, I found it to be full of historic farms and beautiful stone walls and old houses. Quite nice.

Part 3: Philadelphia area to Haddonfield, NJ: I took many small roads from my brother's place to get back to I-76 and New Jersey, ending up on a tiny side street that reminded me of Pittsburgh given the extreme incline. I was thankful it was early in the morning and there weren't many people around to A) stop me on one of those intense hills or B) witness the terrified look on my face as I made it over each one (successfully, thank you). It wasn't a bad drive, and I was amused by the narrow and steep roads leading me into Philly to pick up the interstate. The rest of the drive was boring major roads, till I got to Haddonfield, where this weekend's church visit was.

Haddonfield surprised me. I expected some kind of suburbia (outside of Cherry Hill, Camden, Philly) but not what I found. The church I visited, First Presbyterian, was very beautiful and very old. And huge! Stairs and doors everywhere. I was so lost. The sanctuary itself was more of an ampitheater, and an older woman sitting behind me told me the windows were Tiffany's. Yikes. It was quite lovely. I had a nice visit.

Part 4: Haddonfield back to camp: Leaving town, I was in the mood for a bagel, but let me tell you there are no bagel shops on the right side of the road between Haddonfield and camp. I drove down the main avenue and enjoyed all of the little shops all close together, a nice walkable area with obviously huge and old houses on the fringe. I took I-295 to Route 31, which was more boring than I remember. And I was exhausted at this point, so it felt like it took seven years to drive back to camp, even though there were no traffic issues. The one bagel shop I found on the right was closed. Lame.

But, another weekend with a lot of driving and a lot of sightseeing. Not sightseeing like my Grandma calls it (aka being lost), but just seeing new and different places, which I obviously always enjoy.

This Sunday's trail:


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This week's visit was to Morris Plains, located near all sorts of great historical sites. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around the area and see what I could see, as I needed to get home for my choir concert (which was not so unfortunate, in fact, I had a great time singing). I took a pretty boring route on the way up, but followed Route 202, a state road, on my way back south. This put me straight through Morristown, which startled me with its height. It was really only a few hotels and office buildings, but for some reason I didn't expect it. Other than the immediate downtown area, it was a pleasant drive over hilly, curvy roads with old houses and trees.

Tree of the day: the enormous Gingko tree I saw somewhere along 202. I need to go back and find and measure it because I'm a dork. Gingkos are cool. They're "living fossils", meaning that they're practically identical to fossils of the same plant millions of years ago. The specie has hardly changed. Also, I'm a nerd.

not driving to Idaho... this week...

Today I broke 156,000 miles on my car. That's about 7,500 for the year so far and well over 65,000 since I bought my sweet little automobile about four years ago.

This is what I drove over the weekend:

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On Saturday, when I was at camp, I was talking with a few people about how my thesis revisions were going, and some goals I'd set for myself to finish (which I've since renegotiated with myself, thank you). My boss said, "Yeah, but you know you have a friend in Idaho who will call you this week and say, 'Come visit this afternoon!' and you'll be like, 'ok!'" and I said no, I didn't know anyone in Idaho. (Which is only sort of true-- I know Josh Ritter is from Idaho, but he lives in NYC now anyway.)

Anyway, Friday I spent some time attempting said revisions and then floated down to Allentown to help kick off a big event to raise money for VIP's work in Malawi. It was great to see the people I traveled with last summer and to be part of such an exciting thing. Also, because I was driving to camp afterward, it prompted me to try a new route, which ended up adding an extra half hour to my journey because 206 is a very slow, traffic light-ful road through Trenton.

This weekend was Spruce Up Day at Johnsonburg, a good time of fellowship and site preparation. My Sunday morning church visit was to Pluckemin, where one of our board members is currently serving as an interim pastor. It was, as always, a wonderful visit. The church itself is a little more than a century and a half old, a lovely sanctuary that was different from all of the others I've visited in that it had no stained glass. While at first that seemed strange, I realized that I really liked how bright it was as a result of being all regular plain panes.

Pluckemin is a tiny historic town along the now well-traveled Route 206. I had barely touched that road until I began taking it to camp last summer as a short cut between I-287 and I-80. While it's hilly and mostly single lane, it actually cuts a good 20 minutes of the drive from Toms River to camp. Well, since taking this newest position at camp, I have gone up and down 206 several times. I think I've seen all of that road now.

I made it home for Mothers Day and have attempted to take a short respite from crazy marathon driving since then, though I did go to Rutgers today, and will be visiting Morris Plains this Sunday...

Tree of the day: black locust, as found in Arlington National Cemetery on a beautiful walk with my good friends Becky and Roo

Muddy Buddy 2011

Yesterday I ran/biked/accomplished the Muddy Buddy 10k in Richmond! It was really awesome, as it was the two previous years I took part in it with the very awesome Brian Campos. This year the weather was the best of my three years-- cool and clear. It was a bit chilly when we arrived at Pocahontas State Park at 6:15 in the morning, but perfect weather for such athleticism (or attempts thereof).

For those who don't know about this race, one person runs while their partner bikes. There are four transition stations where the biker drops the bike and the runner picks it up and does some obstacle. At the end the partners meet and crawl through a giant mud pit before crossing the finish line. The race happens in several US cities; the one in Richmond is actually half a mile longer than a 10k, but who's counting? I ran first, so I ran three legs (slowly) and biked two.

I was enjoying the sunshine and got into a good groove. I ran, I climbed over a short rock wall, I biked, I crawled through a foggy maze, I ran, and then I started to climb over this inflatable moon bounce-esque obstacle thingy. As I pulled myself up over the first of three inflated walls on this thing, some big guy climbed up next to me and then swung his legs up, swiftly kicking me upside the skull. After hitting the ground and then walking in circles for a few minutes seeing stars, I found our bike and rode quickly through the fourth leg, managing not to fall off the bike or throw up. Man, did my head hurt.

The fourth obstacle was another inflatable thing, a giant wall with a cargo net to climb and a slide. One was set up for the runners, one for the bikers. The one for the runners had popped so the line for the bikers got really long and we were given permission to bypass it. I caught my breath for a minute and then carried on to the fifth leg, running down a hill to the stream crossing.



It wasn't too deep, and wasn't as cold as I expected. Quite refreshing. From there, the end of the race is straight uphill and then around a long curve. I admittedly walked up the hill, but I ran the curve to meet up with Brian, climb one last wall and crawl through the mud pit.





It felt awesome to finish! What a great race.

A little while later was the Mini Muddy Buddy, a chance for kids to do a small obstacle course and then run through the mud. I accompanied Brian's four year old daughter while he attempted to keep up with his seven year old son.



Sure, she didn't really get down IN the mud, but this is a huge improvement over last year when she ran away from anyone with mud on them, crying, "Soap? Soap?" It was so much fun.

The rest of the day was spent showering and relaxing. I eventually met up with friends in Richmond at Capitol Alehouse for dinner before heading back to Northern Virginia to sleep like a champion. Today I drove back to Fredericksburg to visit with my dear undergrad advisor. The only other thing I really did was become familiar with a lot of small muscles that I didn't really know existed, but are sure reminding me of it today. Overall, I feel pretty good though. Another awesome Muddy Buddy, another awesome adventure!