Yesterday I took a trip out to Princeton to help my friend Pam with a research project. I've mentioned before that when I go to Princeton, I prefer to take a winding county road, Route 571. It goes through the Pine Barrens a bit before some old farmland before getting out to Princeton. It takes nearly twice as long but it's so pleasant to drive.
Pam needed to interview me for a research project about Harry Potter. It was actually a great conversation. Afterward, we met up with several other Princeton people (mostly seminarians) for lunch. Jeffrey, Emma, Kate, Pam, Andrew and I enjoyed some soup and sandwiches and ridiculous conversation about camp and youth ministry and other silliness. Andrew was telling me about this awesome park in Princeton with dozens and dozens of exotic trees (and natives! and all mapped and labelled!) that he and some of our friends recently went to before ending their adventures at Triumph Brewery. I told him it sounded like the best day ever, and he said, "Funny you should say that..." and then gave me the quote of my life that had apparently come up amongst the boys at the brewery that night--
"If someone ever wanted to wine and dine Colleen, that's probably how they should do that."
Except instead of "wine and dine" it should probably be "tree and beer". And he's absolutely right.
I'm still getting over my cold from last week, otherwise we probably would have gone to Triumph for lunch.
My drive home on 571 was absolutely lovely, winding through Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties. This time I was particularly taken with Roosevelt Township, a homestead resettlement project under the New Deal in 1937. The project failed, but it's a nice small town with a lot of farmland around it, much of which is preserved. It was a beautiful day and a nice drive. I love visiting Princeton.
Showing posts with label Princeton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Princeton. Show all posts
11 March 2012
26 September 2010
being Presbyterian in New Jersey
Sometimes, my awesome adventures get more awesome.
So, after Tuesday's adventure, it was my goal to continue to let life take me cool places, but to maybe keep it under control, at least till my thesis gets done (draft one due in less than a month!). This weekend I had a few outstanding plans: Saturday was babysitting the Z children up at camp, and getting together with some of the Human Ecologists somewhere in between camp and home. Both of those were excellent-- I had little Will attached to my arm for almost the entire afternoon (we go way back) and had a lot of fun playing outside in the beautiful weather before kicking it back and owning at Cranium while eating awesome foods from around the country and world and trying Sangria for the first time at Kristen's house (she rocks).
Today's plans included singing at the early service at my church (in the place of someone who might not have made it due to her imminent grandchild) and then heading out to Allentown to visit with my Malawi teammates and report back to their congregation about our incredible time there this summer. It seemed pretty straightforward and like maybe I wouldn't end up driving off anywhere else. But then I felt the urge to go on facebook while I ate my Cheerios before church and right at the top was my friend Emma: "is being commissioned at Allentown Pres. this morning." Not that New Jersey is huge, but I think being Presbyterian makes it smaller! She was the chaplain at camp this summer. She is from western Pennsylvania, from a town where I chaperoned my church's junior high mission trip last summer-- I have slept on the floor of her high school, I have worked with people from her church, including a guy whose mom used to babysit her and apparently saved her life when she was young, making it possible for me to know her and make all of these connections in the first place! And now, here we were, in Allentown. It was really awesome to see her! We decided lunch was in order, so I figured we'd head over to Hightstown to a diner my cousin brought me to once, because that would put us next to a nice county road that would send her north and west to Princeton Seminary, and me south and east back home.
Except I missed the diner because I was too busy enjoying that part of the state-- very historic, roads are all named for towns (Hightstown-Princeton Road) and taverns (Burnt Tavern) and mills (Browns Mill), interspersed with quite a bit of farmland.
So then I lead her north on CR 571 figuring we'd find something to eat. I just continually missed signs until it was too late. Until we were practically in Princeton. We eventually stopped for Chinese food which we went back and ate in her dorm. It was so so awesome to catch up, a really nice surprise added to an already pretty wonderful morning for me. So cool what a small world we live in, especially when that world is in a small state and we're part of a big community within it.
Goal for the week is actually to do no excessive driving, more specifically, to stay in my town except when I go to school on Tuesday.
So, after Tuesday's adventure, it was my goal to continue to let life take me cool places, but to maybe keep it under control, at least till my thesis gets done (draft one due in less than a month!). This weekend I had a few outstanding plans: Saturday was babysitting the Z children up at camp, and getting together with some of the Human Ecologists somewhere in between camp and home. Both of those were excellent-- I had little Will attached to my arm for almost the entire afternoon (we go way back) and had a lot of fun playing outside in the beautiful weather before kicking it back and owning at Cranium while eating awesome foods from around the country and world and trying Sangria for the first time at Kristen's house (she rocks).
Today's plans included singing at the early service at my church (in the place of someone who might not have made it due to her imminent grandchild) and then heading out to Allentown to visit with my Malawi teammates and report back to their congregation about our incredible time there this summer. It seemed pretty straightforward and like maybe I wouldn't end up driving off anywhere else. But then I felt the urge to go on facebook while I ate my Cheerios before church and right at the top was my friend Emma: "is being commissioned at Allentown Pres. this morning." Not that New Jersey is huge, but I think being Presbyterian makes it smaller! She was the chaplain at camp this summer. She is from western Pennsylvania, from a town where I chaperoned my church's junior high mission trip last summer-- I have slept on the floor of her high school, I have worked with people from her church, including a guy whose mom used to babysit her and apparently saved her life when she was young, making it possible for me to know her and make all of these connections in the first place! And now, here we were, in Allentown. It was really awesome to see her! We decided lunch was in order, so I figured we'd head over to Hightstown to a diner my cousin brought me to once, because that would put us next to a nice county road that would send her north and west to Princeton Seminary, and me south and east back home.
Except I missed the diner because I was too busy enjoying that part of the state-- very historic, roads are all named for towns (Hightstown-Princeton Road) and taverns (Burnt Tavern) and mills (Browns Mill), interspersed with quite a bit of farmland.
So then I lead her north on CR 571 figuring we'd find something to eat. I just continually missed signs until it was too late. Until we were practically in Princeton. We eventually stopped for Chinese food which we went back and ate in her dorm. It was so so awesome to catch up, a really nice surprise added to an already pretty wonderful morning for me. So cool what a small world we live in, especially when that world is in a small state and we're part of a big community within it.
Goal for the week is actually to do no excessive driving, more specifically, to stay in my town except when I go to school on Tuesday.
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