Caught Traveling: Morristown

Monday, November 23, 2015

November 2nd A couple of days in NYC.

We had to make sure while we were out here, that we got some time in New York. There were a few specific things we wanted to make sure we did or saw. In the two days we did some of them and put the rest back on the list for the next time we come out east. In the morning, we drove to Morristown and caught the train to New York.

We bought into a tour package to take a couple of the different tours to see parts of the city we hadn't seen. On that first day, we toured lower Manhattan, took the bay tour, and the Brooklyn tour.

I found this trip different than last time, not only because we had a better idea of what we were doing, but because we are better plugged into trying the more local varieties of food. Of course, just driving around town on the busses there are so many great buildings and I love how old and new mix together. Parts of the town are so designated as historic and no new buildings can be constructed there though you can still see newer buildings in the skyline. We took the tour bus down to the Battery and boarded a boat to go from the dock in the lower end, around to the Hudson River that gave us a view of New Jersey and the after a short dock, up to the upper side before going back around to the East River and docking in Brooklyn. We got off there and looked around a bit. We stopped into a small pizza restaurant where we had an incredible lunch that included two local Brooklyn brewed beers, and a charming conversation wit a couple of young tourists from the U.K.

From there, we boarded the Brooklyn tour bus that took us around Brooklyn, and past the Brooklyn Zoo before going across the Brooklyn Bridge, (the only bridge that allows foot traffic) back to Manhattan. We spent the evening walking around and found the only Scottish Pub in Manhattan. What I found interesting, was that in the Irish and Scottish pubs, the customers are primarily from that region. In other places, though it is an Irish theme, the customers are just the same ethnic mix as the surrounding town.

Since all the pictures people take in NYC look the same, I'm trying to post more unusual pictures or pictures of details not usually show.

The Flatiron Building

Little gargoyle

Originally, subway entrances like this one were in the middle of blocks. Now they are on street corners. This is one of the few originals left.

Underside of the elevated highway known as the FDR

The three east river bridges, BMW. Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg

Jersey from the Hudson

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan bridge and past it, the Williamsburg bridge

Manhattan from Brooklyn

Two locals, War Flag and Brooklyn Brewery

A cute young couple from the U.K. we met and had lunch with in a famous Brooklyn pizza parlour.

Civil war memorial

Inventive parking

Spider

Roosevelt Center

Times Square

Sunday, October 11, 2015

September 29th - Geocaching in Morristown and the Patriot's Path.

Having found out about geocaching, we adopted it as a new hobby. However, we have had mixed results. The first attempt was near our campground, and we never found it. We found one of the two in Long Branch and considered it almost a victory as we think the second was just not there to be found. We spent part of a day in the woods looking for another, but got so very frustrated with the whole thing.

We had decided to spend a day in the Morristown area Geocaching. Laurie found a couple of locations in town near her hospital and then saw there was a large bunch to be found along this wooded running path that has been officially named The Patriot's Path.

We had breakfast at the Morristown Diner. It seems every town and city has a diner named for the town it's in. A passable breakfast and we were on our way.

The first location was down a busy street. The location was in a parking lot behind a bank. This spot was the original location of a farmhouse where a grisly murder had taken place in 1833. In a crook at the bottom of a tree, we found the cache. A small box containing a sign-in log and a few items. We signed the log, took an item, and left a couple of skeleton heads from party necklaces we had bought at a dollar store. Successful, we were embolden to continue.

The second location was at a small park and playground just a block from her hospital. After considering the clues ("Sometimes you just have to sit and think") we began searching. What we found was a small magnetic bolt stuck to a bench. The bolt opens and the sign-in log is rolled up inside. We were started to feel pretty good about our endeavour.

We drove out to the area of the Patriot's Path. The path runs for a couple of miles along a wooded area near a water treatment facility, crossing a couple of streets. It runs alongside a stream. Following cryptic clues and names for each cache we searched and stumbled down the path. We would get to the point of giving up and then suddenly find the thing.

The first one was in a hollow at the base of a tree. I looked at it when we passed, but eventually went back for a closer look when we just couldn't find it. There it was. A small container like we had found behind the back. Basically, a tupperware wrapped in camo duct tape. Log signed, trinket out and skulls in.

The next one we looked for was in a "nine-trunk maple". We looked everywhere for a tree like that, found a couple of candidates, but couldn't find it. We had sort of given up on that when Laurie directed me to a street barricade for the next one. I found a camping matches container inside it. e signed that one and moved on.

The next one was supposed to be in a fence post, and we never found it. We were a little disinhearted and headed back towards where we had parked.

Suddenly, I saw this tree that just had to be the nine-trunk maple. It was so obvious it was just silly. You look and look and look, and just when you are about to give up, boom! There it is.

We were almost done. When we had started, there was supposed to be a cache near the first one we found. It was called "between a ____ and a hard place" On the street at the entrance to the section of the path we had parked by, there were rows of ice chest sized rocks. We thought it might be there. We looked at every rock. following each row. On both sides of the street and one even ran down the street a ways. We once again were about to give up. I took one last walk down the rows, and spied a small rock under a big one. "Naaa, that can't possibly be it" I thought, we would have known. But, I checked it, and it was one of those fake rocks you put in your garden to hide a house key.

So, we found our first two, and then 4 out of five along the path. we were six out of seven for the day. Yeah, it was fun and very encouraging.