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September 3, 2000 Saturday jaunt It was sort of a hot muggy day here in South Jersey yesterday. I left here around 1:30 pm and heading to Vel's. The traffic was sort of heavy so it took me at least a half hour to get there. We didn't leave right away as we got to playing with the new camera and trying to figure out how it works. Still learning. We did print out some instructions that Di had sent so the helped a lot. Of course Vel and I both are not too swift when it comes to understanding these new digital cameras. Gosh I"m still learning about the vcr. lol. Anyway after an hour or so we decided to get out of the house. Had no plans (so what else is new) so we headed north. on the back roads. We went on through Bargaintown pass the lake, saw my sil crossing the street with his fishing pole. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by trees. When we were young used to go ice skating there always have a fire going to roast marshmallows. We continued on through a lot of wooded areas and some quaint little towns and finally decided to go to Tuckerton, This is really an old town, settled back in the late 1600's. In fact the Leni Lenape Indians lived there in the summer. There is lots of fishing and it is situated on the Barnegat Bay. We took route 9 from New Gretna to Tuckerton. This is really a quaint area. The town itself is filled with old homes and tree lined streets. The main highway runs past a large lake that is now filled with lilly pads. At one time it was a nice swimming area but not anymore. They are trying to get funds in order to clean it up. There is a nice park for the children and several tennis courts on the left hand side of the street leading into the park and the lake. It really is very picturesque when you look beyond the lake it is surrounded by trees. very pretty. On down the road is the new seaport they are building. We drove in and parked the car in a nice parking area., walked across the street to the entrance of the walkway, an all new boardwalk that extends out and around this large canal that now has boat docks and they are planning to build shops all around this area, We are standing on a cement patio with small trees surrounded with pretty flowers at the base. There are quite a few planted in different areas and some benches placed facing the water, To the right is a new restaurant with outside picnic areas but it was already closed, It looks very inviting and I just know we will have lunch there before the winter. To the left of the patio is a gift shop. These buildings are all new and have a natural color siding. In front of us is a desk type stand with a map of the area enclosed in glass. It gives you an idea of what you are looking at as you look out over the water. Right down in the front of us is a house boat, If you want to see it, we took a picture and i have it in our album. Unfortunately the album site failed in business. As we look to the left beyond the gift shop you can see the refurbished lighthouse which is now a tourist attraction. At one time Tuckerton was a seaport and shipbuilding town, but over the years it just decayed and became run down. but with all of this new building going on and rebuilding of the whole town it looks like it will once again be a thriving community. We spent some time looking around and then drove over to the other side of the canal and you can see where the water leads out to the Barnaget Bay and then into the Atlantic Ocean. There is still a lot of fishing and claming done in this area. We saw a lot of boats, but mostly pleasure boats. Well we had enough of sightseeing so we decided to head back. We just talked about the camera and wishing we knew more about it, but we did manage to get a few pictures. On the way home we were trying to think where to have dinner, when Vel mentioned Oyster Creek Inn. Now this is some place to see, you have to drive about 3 miles on a bumpy road through a lot of meadows and little run down houses. It is sort of interesting because you will see so many different kinds of wildlife out there. Ducks, cranes, blue herring and all different species. We are not birdwatchers but I am sure it would be interesting if you are. Now this restaurant used to be a place where boats would bring in their catch and it is very weather beaten and oh so old, but the food is fabulous and it is always crowded, we wonder where all of the people come from. A lot of NY, Pa, Md, and NJ tags on the cars, Must have been several hundred cars parked all over the place, There is a ramp in the front and side and both lead to a deck, One is enclosed with a bar and picnic benches, and nice loud music, just what we want with dinner. but there is another entrance also leads into a large room with tables and another bar. This is where you sit and kill time waiting to be called when your name comes up. We had a 20 min. wait. Lucky us, we got a table by a window. Nothing fancy here, just tables with vinyl checkered tablecloths, wooden chairs, old wood floors and the usual decor of a fisherman's wharf. We had a seafood combination, it was delicious, flounder, scallops, stuffed shrimp, and a deviled clam. oh and of course a marguarita. After dinner we headed home to look at the pics we took and we sent them out to the kids and some of our friends. It was sort of a quiet day but we did have a good time, I forget to tell you about
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