Living in the sleeping bag of New York City…New Jersey, we have been able to visit many places since moving here in August. Like mentioned in my blog, “8 Things I Love About New Jersey,” (click link to see blog) New Jersey is surrounded by many great tourist attractions and we have very easy access by car or train to a variety of places.

So far we have been able to travel out of state to New York City, Dover, Delware, and New Hope, Pennsylvania along with other small towns around our area. I love how much there is to do around where we live. Brent and I love looking places up and seeing what all the area has to offer and then make weekend plans to travel around. We have a few places we want to visit in the near future such as Washington, D.C., Boston, Niagra Falls, and The Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania.

I would like to share with you some of the adventures we have embarked on so far!

New York City

We have been to New York City three times now, Grayson and I. We both had our first train ride experience with my mom, I am thankful she was there to help me on my first run with a baby. When I stepped out of Penn Station and onto the streets of New York I am not going to lie, I was very overwhelmed. The amount of people on the streets and the buildings that stood so tall were all quite crazy. I had always dreamed of visiting the Big Apple, but to be there first hand was so surreal. The first trip to New York we enjoyed lunch with my husband Brent at a little al’ a carte place called Cafe R. They have every food you can think of for a good price. He and his work buddies eat there 3 of the 5 days of the week.  If you are looking for Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, American, Korean and other foods for a reasonable price; so you can spend your money elsewhere in the city, go to Cafe R. We made our way to Times Square and enjoyed going to some of the stores there such as the Hershey’s Store, M & M World and Toys R Us. Brent and I along with Grayson went back to the city on our wedding anniversary, but this time around we took the Subway and traveled down to the Freedom Tower and to see the Statue of Liberty. We got to see the reflection pools where the Twin Towers once stood and even took a tour of the World Trade Center Museum; which I recommend doing. You have to pay to go through, but it is totally worth the goosebumps and chills of seeing artifacts and other things from Sept. 11th. We also went and took a look at the Statue of Liberty. We were going to take a ferry to Ellis Island, but had trouble finding the ferry. That is another thing on our to do list! New York is full of so much to see and do and I still have a long list of things on my bucket list.

 

Dover, Delaware

We were invited by some friends to go to Dover, Delaware for the Nascar Race at Dover International Raceway. Dover was a little over an hour and half from our house, so the drive was not bad. It was pretty hot this day; so we did not end up staying for the race since we also had Grayson, but we did have prerace tickets to visit the track and look around. We walked around to some of the vendors and even got to see Colt Ford play in concert. It was nice to meet up with some old friends who live only a state away in Pennsylvania.

New Hope,  Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey

This weekend we actually had the chance to go to New Hope, Pennsylvania and a walk across the bridge into Lambertville, New Jersey. I think I found my new favorite place to visit! First off it was absolutely beautiful, but there are hundreds of shops to visit. It reminded me a lot of Brown County back in Indiana. The two towns are separated by the Delaware River. We drove from Lambertville over the bridge to New Hope and was able to walk across the bridge to visit either side. My Grandma Sharon was with us and we enjoyed walking and seeing all the shops. I plan to go back and take my mom! They even have a train that will take you around, Grayson however heard the train whistle and immediately was startled and began crying! We loved the scenic view on our way back home. Lots of beautiful trees and homes. I can not wait to go back.

 

We have also enjoyed visiting Terhune Orchard in NJ. A great place to get pumpkins, apples, listen to music, enjoy some food and shop the farm store! This was Grayson’s first trip to the pumpkin patch.

 

Our county park also has a lot of activities throughout the year. We attended Food Truck Fiesta at the Mercer County Park and we enjoyed trying a few different foods from a few different trucks.