Bobzilla wrote: CT was so memorable I already forgot about it. No..... really.
Not surprised. How dumb is Ct? So dumb it didn't pay the 50k to be included in the comprehensive guide for tourists to the Northeast.(handed out free at rest stops, hotels, chamber of commerce, some stores...) But, two towns (tiny towns) over they spent 175K to study the summer traffic patterns into and out of "downtown", which was a one-way street....Contract went to a Boston company.
oldsaw wrote:Bobzilla wrote: CT was so memorable I already forgot about it. No..... really.Even CT has some things worth checking out but it can take some time and effort; just like anything else. Still trying to figure out your choice to subject yourself to the tolls and delays by traversing southern PA and northern NJ. Some places are worth avoiding; now you know why.
Sadly my brother in law lives in North-Central Jersey, wife's cousin in Southeastern PA and we were visiting her high school friend in Northern Jersey. This was a wasted vacation for me personally.... I like going west and seeing REAL mountains. But it kept the wife happy and I got to finally meet my first nephew.
flountown wrote: ...but I agree New Jersey is a terrible place...
Please keep spreading that rumor. We have enough damn people here! Especially all the Bennies down the shore.
Dunkin' Donuts rocks!
And we do have some nice roads in NJ.
The thing that pissed me off about Penn, the limited access toll road had a 55mph speed limit!!!!!
Seriously, what kind of crap is that?
Limited access toll roads in OK are 75mph, and the highway patrol doesn't look your way until 86-87mph.
Penn turnpike is at least 65 now, but the road condition SUCKS. plus it's 2 lanes for the majority of it.
New Jersey I just dislike in general. I get a rude vibe from everywhere I've been there. Again, I'm a midwesterner with manners, so I find the east coast a little hard to take personally. It's just my opinion. The wife still enjoys the east coast, so I sacrifice to make her happy!
Dunkin Donuts around here have really good coffee. And their donuts are awesome.
Pastries on the east coast though..... those are absolutely amazing. Dunkin donuts/KK/whatever have nothing on a NJ eclair.
After taking some of the non toll roads across PA, yeah, it's worth the 3 hours. My wife will say otherwise. But the kids and I, and my BMW enjoyed it immensely.
As for the PA TP speeds, never saw any cops, and did 80mph the whole time I was on there, along with everyone else on the road.
Jersey? Yeah it friggin sucks.
oH, I wasn't driving anything fragile so it can handle the rough roads. Hyundai builds a solid car.
That's good they raised it, this was back in Nov 09. Or maybe only 55 when you got close to towns, but still, limited access.
I picked up an E30 and drove it back from Newark, I already had an OK plate on the car. People in NJ/PA were driving by and giving me really strange looks.
I'm curious if they thought they were going to see a Native American with a mohawk or something.
What I meant about the non-toll roads was that they were awesome twisty roads through the mountains with incredible views....unlike the boring PATP. (look at rt.30 West of Fort Loudon PA) View Larger Map
My wife did not enjoy the mountain roads. I also found it amusing that at the summit of each mountain or hill, there was a tight 90* turn. I can't wait for the next trip to Ohio!
Porky (the Elantra) can handle just about anything you throw at it even with 140k on the clock. THe H&R's with the Tib sway bar handle the curves, the Sonata rotors and tib calipers handle stopping and the torquey Beta engine handles hills and passing. The pioneer stereo keeps the mind from wandering on the boring roads....and as long as you keep it below 77MPH it'll get 35+mpg. Go 78 and you get 29....stoopid horrific Hyundai fuel maps.
But on this trip getting toJersey ASAP was te primary focus on day 1.
triumph5 wrote: Much of the flavor of a DD coffee is dependent on the help. Local one has igniroigds behind the counter. Another one, a bit further, has people who dump the last 1/6th of a pot, and if the pot if more than 3 hours old, dumps it, and makes new. Like any business, the owner can make or break a place with his hiring. Guess which one is always busy. They are about 3/4 a mile apart. Different owners.
^QFT. When you live here long enough, you'll know which ones serve decent coffee and which ones serve flavored sludge.
There is a local shop called Heavn'ly Donuts that I go to. Great coffee. BEST. DONUTS. EVER. DD's and KK's got nothing on Heavn'ly's donuts!
you really should have found time to come south in NJ. Once you get below LBI, things begin to mellow out. Once you get below Atlantic City, things get VERY mellow
personally.. I have been to OK.. drove there from NJ to Ponca City. The southern half of the state is nice.. loved the big resevour with the fossils.. but up in the North East corner..
well, I remember standing on my friend's back porch the day I left and looking out at all the miles and miles and miles and flat scrub brush.. and wondering why ANYBODY would want to willingly live there
The only reason we were in Jersey was for family and friends. Otherwise, we would have spent more time way up north. I am still amazed at the cleanliness and beauty of Maine. Can't wait to explore more.
Plus, I had to get the last 3 states. C'mon... that's one thing off my bucket list done at age 35. All 50 US states I have set foot in.
As a midwesterner myself and have being to MA a couple times, they do have an avid love for Dunkies (as my friends from MA call it ).
The entire road system was created from whatever footpaths were winding through the woods in the 15th century (I have a good sense of direction and I got lost 10 minutes being in the car). Roundabouts, motherberkeleying roundabouts.
The pronunciation of Arby's is enough to make a sane man go crazy (PseudoSport knows what I mean 
)
I hate that I had to pay a deposit on a 20 oz bottle of Coke.
Other than that, beautiful areas scenery, awesome seafood, and an awesome history.
We don't like to talk about Saint Louis so you wont want to know about Saint Louis.
What do you know about Saint Louis?
Nothing, right?
N Sperlo wrote: We don't like to talk about Saint Louis so you wont want to know about Saint Louis. What do you know about Saint Louis? Nothing, right?
Stay away from the East Side?
(According to National Lampoons Vacation)
mad_machine wrote: you really should have found time to come south in NJ. Once you get below LBI, things begin to mellow out. Once you get below Atlantic City, things get VERY mellow
Agree...........
There's a reason NJ is called the Garden State and the southern part is it. Lots less people, rolling hills and plenty of pine trees. I swear it's almost a twin to middle GA in those respects, just a different accent and the summer heat.
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:N Sperlo wrote: We don't like to talk about Saint Louis so you wont want to know about Saint Louis. What do you know about Saint Louis? Nothing, right?Stay away from the East Side? (According to National Lampoons Vacation)
East St. Louis, Il... Kinda a scary place.
SillyImportRacer wrote: Krispy Kream is way better than Dunkin.
+1000000
flountown wrote: Pennsylvanians don't pay that toll because we realize there is more than one road the traverses the state. You realize most commercial GPS systems or Google Maps allows you to avoid tolls...but I agree New Jersey is a terrible place...
Yup, you pretty much got it here. I-80 in PA is gorgeous out west and pretty decent as you approach New Jersey. I-78 is just north of the Turnpike (running parallel) and is beautiful all the way from New Jersey to I-81 where I usually leave it. The turnpike is expensive and rough.
And New Jersey sucks. I live there. I'm moving out of there. They tax the E36 M3 out of you and then they go and do something stupid like put 4-way traffic lights at 3-way intersections. I'm not kidding. Drive through Union City, NJ and you'll see. They have traffic lights that face buildings. No wonder the state doesn't have any money.
93EXCivic wrote:SillyImportRacer wrote: Krispy Kream is way better than Dunkin.+1000000
YES! And one thing that I really admire NYC for... they have one of these wonderful establishments in Penn Station.
First thing I do when I get back to Canada is hit a Tim Horton's.
Germany has great coffee... but they only give you half a cup, and I think the concept of a refill is probably foreign to them. Nein, you philistine.
Cafe Americana in Spain is ambrosia. Really. Even in McDonald's (yep, found one of those in Mallorca).
You have to be a brave soul to drink the coffee in France, it's more badass than Chuck Norris.
New York? Fuggetaboutit. Cripes, I wandered all over Manhattan the week I was there, tried Starbucks (ick-patooey) delis (dishwater) and donut shops (stale). California's hit and miss.
Worst coffee ever is whatever they cram in those hotel tea-bag looking things.
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