How Do You Get Around...
...or something like that is the Blogstalking Week 3 theme. I'll admit I'm only paying half attention lately.
I drive a Buick Century. The median age of a Buick owner is 65. I'm doing my best to drive down the median (age).
She almost belongs to me. Although back in March I tried getting the title transferred from a Michigan one to a New Jersey one and I've never seen it again. I'll worry about that when I pay it off next year six months early! (Hooray for paying $20 extra a month--well except during Sucky September!)
Anyway, that's how I get around. But what is more interesting is "around."
Here's the thing about New Jersey: Unless you're willing to shell out $5 a day (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration) to drive the GSP or Turnpike (depending on where you're at) there are no straight shots to anywhere.
Back in Lansing I could get on I-96, I-69, or I-496. In San Antonio, I could hop on one of the various loops around town. Hell, even in Ft. Collins we'd hop on I-25 to go anywhere. There ARE no real interstates in New Jersey. Unless you count the Turnpike which is technically I-95.
The traffic on the GSP and Turnpike sucks just as hard as all the non-straight shot roads, so why the hell would I pay the damn state to drive on them???
As a result, I think I must have the most amount of cities that I drive through to and from work.
We'll start off when I leave work at 5:00 p.m. from Livingston.
Then I have to drive through Roseland.
Then I mosey through West Orange, home of the $300 sack of wet grass clippings in the road that ruin your brakes and Thomas Edison at one point in his life.
Then I clip Verona, just a tad.
After that, it's through Montclair I go.
Again, I just snip through a small portion of Glen Ridge--home of some of New Jersey's Whitest People living in their million dollar homes.
Finally I hit my town of Bloomfield.
I'm including this one because it shows Holsten's Ice Cream Parlor where they filmed one of the last episodes of The Sopranos. It's like the veeeerrrry last storefront down the street.
Oh but wait--I can't go home! I still have to go pick up Chunky!
So it's over the Garden State Parkway.
Down Route 3 which will take you directly into Manhattan. If you look closely, you can see the skyscrapers in the distance.
Then it's into Clifton to pickup Chunky.
Instead of going home via Route 3 the opposite direction, we go home the back way and cut through Nutley.
And then we're home at 6:00 p.m.!!!
That's what, eight damn cities I have to drive through TWICE a day? Gah. New Jersey knows how to suck the fun out of driving.
Cheer up Chunky! We're finally home!!!
I drive a Buick Century. The median age of a Buick owner is 65. I'm doing my best to drive down the median (age).
She almost belongs to me. Although back in March I tried getting the title transferred from a Michigan one to a New Jersey one and I've never seen it again. I'll worry about that when I pay it off next year six months early! (Hooray for paying $20 extra a month--well except during Sucky September!)
Anyway, that's how I get around. But what is more interesting is "around."
Here's the thing about New Jersey: Unless you're willing to shell out $5 a day (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration) to drive the GSP or Turnpike (depending on where you're at) there are no straight shots to anywhere.
Back in Lansing I could get on I-96, I-69, or I-496. In San Antonio, I could hop on one of the various loops around town. Hell, even in Ft. Collins we'd hop on I-25 to go anywhere. There ARE no real interstates in New Jersey. Unless you count the Turnpike which is technically I-95.
The traffic on the GSP and Turnpike sucks just as hard as all the non-straight shot roads, so why the hell would I pay the damn state to drive on them???
As a result, I think I must have the most amount of cities that I drive through to and from work.
We'll start off when I leave work at 5:00 p.m. from Livingston.
Then I have to drive through Roseland.
Then I mosey through West Orange, home of the $300 sack of wet grass clippings in the road that ruin your brakes and Thomas Edison at one point in his life.
Then I clip Verona, just a tad.
After that, it's through Montclair I go.
Again, I just snip through a small portion of Glen Ridge--home of some of New Jersey's Whitest People living in their million dollar homes.
Finally I hit my town of Bloomfield.
I'm including this one because it shows Holsten's Ice Cream Parlor where they filmed one of the last episodes of The Sopranos. It's like the veeeerrrry last storefront down the street.
Oh but wait--I can't go home! I still have to go pick up Chunky!
So it's over the Garden State Parkway.
Down Route 3 which will take you directly into Manhattan. If you look closely, you can see the skyscrapers in the distance.
Then it's into Clifton to pickup Chunky.
Instead of going home via Route 3 the opposite direction, we go home the back way and cut through Nutley.
And then we're home at 6:00 p.m.!!!
That's what, eight damn cities I have to drive through TWICE a day? Gah. New Jersey knows how to suck the fun out of driving.
Cheer up Chunky! We're finally home!!!
Labels: Blogstalking, New Jersey
posted by Bezzie at 5:12 PM
35 Comments:
Whoa, you totally win for Most Convoluted Route to Work Ever! And aw, Chunky!! That's the first picture of him I've seen where he's looked so little!
If I were Chunky, I'd need Dramamine.
Give that kid some needles. When I lived on the Navajo Res, I had to take my 95 Pathfinder (which I still drive when Im not doing the mom van thing) and when I went to Tribal gov meetings, I 4 wheeled it past a certain mile marker, around a rock shaped like a bell, through a cow grate thingy, left at the cactus that has 4 arms...well you get the idea...
Holy hell honey, that's quite a drive. I will never complain about my 3 mile drive to work again.
OMG, those are my roads. I sometimes do that drive through Livingston, than Roseland, than to Caldwell. I know those photos!
That's a lotta towns. I thought my drive to work through 31 lights in 4 miles was bad.
-T.
Bezzie, your posts crack me up! I'm amazed you drive through all of that within an hr. Seriously what speed limit are you going? For all the local driving you're doing it should be 25/30 I'm guessing. Something tells me you're going a little faster, ha. Ok so I drive a Hyndai Hatchback, and has $20 extra really allowed you to pay off 6 months sooner? If so, I'm totally jumping on that bandwagon. Rosi suggested that I send the finance company a separate check that specefically says for principal when my finances allowed it. I so plan on doing that when my financed allow.
Necia
My first boyfriend was from Montclair. I visited there briefly in the summer of 1980. Pretty town.
That's a lot of piddling around though. When I visited my BIL and his wife in Summit (rich white people alert!) I was startled at how long it took to get to places that looked close on the map. You really can't get there from here in NJ.
How did you have a post about driving in NJ without mentioning the damn jug handles? The thing I hate most about jersey is how you have to make a right to make a left? WTF??
Hahahaha I know all dem places - woot
And - I don't miss that effing drive either --- 150 miles a day was the minimum before... I worked in Garwood, Paterson, Totowa, Paramus, Short Hills, The Brunswicks, lived off exit 100 on the GSP or 7A of the NJTP...
*faints*
Bummer. That's quite the commute!
I do pay some tolls (less than $2 per day which still adds up) and I hit three highways. Gosh if I counted the towns/cities I went through along the way...that would be a list! I always envy those that have jobs up the street from their homes. Must be nice!
Yikes girl!! I live and commute in only 1 town but it used to take me an hour like you just to get downtown to get the kids. All those towns/cities..geesh! I'd be using the crockpot a lot!!
Wow! Its like I just rode home with Bezzie and did the carpool thing! And visited 8 New Jersey cities (and saw some skyscrapers too!). Great post!
That is just nutley! Hee hee
Kay
It could be argued that New Jersey sucks the fun out of life. ;)
You make me (not) long for the old days!
Yikes! I'm struggling with this week's theme. I only work 0.4 miles from my office and due to wanting to maintain my privacy about where I live and where I work I am loathe to put any pictures up. I'm still waiting for creativity to smack me upside the head.
I hate those NJ jughandles as well. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get used to them when we move. Some of those towns look really pretty...Will have to put them on the list of "to check out for house hunting". :)
Now y'all know why it takes for-freeking-evah to get anywhere in NJ.
Starfish - I was hit by a car trying to make a left across 2 lanes of traffic (yup, here in NJ) and after that, jug handles make so much more sense.
You haven't been to Bernardsville, or parts of Bedminster or Basking Ridge - talk about mansions and showy displays of excess. The Whitest of the White.
We should take the FUG to Bernardsville!!!!!
Wow - that is a long, twisted route. My daughter lives only a few miles from me but it takes a solid 20-25 minutes to get there because of having to drive around Lake Minnetonka! That pesky lake gets in the way so often. At least your ds doesn't have to travel very far with you.
South Jersey is not much better, although we do have more free roads. I went to Montclair State (when it was still a college) and I am very familiar with all those towns and that road looks very familiar....I have a 5 mile commute into Phila every day. I live 2 miles from the train and it costs 5 dollars round trip so I hop on Patco across the Ben Franklin Bridge and walk a block to work. It gives me a half hour knitting time and I don't have to sit in traffic. I have been doing this for 13 years. Don' remember what if feels like to drive to work anymore. And I don't miss it.
New Jersey drivers coined that adage, "Nah, you can't get there from here!"
I remember it well, driving around in circles.
I hate to drive, especially in traffic and through traffic lights, which is why I'm glad to be working from home :). Of course my homeschooled kids have classes in Gorham, and to get there we go through Saco, Scarborough, a smidge of Buxton, West Buxton, and finally into Gorham. I can't complain, though, because in the twelve miles I have to go, there are four traffic lights, and one of them is a blinking stop ;)
What a drive!!!
Chunky, par usual, is adorable!!
Holy meanderings, Batman!
Hehe, the look on Chunky's face cracks me up. I used to make that face too when I was commuting.
I know that route. I worked in Roseland and live in Rutherford. I too hated paying to drive on those roads (only to sit in traffic anyway)!. I used to use Rte 23 to Ridge to Rte 3 - a lot fewer lights thay way. Do you use the Costco in Clifton?
Ok, you're making me really miss the Garden State. My sister went to Montclair College for her first two years.
Oh, and consider yourself tagged:
http://rebel-workinprogress.blogspot.com/2007/10/tagged.html
Aw Chunky - what a face! DD is VERY jealous though - you can see Manhatten ;-)
NUTLEY! Haha. I've never been to Nutley, but it seems to come up in conversation every once in a while. Not sure why, perhaps it's the name?
And you definitely win for most towns to drive through. My most ever was five.
Nutley, heh heh.
Whew! That wore me out and I haven't left my desk.
Everyday? Twice a day?
Yikes!!!
I go 4 blocks to my kid's school and back. I might be locked in an asylum if I had your route everyday...
You saw a glimpse of my commute so I won't comment. (Except are the freeway is, well, free.)
Wow. That's quite a trek. I used to shell out $4 a day to go to work down the Mass Pike. It sucked. But traffic going the roundabout was was worse - especially when a Sox game was on!
So, I resigned myself to paying for it.
Dang.
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