Thursday, October 22 New Jersey and Homeward

 Thursday, October 22 - Saturday October 24

41 degrees this morning at 8:15.

We have some cereal and fruit for breakfast and begin the drive, but we're not feeling great, especially Greg.   We stop by the Maurice River Bluffs Preserve (which looked and sounded a lot better in the pictures).

A few minutes later, we pull over and decide to call Scott & Cathy and cancel.  Don't want to take them any germs and we're not improving.  After we explain, they seem a bit relieved as they had just gotten over something themselves and were not ready for round 2.  Very disappointing.

We decide to head west/southwest instead of continuing down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel and that's the last photo taken.

 Lots and lots of traffic as we take the fastest route. Greg is a champion driving across the Delaware Memorial Bridge and then traffic comes to a crawl as we angle past a crash on 66W.  553 miles to I-81 south and we stop at a CrackerBarrel in Troutville, VA.

On Friday, we continue south.  Fall colors are not as vibrant as we'd hoped and Beth falls asleep for a while around Knoxville.  To Chattanooga, Birmingham  and another CrackerBarrel in Meridian, Mississippi where Beth gets takeout Fish 'n' Chips which takes forever but is quite good.  12 charging stations at this Cracker Barrel and 5 are in use.

  There is some discussion about taking I-20 west or dropping down to I-10.  Greg chooses I-10 because it is fastest according to the GPS.   Greg handles the traffic so well while Beth tries not to look, haha.

We get home around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. Not exactly as planned, but safe and sound.    

 

Wednesday, October 21 Cape May, NJ

 Wednesday, October 21

50 degrees as we sleep in till almost 9:00 this morning and have a nice breakfast.  We will spend the day exploring more of the area.  We had planned to take the Cape May to Lewes, Delaware ferry tomorrow, but find that the only availability is 2:30 in the afternoon, so plan to drive around Delaware Bay instead... an extra hour two.  We plan to visit our college friends Scott & Cathy near Bethany Beach.

We begin the day by going back to Point Park and walking the Red trail there.  A few flowers and birds and lots of nice fresh air!  Lots of people at the Hawk Watch and they are supposed to do some bird tagging today, but not till later in the afternoon.

Goose Splashdown

Then we head to the Cape May Bird Observatory, operated by the Audubon Society.  There is a short nature trail and some birding displays and maps.  Across the road there is a lake which has quite a few birds, so we drive around it and stop here and there.

We grab some lunch and head to the Cape May Library to do a zoom call with son Matt.  He is deep into soccer season.  

Very few butterflies

Next is the Garrett Family Preserve at Cape Island Creek.  This is a birds and butterfly preserve but it seems we have missed the huge monarch butterfly migration it is famous for, but it is still a pleasant walk.  Fields of Cosmos are still blooming and we enjoy the monarch mural on a nearby train.

We had noted a pizza shop near the turnoff to Woodbine, so decide to stop there and pick up some dinner.  Interesting pizza - square slices, deep dish artichoke and mushroom.  One slice is a meal!

Greg has developed a cold over the past few days with congestion, occasional coughing fits and a runny nose. He is taking coricidin and Beth takes some too for congestion.  Sleeping is fitful.  

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 Cape May, New Jersey

Tuesday, October 20

We leave this sunny  53 degree morning and head southeast for Cape May at the southern tip of New Jersey.  We cross into New Jersey around 9:30 and travel across the southern part of the state.  

 Lots of small towns, rural land, farms and a surprising number of vineyards. 

We aim for Cape May Lighthouse which is a part of Point State Park.  Beautiful lighthouse built in 1859 and standing 157 feet tall.   There is also a Keeper's house and an old oil house where fuel was once stored. 

An old lifesaving boat from the late 1800's is in the gardens.

Across the parking lot is a coastal viewing platform which today is part of the annual Cape May Hawk Watch.  Today is rather windy, so we don't see a lot of birds in the short time we are there, but there are spotting scopes and folks with giant camera lenses, along with a naturalist keeping watch and tallying sightings.  Yesterday's number was over 1000 hawks as the birds come down the coast on their annual migration. 

We spot a bald eagle soaring high above and mute swans and ducks in the nearby pond. We are late for some of the other migrators.   We chat with a few avid bird watchers before heading into town to a Visitors Center to get a map and better idea of the lay of the land.

Cape May is a very old town with lots of history.  At the Visitor's Center there is an exhibit about the Revolutionary War period which included  the naval Battle of Delaware Bay and Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet.  Cape May was important in imports for the colonies and in observation and defense of coastal water. 

 In 1878 there was a huge fire which burned most of the town, so many of the current building are Victorian era and quite lovely.  Many have the widow's walk atop, in which people supposedly kept watch for returning fishermen's boats.  (Wish I'd gotten better pictures.)

A canal runs through town connecting the Delaware Bay and Cape May Harbor on the coast, and providing mooring for hundreds of boats.

Greg's mother has fond memories of working here at a resort during her teen Summers and it is still quite a vacation destination.

Next we visit South Cape May Meadows Preserve, operated by the Nature Conservancy.  We walk the trails there which include a long board walk through wetlands, a beach trail and others. There are still fenced areas on the beach which protected nesting seabirds until a few months ago.

View from a bird blind

I ask someone about the tall feathery grass that is everywhere and she says it is called fragmite -said with a frown.  It is an invasive species only killed by seawater and as the area becomes dryer it is taking over.

Cape May "diamond"

We stop by Sunset Beach next, which has the remains of the experimental concrete ship  S.S. Atlantus, built during WWI.  We also join some others in searching the beach for "Cape May Diamonds" which are small translucent quartz pebbles.  

There is an old WWII tower nearby also.  Built in 1942 when fear of a German attack on the east coast was real, this tower was a part of a network of towers that served as lookouts and also artillery aids.

We head to Belleplain State Forest campground in Woodbine, where we get a campsite with electric for the next two nights.  Spacious wooded sites with lots of squirrels.  And nice hot showers!

 This trip changes my mental images of New Jersey which till now consisted of the New Jersey Turnpike, Industrial Elizabeth in the north, and Atlantic City beaches.