I am going to take a small road trip with my 72 year old mom, she needs to get out of the house a bit since she lost her ability to drive nearly a decade ago, she got zinc poisoning and destroyed the nerve endings in her feet and hands, Prepherial Neuropathy. And with all the stress in moving to a smaller house in a 55+ community, she needs to take a day off from stress. So i am going to treat her to a road trip in August going up to Easton, driving along NJ29, until it ends at French Town, and then crossing over to the PA side, ending at the Crayola Factory Tour. I want some reccomendations on places to stop along the route that would be neat to photograph, a nice place to eat lunch at, any antique stores you guys know of, etc. She's okay with me doing the bridge photos with my good camera for example.
NJ Route 29 in Trenton has Arm & Hammer Field, home of the (AA-Eastern League) Trenton Thunder. After going through a short tunnel along the Delaware River, it'll be on the left heading north. :)
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on July 18, 2016, 09:28:14 AM
NJ Route 29 in Trenton has Arm & Hammer Field, home of the (AA-Eastern League) Trenton Thunder. After going through a short tunnel along the Delaware River, it'll be on the left heading north. :)
I went to a game tehre in 1997, mom doesn't like sports, i am thinking smaller nice things, like a nice diner, a cool little antique store, stuff like that, historical sites, the i-95 clusterfuck not included there. I know washingtons crossing and frenchtown are nice for that
If you want a brief self-driving tour of Trenton hitting most of the important things and it'll only take 5 minutes...
While on 29 North:
Exit at Calhoun Street (the first exit; not the 2nd one that takes you to the bridge).
At the top of the ramp, turn right onto W. State Street.
You'll pass by some state buildings (museum, then the library), then drive in front of the State House. If you wanted to stop, and if you do the trip on a weekend, there's plenty of on-street parking. If you do it during the week, there are some scattered available spots here and there.
At the next light, turn right onto Barrack Street. The Old Trenton Barracks are to the right as you go down the hill, which turns into a cobblestone street.
At the next light, the War Memorial is in front of you. Turn slightly right.
At the next light, turn right, which puts you back onto 29 North. You will go past the interchange where you just got off.
New Hope PA / Lambertville NJ (NJ / PA 179) may be what you're looking for, for lunch/antiquing/shopping. New Hope can get quite crowded on weekends, Lambertville less so.
There are several older bridges...Washington Crossing, New Hope/Lambertville, Riegelsville. I personally think the PA 32 side is more scenic, but it's narrower, curvier, and slower. I forget exactly where (Lumberville), but there is an older suspension bridge from the PA side over to I believe an island in the middle of the Delaware, if not all the way across.
Years ago, there were also a couple of wineries on the PA side.
Thank you, this is the sort of stuff i am looking for. She doesn't get out much any more, Finances were hard until this move, and they're still working on getting the new house ready, so i figured...treat her to a day out.
Quote from: jemacedo9 on July 18, 2016, 12:17:01 PM
New Hope PA / Lambertville NJ (NJ / PA 179) may be what you're looking for, for lunch/antiquing/shopping. New Hope can get quite crowded on weekends, Lambertville less so.
There are several older bridges...Washington Crossing, New Hope/Lambertville, Riegelsville. I personally think the PA 32 side is more scenic, but it's narrower, curvier, and slower. I forget exactly where (Lumberville), but there is an older suspension bridge from the PA side over to I believe an island in the middle of the Delaware, if not all the way across.
Years ago, there were also a couple of wineries on the PA side.
I meant to say an older PEDESTRIAN suspension bridge...
I used to drive 29/32 quite a bit between Trenton and Riegelsville, heading west (or returning) on PA 212 for the Bethlehem area a few miles south of Easton. 32 is generally more scenic with more twists and turns, while 29 gets the nod if you have to get there faster. Over time, I kept moving my Delaware crossings further northward, to Frenchtown and eventually Milford. One night while coming home I decided to cross at Riegelsville. Surely the NJ side would provide a typical decent two-lane County route on my way south toward Milford. Wrong. What I got was this, well after dark:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5732676,-75.1135384,3a,66.8y,121.06h,86.09t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1saLRKy0Z5Cv_YiYMmXxmPxQ!2e0?force=lite (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5732676,-75.1135384,3a,66.8y,121.06h,86.09t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1saLRKy0Z5Cv_YiYMmXxmPxQ!2e0?force=lite)
I woke up my wife with a "What the hell is this!?!".
A scenic drive indeed - Just make sure you find a little alcove in the rock cliff to pull into when a car comes the other way.
As mentioned above, New Hope and Lambertville are great stops. We like to go to New Hope every once in awhile and walk across the bridge to Lambertville. Great little towns. The Crayola Factory was mentioned too - Be aware that the place in downtown Easton is NOT a factory tour. We made this mistake before our son came along. There is no factory, and this is just a kid's museum / playground / marketing ploy for Crayola. We might go back now with our kid, but it's not for adults.
The bridges are great, and for walking the New Hope-Lambertville bridge is really nice, as is the pedestrian bridge mentioned above in Lumberville next to the Black Bass Hotel (PA side) that goes to Bulls Island:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4069678,-75.0381978,3a,66.8y,49.11h,84.85t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sVxIa4pVS7HvOCJ2rFF3CsA!2e0?force=lite (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4069678,-75.0381978,3a,66.8y,49.11h,84.85t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sVxIa4pVS7HvOCJ2rFF3CsA!2e0?force=lite)
The roadnut in you will appreciate 29's abrupt end just short of entering Frenchtown, not quite meeting Route 12 (at least as signed):
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5197526,-75.0617165,3a,66.8y,46.65h,80.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJhFrcUCReri3ZR9BLDvy8Q!2e0?force=lite (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5197526,-75.0617165,3a,66.8y,46.65h,80.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJhFrcUCReri3ZR9BLDvy8Q!2e0?force=lite)
There's the Washington Crossing Bridge by the end of PA 532, which as its name suggests is where George Washington famously crossed the Delaware River to surprise the Hessians at Trenton. There's a park with historical information on the Pennsylvania side.
I grew up around the area, i am just looking for stuff that is less known.