Oct 5 Marmora NJ | craigandholly

October 5 - 7, 2019: Marmora (Atlantic City), New Jersey

Craig and I returned from our trip to the Baja on two separate flights. We could not get two tickets for a decent price, so we booked separately. He flew a red eye American flight from Los Cabos to Phoenix then Baltimore, arriving at 5:05am. I flew a red eye Delta flight from Los Cabos to Salt Lake City then Baltimore, arriving at 5:00am.

Once we met up in the Baltimore airport, we took a shuttle to the Sheraton Hotel to pick up our truck, then drove to the Public Storage unit where the trailer was, repacked the bicycles in the back of the truck, got rid of about 8 stink bugs inside the trailer, and then hit the road for New Jersey where we would be spending a few days exploring around Atlantic City. Keep in mind, we have been up since about 10am the previous day and it is now around 8:00am. We knew we would stop somewhere along the way and catch a few hours of sleep before arriving in New Jersey. We just wanted to get far enough away from the big cities.

We made it to Newark, Delaware before we decided to stop for a cat nap. We wanted to swing by a Costco and pick up some supplies, so...why not pull over at a Costco parking lot, sleep a few hours, get supplies and then hit the road! Why not? Because....what we thought was the tire entrance to the store was actually the main entrance. Remember, we are running on very little sleep, it was about 10:00am so after climbing in the trailer to sleep, we woke up around 1:00pm to the sounds of shopping carts and people talking. Holy cow, the parking lot was packed and we had cars parked DIRECTLY in front and behind us. To top it off....it was Saturday. Maybe this was not such a good idea. Needless to say, we quickly went into Costco, bought our supplies, and then pulled out. Oh...pulling our of the parking space was fun, the car directly in front of us had someone in it and the car was running. When I asked the older gentlemen if he would pull forward so we could get out and then he could pull back into his spot, he said "I am waiting for someone, they will be right here" then rolled up is window...he never moved. &$*#@*! Thank goodness Craig was able to maneuver the truck and trailer around his car.

Our final stop was in Marmora, New Jersey at The Whippoorwill Campground. We choose this location because it was only about 20 miles from Atlantic City.

The majority of the spots in this campground are seasonal permanent residence, however since it was during the weekdays, is after Labor Day, now into October, most of the campers were gone so it was really quiet. The last picture is a representation of 75% of the spots in the campground.

Once we got settled into our camp spot, we realized that we had traveled from the West Coast (Cabo San Lucas) to the East Coast (New Jersey) in less than 24 hours.

That evening we ate at a BBQ joint near Ocean City, New Jersey, picked up our remaining groceries, and...went to bed early!

The next day we ventured into Atlantic City. Neither of us are gamblers, so you may be asking "why did you want to visit Atlantic City?" The answer is...to ride our bicycles on the Atlantic City Boardwalk! It may sound crazy, but yep....The Boardwalk was the first wooden walkway of its kind in the world and Craig had always wanted to ride it and we wanted to cross New Jersey off our list of States, so...

On our way to Atlantic City, we drove through Ocean City, New Jersey. This was cool because we had recently been in Ocean City, Maryland! We did not really stop in Ocean City, but the pictures below are typical representations of the town.

This whole area is pretty cool. It is the Absecon Island which is a barrier island on the Jersey Shore of the Atlantic Ocean. On the island are the resort communities of Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport. So to drive to Atlantic City, you go through a lot of really cool little coastal towns.

Once we arrived in Atlantic City, we drove through the main streets to get a feel for the area. As you can see from the pictures, all of the major casinos are here.

We then found a parking lot, unloaded the bicycles and rode the entire Atlantic City Boardwalk back and forth. Of course, we stopped along the way and enjoyed some time at the beach watching the seagulls, people watching, and being silly.

The Boardwalk is interesting because you have residential, then huge resorts, then residential again, businesses, and then resorts. The architecture was interesting as well, you have sleek modern high rise next to cape cod, gothic, roman, colonial, you name it. There is every style imaginable.

Since it is considered low season, it was not too crowded, however...a lot of the businesses were closed so we did not wander into shops or even grab something to snack on! We wanted to find a coffee shop on the Boardwalk to sit and people watch, however, they were all inside a casino which we did not want to sit inside.

As you can see from the pictures, the weather was about 72f, overcast and a little breezy.

I had forgotten that the Miss American Pageant was held in Atlantic City. Yes, Craig and I BOTH got crowned! We were so excited ; )

This was the end of the Boardwalk on the South side, Fredericksburg Avenue. From here we went out to the beach and watched the seagulls. And...saw sea foam. I had never really thought about sea foam before, so of course, Googled it and found "Algal blooms are one common source of thick sea foams. When large blooms of algae decay offshore, great amounts of decaying algal matter often wash ashore. Foam forms as this organic matter is churned up by the surf. Most sea foam is not harmful to humans and is often an indication of a productive ocean ecosystem." Interesting little factiod!

As we rode back along the Boardwalk, we stopped and looked at the outside of two houses. One for sale for $3,950,000 and one under construction. Hmm..which one to buy...such a tough decision ; ) Hee...hee....

The one under construction is a house....not a hotel or business. Look at how tiny Craig is next to the front door area. Wow...

One thing I had noticed as we drove into town and were riding the Boardwalk, was...the names of streets.

You tell me, does this remind you of anything?

I did not know this, but Atlantic City is also known as Monopoly City. It was the inspiration for game inventor Charles Darrow's “Monopoly” game because of his fondness for childhood vacations spent in the beach-side city. The game Monopoly was invented in 1933.

Since I am huge fan of Monopoly and played it endlessly as a child with my friend, Jeri, it became my mission that day to find all of the street names and take a picture : ) The amazing thing was that Craig indulged me and even drove me around, backed up, turned around, slowed down, etc. so I could capture the picture. Thank You Craigy!!!

Enjoy the pics below. They are listed in the order which they are on the game board and sometimes one picture will have two street names.

The only streets missing are:

St. Charles Place - the closest one I found was in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Illinois - I believe this has been renamed to N. Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard
Marven Gardens - is located in Margate City near Atlantic City