My Kind of Town

I want to correct some misinformation from my last post: The first two pictures I posted, the one of the sign that said "Bumpass", and the one of the three goobers on the bench were mistakenly identified by me as being in Alabama. They were actually in Virginia. This was brought to my attention when one of my readers commented on another silly sounding name on the signpost in the first picture:  Spotsylvania. I realized upon reading Mims' comment, that Spotsylvania is in Virginia, not Alabama, which caused me to go back over that day in my mind and...well, that's what happens when you drive through three or four states in one day, you forget where you are at any given time.

We had a pickup on Tuesday in Colonial Williamsburg, and this is all that I saw of the place:

Busch Gardens in Colonial Williamsburg

Oh those goofy Colonists! They must have been more fond of thrills than any of us realized. It was nice of them to build those roller coasters so sturdy to last for generations of us to enjoy!  Actually, I DO know that there is also some history in Colonial Williamsburg. I remember my parents taking us there when I was young and I distinctly remember some authentic living history village with people in costume performing colonial types of activities. It's really kind of a shame how so many tourist places feel that they have to modernize and add technology and thrills and chills in order to attract people. I remember the first time I went to Wisconsin Dells with my first husband and Sissy and Sassy when they were little. I was so excited to go. I had this vision in my head of nature in all its glory, with beautiful bluffs and rivers. Man, was I surprised when we got there. It was like the Las Vegas of the north! Neon signs and bungie jumping, and helicopter rides and theme parks...

Anyway, enough of my rant. As we headed through Virginia, with our load destined for Brooklyn, NY, we saw this frightening sight:

Holy crap! What the heck is that?

Is it a rocket? A missile?...

Actually, it's the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico. I've seen it several times now and wouldn't mind stopping there someday.

Because we were heading for Brooklyn, we decided we better start preparing. We practiced talking like Joe Pesci and other gangster types and we decided to stop in South Jersey and find some Italian food for dinner. We chose the town of Runnemede, NJ, and a restaurant called Antonietta's. Walking to the restaurant, I snapped a shot of this sign:

Think they have some Italians in this town?

We had a very good meal with a yummy pasta dish. We spent the night at the last rest area in New Jersey and got up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday for our approach to Brooklyn over the Verrazano bridge. Navigating through Long Island was much easier this time around, because we had been there once already, but it is still very exciting.

NYC skyline at dawn

Traffic into the city

Something tells me this isn't unusual

More skyline with the harbor

typical sight

I particularly love the variety of ethnic markets and delis and wish we weren't encumbered with such a huge vehicle so that we could park and try some of them out.

I wanted to go in here

Mr. Trucker wanted to go in this one.

I had heard a rumor that they are having snow removal and garbage problems in New York City, but I am happy to report that they appeared to have everything under control...

Actually this was pretty minor. I did see stacks of garbage
about 10 times bigger than this, but not in time to get any
pictures.

A few more pictures of some signage, just to prove that we were there:

The Bronx

Manhattan. We didn't cross the George Washington bridge,
but we crossed several others.

Isn't that where the Mets play?

Queens

Today we are driving through Pennsylvania, which as you already know, is my very favorite of all the states we've been in. We'll be going to Hershey, PA this afternoon (which ALSO has an amusement park), then on to Illinois. Mr. Trucker has requested some home time in Portland, Oregon, because he has family there, we have never been there, and because he figures that's the only way we're going to get any loads west of the Mississippi. I'm glad because I'll finally get to report on some new territory and scenery. 

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name: Nyack, New York.