Happy Birthday to me

Another night of not so good sleep.  You see around 11:30pm, we started hearing raindrops on the tent.  Since this was the first time the mansion was in the rain, we spent the rest of the night waking up every hour or so to see if there were any leaks.  The only damage was a tiny bit of water in the screened in front room.  Karen walked down to the cafe and picked up breakfast for us.  I love having breakfast in bed.

For my birthday, Karen planned a day of stalking and sightseeing.

We started our birthday travels in Edison, New Jersey.  While reading Roadfood.com, I stumbled upon someone’s trip report where they mentioned Harold’s New York Deli Restaurant.  What caught my eye is that it’s the home of the world’s largest pickle bar.  Pickle bar … this is a place I need to experience.

We checked out the menu online before leaving home and noticed that most of the items on the menu fed at least two to three people.  We decided to split a roast turkey sandwich for $16.  $16 for a turkey sandwich.  You may think that’s outrageous but there had to have been at least a pound of roast turkey along with russian dressing, mustard and mayo.  What can I say about the pickle bar.  You got your half sours, sours, kosher dill and pickle chips.  There was also lots of rye bread.  Naturally, we didn’t finish our sandwich so we decided to take the leftovers home.  Our waitress told us to go back and get more bread and pickles to take with the leftover turkey.  Since it’s my birtday, we needed to have cake.  I ordered the chocolate fudge layer cake at $13.45.  That’s just for a slice of cake.  This cake was comprised of 6 layers each of cake and icing making it over a foot tall.  We were only able to eat one layer, taking the rest of it home.

After our late lunch, we drove by Jon Bon Jovi’s house since we had the correct address this time.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see him.  But one of the gates were open.  I thought about it for a second but then the thought of spending the night in a New Jersey jail on my birthday just didn’t appeal to me.

Karen’s research on the internet lead her to SeaStreak Sightseeing Cruises from Highlands.  We took the 5:30pm trip and saw many of the sites of New York city like the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and the Empire State Building.

We picked up a couple of lobster roll dinners from The Inlet Cafe and went back by Jon’s house.  Still nobody home.  We thought we would drop in on Bruce Springsteen but he too wasn’t home.  We later found out that he played a festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

We got back to the campground around 10pm and realized that alot of people have left after the weekend.  It should be a quiet week here.

Thanks to Karen for another excellent birthday.