Jersey Girl

So despite my polite demeanor and complete lack of bangs, I was in fact born in New Jersey --and yesterday my dear buddy Jessica took us on an old home tour so I could show DJ and Roxanne the place from whence I came. For those of you who are fans of director Kevin Smith, I was technically born in Red Bank, the town made famous by his movie Clerks. Seeing as how I would have been in junior high school in rural New Jersey in 1988 – the very height of the acid wash and big hair years – I think I may have dodged a bullet by moving to Atlanta in 1986. However, it is lovely to have a chance to go back and see the old homestead off exit 109.

Although I was born in Red Bank, I grew up right around the corner in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and as it turns out, this little town is now a high dollar burg that boasts residents including the likes of Queen Latifah. But somethings never change – and thankfully one of them was my very favorite farmer’s market, a place called Delicious Orchards. They have the best freaking chocolate chip cookies in the history of the world (I measure all other chocolate chip cookies using these as the bar), and these cookies are such a hot property in my family, that I literally bought enough to fill the RV’s freezer to take home. God, they’re good.

Anyhow, for those of you who also grew up in Colts Neck (namely my siblings), here’s a shot of Jessica and I in front our old house on Dana Lane …

… and here’s us looking very maternal in front of the Delicious Orchards sign. (Her son, Julian, is 6 months old.)

We had a fabulous time.

On a fun, unrelated note: Roxanne Patricia has taken to saying the word “apple” when she’s hungry. She’s not really asking for an apple-related product, just putting together word sounds that happen to sound like a food. But when we showed her a real live, unpureed apple at Delicious Orchards, and she said “apple,” so we decided that after “momma” and “dadda,” apple is her real first word. Go Roxie! Other fun Roxie firsts on this trip have included going up an entire flight of stairs by herself (supervised of course), letting go and standing by herself for a minute (still in reach of momma), and blowing a kiss. She’ll be driving and heading off to college as soon as we get back, I’m sure.

Anyhow, this afternoon we’ll be braving the outskirts of Washington, D.C., on our way to an oceanfront campground in North Carolina where we intend to spend our last weekend on the road. More adventures soon as we head for the Mason-Dixon line!