It was a sunny day but a blustery day so I headed off in the
direction
of Philadelphia. But, first I had to stop to get gas
at these prices
from a guy who told me winter was here.
I picked up Dr Len and we head to Mullica Hill where we first stopped
at the Old Mill
which keeps these hours
and has 3 floors of antique dealers. After we took the obligatory
phone booth picture
we went inside where this woman
wrapped my elegant salt and pepper shakers
and the Hardy Boys book (sorry, no picture)
and Kelly (who had gone to Westminister Choir College) and Don (I think
that was his name) wrapped the other gift.
We started off to explore the town. The Old and New shop was open
but the Toy and Doll museum was closed
despite its elegant tree
and toys
sign. The Sign of St. George was shut
as was this door
to a place that didn't look particularly attractive.
The high point of our visit to Mullica Hill (since at this point we didn't
know about the Mansion where Allen Iverson had his wedding reception) was
the creche scene at the Baptist Church. After we read about the
holiday
we saw the whole scene
complete with camels
and spectators
and the 3 wise men.
The Baby Jesus was already born
but Mary seemed to still be pregnant.
Dr Len took this picture of me
and finally got it centered.
All this activity made us hungry for something that could ruin our
appetites for lunch. Fortunately we found Mirenda's Bakery
where they make everything from scratch. The desserts
looked good and this woman
of the Mirenda family was happy to sell us a cherry danish and a donut.
Continuing on down the road, I captured a picture of 2 elves in green
and the bridal shop
before we considered the Hilltop Diner
but decided that there was a better lunch elsewhere.
So, we went to the Yellow Garage
and tried to get the right picture of Dr Len with their
very thin friends
Driving on, we came to Woodstown where the respect of the high school
alumni
made us know that the diner
would serve a good lunch. The placemats were good
though they aimed at a younger crowd than we often see in such
circumstances. The menu
was vast but there were daily specials
to ease the selection. Dr Len
ordered a drink that came from here.
For starters, I had salad
with Russian dressing on the side while Dr Len had snapper soup
of which we estimate they sell 25 bowls a day. This estimate was
confirmed by the waitress who broke it down as 10 at lunch, 15 at dinner. They
brought this bread
with lunch. Dr Len had chicken with dumplings for lunch
which came with lima beans.
I had the pita pizza
an amazing concoction that was heavy on the eggplant and not
what you might have ever guessed. Our waitress, Cara,
had just moved to Salen, NJ from Seattle to marry someone she
had met while picking blueberries in Maine. She claimed to be
very photogenic (which you can decide) and was happy to pose
alone
and then with Dr Len.
The bill was remarkably reasonable
though we had to remind them to bring Dr Len's
rice pudding
which he ate despite having not made the clean plate club
as you can see. Before leaving town, we took this small
town New Jersey generic picture
this picture of the tonsorial palace
and these 2 pictures of Lem's
As we drove on, we saw God's store
with the lighthouse which was to be the theme of this part of the
trip. Next stop was the Salem Oak Diner
across from the oak itself
which is claimed to be
the most famous tree in New Jersey, a fact that was disputed by the family
when I got home. It's too late to ask Hannah Robinson
whose remains are fertilizing the tree. After one final picture
of the diner, we knew it was time to explore further into the town.
Next we went past Barber's Basin
and some good lawn ornaments
that hadn't been blown over by the heavy winds that buried many a lawn
Santa Claus in the grass. This house had its own train
complete with Santa Claus
and a John Deere crossing.
We're not sure what the decorations there were all about though.
As we approached the country club
we saw their guard dog across the street.
Our final visit was to the water at the bottom of New Jersey
where in the distance we could see the Delaware Memorial bridge
On the wall home, we paused for a photo of this sign painted on a wall.