Posts Tagged ‘Jersey’

California is a big state and when I visited in the past I spent most of my time in LA or South or the San Francisco area. A couple weeks ago though I traveled with some friends from Santa Monica to the Central Coast, specifically Avila Beach (closest big city would be San Luis Obispo which isn’t really BIG compared to California standards). This was my first time to the Central Coast and I had no idea what to expect–except for it being somewhat coastal.

About 3 hours North of LA on “the 5 (I-5 for us non-Californians)” and about 4 hrs South of San Fran on the 5, the Central Coast is a mixture of famous sights, small beach towns and wineries that rival the more known Napa Valley. I only had 3 days in this area and I wanted to make the most of it—and of course, I needed more time.

Hearst Castle

Maybe the most famous of the sights on the Central Coast and all of California is the Hearst Castle named for the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst who died in 1951. Now a state park the Castle is steeped in history. In its heyday it was supposed to be a “bungalow” for Hearst, but soon got a bit bigger and was visited by the most famous of the time (Lindbergh, Cary Grant, various Presidents). The main house is over 60,000 sqft and has 56 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms. Full of antiques and rare books purchased personally by Hearst, this spot has a constant stream of tourists throughout the year.

If you are like me, famous landmarks are worth a visit, but when the beach is calling—I make it a short visit because, well, the beach is calling.

If you’ve heard of Monterey or Big Sur you have heard of the Central Coast, but if you have heard of Avila Beach then you have heard of the REAL Central Coast. A sleepy beach town popular with fisherman put Avila on the map, but the subsequent building boom and desire to live semi-affordably (to California standards anyway) is what made Avila what it is today: a coffee drinking, dog walking, beach strolling, bike riding, fishing town. To say this town is yuppie would be an understatement–but it is Cali and in comparison to some California towns, Avila is a watered down yuppie and a town I could totally see myself living in. With a main street of tee-shirt and flip flop shops, a general market, Mr. Rick’s Sports bar, the very crowded Joe Mamma Coffee (try the hemp milk creamer) and even a couple small wineries, it takes 6 minutes to walk the “strip” before you are hugging the coastline on your run, walk or bike ride on the way to the famous fishing pier to watch your dinner get caught, buy that fresh caught dinner and walk right up to (if you dare) napping Sea Lions on the dock.

Avila Beach

Avila at sunset

up-close and personal with a hungry pelican on the fishing pier

Tide Pools
About a 30 minute drive from Avila are the Montana de Oro State Park and Tide Pools. Here the coastline is comprised of slippery rock (yeah, I fell on my a*s), snails, crabs, sea anemones, shells and steep sand dunes that can be slid down via sled, cardboard box or the seat of your pants (I saw all three). Like the rest of California (even in the summer), the water is powerful and very cold so if the tide is not out it could be a dangerous, cold meander through these tide pools. I went when the tide was nearly out and bonded quite nicely with a turquoise sea anemone. Did you know if you gently touch one it wraps around your finger and tries to suction you to death? It is a cool feeling. Yeah, and messing with that anemone is probably why I fell.

Trail down to the tide pools

me at the tide pools

overlooking the coastline tide pools and sand dunes

Dive Bars–for Wine
As mentioned, wine from the Central Coast rivals Napa Valley and Sonoma and wineries and vineyards are dotted along the coast at every exit. Many have gorgeous views and picturesque grounds like at this place:

But sadly, sometimes the wine suffers and the view turns out to be the best thing about the winery. If you are a true wine-person, this can be frustrating (if you are like me and can barely tell a Pinot from a Merlot it is not as upsetting) especially when you are in the Central Coast and have gorgeous views anyway. Recently an industrial area of blue and government gray buildings in the town of Lompoc (pronounced “Lom-Poke”) behind the Home Depot has become a popular destination for wine tastings and because the area is, ahem, not so picturesque (and it probably doesn’t help that the Home Depot lumber department is in ear shot) the area was affectionately coined as the “Wine Ghetto.”

Most likely overlooked, unless you knew better, this parking lot of single-story metal buildings has become the place to go if you want good wine. Unlike most wineries where you have your tasting, roam the grounds and then responsibly drive to the next vineyard–the Ghetto is a one-stop wine tasting shop with the wineries situated like stores in a cheap strip mall– but, the wine is NOT cheap tasting! Park once–taste all day– but get a car service, please.

One of my favorite “Ghetto” wineries was the Flying Goat. The husband and wife owners were passionate about their wine, had soil samples that the grapes grew from and a very nice 13 year old chocolate lab. Plus– the lady knew all about Jersey. Represent East Coast!

(picture courtesy of centralcoastuncorked.blogspot.com)

Many people don’t realize how big of a state NY is– and how far it reaches geographically. Although New York City has the majority of the population in the state, the state does offer many more areas to explore outside of “the city”.

Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse are the state’s largest cities after NYC but their average population of 200-300 thousand people each (data gathered from last census in 2000), falls far below New York City’s population of over 8 million. New York is so spread out that the residents of Buffalo would have to travel just as far to visit the city as to visit Montreal, Quebec in Canada.

New York City (made up of the 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island) is considered, by many upstate NY’ers, a different state. More liberal and well known than the rest of the state, NYC represents cement, skyscrapers and traffic–a much different landscape than the farmlands and rural roads that make up the majority of NY state.

So when NYC’s residents want to escape to the suburbs, they have many options, but where do they usually go?

They go to New Jersey.

Really? Jersey?

When people hear “New Jersey”, thoughts of murders, smog, gangs, slums and crime usually formulate in their minds. While Newark doesn’t have the best reputation (but in its defense, the crime rate has gone down the last few years), it is not a good representation of the Garden State.

New Jersey is close to NYC. Just a 10 min ferry ride over the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan or depending on traffic, a quick drive away via the Holland or Lincoln tunnels or over the George Washington Bridge. The train is another and perhaps the most popular form of travel for the “bridge and tunnel” commuters (the nickname given to New Jersey folks that live in Jersey and work or party in the city) or for those NYC’ers who want to get away.

Sonny Werblin, the owner of the NY Jets football team during the 1970′s, was asked about the New York Giants playing in New Jersey (both the Giants and Jets to this day play in Jersey), and he explained the geography of the New York City Metro area perfectly by saying “If you pave the Hudson River it becomes 13th Avenue.”

He was right. Jersey, only separated from NYC by the narrow Hudson River, is a small state, but it is also the most densely populated of all the states. Within direct view from Manhattan are the towns of Hoboken (birthplace of Frank Sinatra) and Jersey City. Both cities had their trials and tribulations just as NYC did in the ’80′s, but as of the last 5 years have been revived into the hippest cities in New Jersey for the college grads, young families and those that work in Manhattan but don’t want to pay Manhattan rent. Jersey City and Hoboken boast some of the best views of Manhattan and with easy access by ferry from Jersey City to the Statue of Liberty (also technically in Jersey) there are many reasons to visit this “6th Borough”.

view of Manhattan from Jersey City

Just twenty six miles outside of NYC is Morristown, NJ (where I lived for a short time after first moving to the East Coast). Morristown has recently been compared to a smaller Manhattan complete with a “central” park known as “the Green”, coffee shops (Greenberrys Coffee is my favorite) and mom & pop stores that ooze with a small town feeling. In fact, nearly all of the towns in Jersey have their own “main street” small town shopping districts with strong local town pride that presents itself in the town parades and community events. Even though Morristown is one of the new cool places to visit and live, it also has a bit of a country feel when you get just outside the city limits.

just out of the Morristown city limits

Head south just a bit more and you will be in one of my favorite town in Jersey: Princeton. Yes, that Princeton. Not only is it home to the prestigious Ivy League University with a very gorgeous and walkable campus, but is also a small town with high end shops, cute restaurants and the resting place of many well known historical figures such as the President Grover Cleveland at the nearby cemetery (also very walkable and interesting in its own right).

Princeton University

Of course one of the best “suburbs” of NYC is the Jersey Shore area. While the Shore towns of Pt. Pleasant, Seaside and Long Beach Island are closer in miles to Pennsylvania than to NYC, the Shore is an easy train ride away from the city or about a 2 hr drive. While New York has coveted beach towns of its own in the Hamptons, the Jersey Shore is extremely clean (NJ is the only state that requires a fee of $7 to visit the public beaches and that fee goes directly to beach maintenance), has more affordable beach rentals than the Hamptons and is popular with all ages because of the vast stretches of clean beach (some crowded, some not), the surfing and the multiple boardwalk amusement parks.

a crowded beach at the Shore

rental homes just off the boardwalk

less crowded beach

boardwalk amusement park

These mentioned towns are just a few that make up the ‘burbs of NYC and while the Jersey residents know their state acts as a suburb (all of the news shown on tv is NYC based and many Jersey residents are employed in NYC) there is still a great deal of Jersey pride that is obvious to the visitor. Whether you want to get out of NYC for a day or make it a longer trip and visit the home state of Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, New Jersey, in its own right, deserves a visit.