Wawayanda is in northern NJ, not the north Jersey near New York City, but the geographical, actual northern New Jersey.
View Larger Map
That broken line cutting diagonally through the map is the NY-NJ border. And near that border is some beautiful scenery as promised.
Pics of Me in Front of Stuff's journey started out on the opposite side of this lake which probably has a name. Like most other or maybe all bodies of water, the lake also has a beach.
Fortunately, this beach was nothing like Seaside Heights and there was no Snookie or Situation to wreak havoc on the locals. It may have been a little cold for J-Wow and the rest of the Jersey Shore crew. It may have been a little too muddy for them as well since some of the snow from one of the first blizzards of the year had melted. It seems doubtful that many of the inhabitants of the Jersey Shore house handled mud well. Despite the wilderness some parts of New Jersey was unavoidable. Like many of the parks in the area Wawayanda State Park was once used for the iron industry. A large blast furnace still stands not far from the lake pictured above.
Sadly, there was also some urban sprawl dumped out in the woods, too.
Minus the junk that had been dumped out in the woods a long time ago Wawayanda was a beautiful state park on a sunny, warm winter day. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed some blue marked trails and managed not to get terribly lost in the woods. The Official GPS of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was bought as a gift by the Official Mom of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff following a harrowing experience in the woods of central PA.
Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed these and managed to get back to the Official Car of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff. Also, only photographs were taken and only footsteps left and maybe time was wasted. It was a good day to be outside.
With apologies to my Canadian and Pittsburgh readers, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff hates Sidney Crosby. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff hates Sid the Squid and his big over-inflated lips with a passion that burns deep the Official Soul of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff. There really is no explanation for it. It is just one of those things.
The part that is most confusing is that Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is not a hockey fan. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is a fan of most of the sports Philadelphia has to offer but the Flyers are not among those teams. It might be related to the recent loss by the American Olympic Hockey team to the Canadians in the Gold Medal Game. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff feels a strong pride in the Official Home of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff whether it's the Official Hometown, Official State, or Official Country. Cindy Crosby went and scored the game winning goal in OT against Team USA so the correlation is pretty clear. The Bartner, a Pittsburgh sports fan, texted the Official Cell Phone of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff after the loss stating it was bittersweet because it was Crosby that scored. The Official Reply of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was that he needs to get the fuck out of the Official Country of Pics of ME in Front of Stuff if there was anything sweet about Team USA losing. If only it was that simple. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff felt disdain for Squidney Crybaby even before Team Canada received their gold medals.
I won't lie and say I have not been a lifelong, hardcore Phillies fan, but I hopped on the bandwagon in 2005 well before the current successful run started to take flight in 2007. Besides I could not resist this guy for too long.
But this post is not about baseball in Philly or Pittsburgh, it is about a hockey game in New Jersey. The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey is home to the New Jersey Devils among other less successful sports franchises.
There is a hockey player in Championship Plaza and not a basketball player for a reason.
As a relatively recent resident of New Jersey I really want to try to cheer for someone from the state. All the teams with New York names, but New Jersey addresses are out for obvious reasons. For professional and major college sports that leaves Seton Hall basketball, Rutgers football, the Nets, and the Devils. Seton Hall basketball is the obvious choice as I am working on my PhD part time there. The Seton Hall Pirates have a rich history in basketball, but recently have been mediocre at best. Rutgers is a good choice because their football uniforms resemble my high school's and they have recently become competitive. The Rutgers-Penn State series is about to restart and I will not even pretend to cheer for the Scarlet Knights. The Nets are a possibility because if I cheer for them now and they become good I can say I was a fan when they were historically bad...before Lebron signs here because of Jay-Z. But seriously, they are historically bad. Finally, there is the Devils who play a sport I am indifferent towards but for which I had tickets.
Advantage Devils.
The game was important for playoff positioning with the Devils hoping to catch the Penguins, the defending Stanley Cup champions, in the NHL's Atlantic Division late in the season. The Devils have owned the Penguins this year and this could end up being a conference championship preview. Aside from all of that, the fans of opposing teams on the East Coast (i.e. Flyers, Rangers, Devils, etc.) hate Sidney Crosby much more than I do. Those circumstances should have created an electric atmosphere among the home fans on a Friday night. Unfortunately, there appears to be an extremely limited number of Devil's fans. An 'omigosh this is a little depressing' number of Devil's fans were at the game for a team that has multiple championships within the past 15 years and one of the best greatest goalies of all time in net.
Martin Brodeur is pretty good.
Why does no one in New Jersey seem to care?
Even though hardly anyone showed up, they still played the game. The game started off quickly with each team scoring a goal within the first 10 minutes of the first period. The scoring stopped through the rest of the next two periods. Marc-Andre Fleury, aside from the sissy name, is a pretty good goalie, too.
Fortunately the fighting frequency picked up.
Fighting for hockey fans is like wrecks for NASCAR fans; it's the real reason they watch. Or at least it's the real reason I watch on the infrequent times I do watch.
If not going to score goals, you might as well have a fight in front of the goal to show your frustration.
There also was a penalty shot which was videotaped poorly by yours truly.
In the third period, the Devils resumed scoring. The Penguins did not. The Devils won 3-1.
As for impressions of the game, several friends of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff told me that watching an NHL game live would make Pics of Me in Front of Stuff fall in love with the game. This was not true. The game was exciting and it was fun to be in the arena, but Pics of Me in Front of Stuff does not feel any stronger affection for hockey than prior to the game. Nor does a team based in New Jersey hold a special place in my heart. Baseball remains the top game to watch in person and football remains the top sport to watch on television. Hockey is in the mix with basketball and English Premier League soccer to watch on television. The Official Universe of Pics of Me in Front of stuff was not rocked by a trip to the...Rock.
CROSBY SUCKS!
When reading Pics of Me in Front of Stuff, it may be hard to believe I have a graduate degree in chemistry and I am working on a second. I am not sure if you question my graduate degree because of my amazing writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you wander why I am wasting my time as a chemist (unlikely) or the poor writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you question my intelligence (possibly) and how the Hell I have any degree. In spite of your questioning my writing or chemistry skills, I did manage to go to graduate school and the year before I started this happened.
This had little to do with my choice, but I did attend the little, orange school that could. That was not their only One Shining Moment. The spring of my first year at graduate school this happened.
'Ray Bucknell!
You may be asking "Is there a point to this little anecdote that applies to more recent history?"
You may also be asking "This guy really has a graduate degree in chemistry?!"
The answer to both is yes. Whilst I was gallivanting around the southern United States this past winter I was forced to visit some states that are not known for being exciting. Alabama and Mississippi were both little more than notches on my US Travel belt. Like the Bison and their second One Shining Moment, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff had to deal with Arkansas before moving onto bigger and better things.
I had very low expectations for Arkansas for a couple of reasons. The first was a lack of creativity in the state's name. Bucknell beat Kansas one season then Arkansas the next. If there had been a Lekansas the Bison may have been invited back to the Tournament for a Kansas trifecta. Did the founders of Arkansas not notice that West Virginia was Virginia's red-headed step child? Virginia is a pretty nice state with the beaches and the proximity to the nation's capital. Arkansas decided to name itself after Kansas with its....Rock, Chalk, and Jayhawk?
Advantage: West Virginia.
How many times has that ever been said,
The second reason was, like Alabama, there is a dearth of worthwhile stops in Arkansas that were on the Official Route of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff. There are diamond mines and hot springs in Arkansas but both were too far out of the way to make the trip worthwhile. Since the next stop was New Orleans, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff wanted to stick to the eastern portion of the Natural State.
That's where the Great River Road entered the picture.
The Great River Road follows the Mississippi River from its northern most reaches in Minnesota to where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed this National Scenic Byway from West Memphis to Lake Village, Arkansas in search of adventure and excitement. You probably won't be surprised that Pics of Me in Front of Stuff found little of either.
View Larger Map
This was one of the more exciting moments of the trip.
Yeah, Arkansas!
There were more high points, but not many. Aside from the Millennial Mile Mark, there was also the Louisiana Purchase State Park which memorializes the first surveying expedition of the Louisiana Purchase.
Without the Louisiana Purchase there is no Lewis and Clark. Without Lewis and Clark there is no Oregon Trail. Without Oregon Trail Pics of Me in Front of Stuff would never have gotten to go wild game hunting or ford a river in elementary school.
If you look closely, you can also see the Fifth Principal Meridian.
You might see the imaginary line known as the Fifth Principal Meridian if you look at those trees hard enough.
Finally, there was history in between these two historical markers in the form of the Lakeport Plantation, the last remaining antebellum mansion in Arkansas. The Lakeport Plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been rebuilt over 5 years by Arkansas State University. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited on the day of the Christmas Open House and met some wonderfully friendly people who had put significant effort in restoring this house to its current state.
And the excitement did not stop there...but it got pretty close to being done. Aside from the occasional historical landmark, there was certainly not much going on in eastern Arkansas. There was a whole lot of cotton fields. Driving down the Great River Road gave a surprisingly few glimpses of the Great River. There were quite a few views of cotton fields.
I am sure all of the devoted readers of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff are thinking 'Really, Kyle?! No pictures again?!" I can explain the problem in one word - thundercougarfalconbird.
Now with more eagle.
As I lie in bed feeling the continued effects of what has turned into a 2-day hangover, I have to really question why I do this to myself. I fear that booze might be my thundercougarfalconbird.. Replace Fry with Kyle, the salesman with a bartender, and thundercougarfalconbird with alcohol and you sum up far too many of my nights out lately. I am only allowed on 20-Something Bloggers for so much longer and since I am not a mommy-blogger, a fashionista, an unemployed recent college graduate, or a female they may kick me out even sooner. Maybe I need to start acting more responsible, like I am approaching 30. Or maybe I should avoid the whole black-out drunk thing.
I know I am probably confusing most of my readers with all of these metaphors so I'll just talk about my trip to Haagerstown, MD with my meathead friends from college.
Back in the day we were kinda bad-ass.
Maybe bad-ass is a bit of a stretch, but we were definitely on the bigger side. On Saturday a number of us pictured above gathered near the MD-PA border at Shac Dizzle's (#67) house. If owning a home and having children (extremely cute twins) makes you mature and/or responsible then Shac is king of Mature Responsible Mountain. I am not really sure what that means, but he does have a wife, kids, and a mortgage. None of those are a thundercougarfalconbird, but they are all things I would like to have in the not too distant future. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff and my thundercougarfalconbird may suffer as a result, but that is something I am willing to live with. Not all of those big fellas pictured above made it down to Shac's place. The Sackmaster (#33), The Best Option QB in the State of PA (#11), and The Man with the Most Powerful Liver on Earth (just above my right shoulder) joined Shac, some of Shac's in-laws, and myself for a fun filled romp through South Central PA. By fun filled romp I mean there was a lot of drinking and by South Central PA I also mean Haagerstown, MD.
As seems to be my custom on these booze and amnesia fueled adventures, we started off strong with lots of beer and food. The food was at Dave and Jane's Crab House Restaurant and Lounge in Fairfield, PA. There had been talk of dominating some AYCE crabs, shrimp, or some other sea creature but those thoughts were brushed aside due to the inordinate amount of drinking that had proceeded and was about to proceed. No one wanted to give up space in their stomach to food because more room for beer was needed. I also was trying to avoid being covered in sea creature guts because I have been known to wear my dinner when alcohol is involved. We all did chow down on some hush puppies and crab fries. The Sackmaster referred to the hush puppies as the best thing he had ever eaten. The crab fries were a surprise since they covered in lump crab meat and not just old bay.
Following the food was more drinking at Shac Dizzle's Mature Responsible Mountain Castle and at some point there was a continued passing of a bottle of Jim Beam between the Man with World's Strongest Liver, Shac's brother-in-law and I. Clearly, the night was filled with good intentions. After what seemed like an interminable wait a few cabs arrived to take us to Cancun Cantina in Haagerstown.
From there everything gets a little hazy.
The known facts include:
1. The Man with the World's Strongest Liver and I took shots at each bars in the place. The number of bars is unknown to me but it is the range of 3 to 6.
2. There were lots of dudes with cowboy hats. I cannot give an exact number but there were certainly more than 5.
3. The Sackmaster had my cheap aviator sunglasses on at some point but they are gone now. I have to go to Wal Mart and buy some more for $5.
4. I remember a brunette waitress with a cowboy hat as looking like Rachel McAdams. She was selling shots for $6 and I felt that was too expensive. Somehow I doubt she really looked like Rachel McAdams, but I am positive she had a cowboy hat on...maybe.
5. I was stuck outside for some reason at the end of the night. I was unsure if I was asked to leave or left on my own and was not allowed back in. Either way there was an indeterminate amount of time in which I was waiting outside for everyone else. It's likely I'll never know why and that may be for the best.
That really summed up my night in Haagerstown. I dumped a fair amount of money into that bar for no memories, no picture, and a pretty bad hangover. That will have to be something I consider from here on out when I go out to a bar. Wow, I must be getting old.
Hello! You probably know me, but imaybe not. I don't take sports as seriously as I ued to. I have goals and if I remember to write about them you'll see when I accomplish them.
