Bass River State Park, NJ through Philadelphia, PA

Brian: Next stop, Philadelphia. But as it is literally impossible to leave New Jersey without paying a toll, we wanted to see as many touristy things as possible before we crossed over. By combining the powers of the Weird US book and the Intermet, we located about 4 or 5 attractions that would take us on a parabolic route through the state. Stop one was the world’s largest light bulb. Naturally to be found in the town of Edison.

Nick: Naturally to be found? I’m no English major, but I am a little suspicious about the grammatical integrity of that sentence. Anyway, the light bulb was way up on a giant pole-tower thing, so climbing in, on, or around the artifact was out of the question. Next stop was Hitler’s toilet. As the story goes, New Jersey somehow ended up with Hitler’s yacht. The state, in an effort to destroy what might possibly become something of an homage to history’s greatest tyrant, disassembled the vessel and dispersed its components amongst the townspeople. The ship’s toilet, as it turns out, consequently resides in a grungy auto-repair shop. Despite the degradation of the toilet’s condition along with a familiar yet viciously pungent odor, I felt truly moved by such an important piece of world history. Awe struck even.

Brian: Der Fuhrer’s shittentrapper. Indeed impressive. After a quick chat with the mechanic, we moved on to the next attraction. Like the Skowhegan Indian (and I apologize for bringing it up) Mighty Joe was located to the side of a gas station. Unlike the BFI, when I beheld Mighty Joe, I did not fall into a deepening spiral of humanity questioning despair. Mighty Joe was a 40-foot gorilla statue/memorial for a deceased body-building son. I believe gas stations are the family business (it is lamented on the plaque that Joe did not live to enter the family business) and so it makes sense that Mighty Joe would be located on gas station property. Another notable event: at the gas station, a rather rough and beat-up looking youth kindly saved the life of a stick bug. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Nick: Hmm. The next stop was the world’s largest miniature trainscape. OK, so, I know that doesn’t sound super exciting to some of you, but I used to build trainscapes and it was a great hobby so yeah, I was pumped. Also, who doesn’t like things in miniature? But alas, it was closed. Tuesday’s are not good days for train watching. Who knew? No biggie, we just headed to a local coffee shop that looked good. You know, take some time out of the day, do a little blogging. What? Cool local coffee shop is closed on Tuesdays too? What’s your game New Jersey… The next real stop was Brian’s friend Julie’s house. It was to be our respite for the night.

Brian: The evening was relatively casual. Julie suggested that we go to the world’s best grocery store (according to the food network, maybe?) to purchase our evening’s beverages. We decided to branch out from our usual Yuengling Lager, and sample the Yuengling Black and Tan. It was a delicious accompaniment to a night of Rock Band with Julie’s siblings, Jack and Steph. Thank you to her father for cooking us a delicious dinner of chicken and mushrooms. It was a nice change of pace from hotdogs over an open flame. Although I doubt I’ve seen the last of those.

Nick: Hope not. That about does it for our Tuesday, we’ve got some pics for you this post. Enjoy. Brian and Nick out.