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Tag Archives: new jersey

Vincentown Diner (Revisited Again)

October 13, 2019 By in Diners Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
Vincentown Diner (Revisited Again)

Vincentown Diner (Vincentown, NJ)

Throughout the six years of living in NJ, I’ve been to the Vincentown Diner about 30 times. I’ve reviewed here and then again here.  So this is the third time!

We used to live closeby and it was our “spot.”  Since we moved over 20 miles away, there are closer spots, so we don’t get out to the Vincentown Diner as much. For those who don’t know, the Vincentown Diner was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Vincentown Diner Atmosphere: A

I was excited to see what changes the Vincentown Diner made. This year, the Vincentown Diner went through the exterior makeovers that makes it look more modern and clean.

Vincentown Diner

The inside of Vincentown Diner looks like a stereotypical diner with a full-length bar, plenty of tables, and booths.  It is about the same over the past few years.

Vincentown Diner Coffee: B

The Vincentown Diner coffee was decent. I appreciate how big the mug is and the waitress added whipped cream. They do charge 75 cents for whipped cream. I don’t mind paying extra for the whipped cream, but 75 cents always seems like a lot.

Vincentown Diner coffee

Vincentown Diner Food: A

The Vincentown Diner is known for its farm to table menu. All of their ingredients are locally sourced and they even have organic eggs. The Vincentown Diner menu has all of the stereotypical diner menu options, but they are higher end. They are well known for their pancakes, mile-high meatloaf, chicken cordon blue, chicken breast, mashed potatoes, crab cakes, prime rib, and burgers. I decided to order a burger. The burger itself as delicious and the bun was one of the best I’ve had. Something to keep in mind is the portion size at the Vincentown Diner is smaller, but the quality of food is there.

Vincentown Diner burger

Vincentown Diner Dessert: A

I decided to order the carrot cake. The Vincentown Diner has a revolving menu of desserts, so they don’t always have every type of cake at all times. I do wish they served more cakes because it always seems like all they have are pies. I was delighted to see the carrot cake. It was delicious.

Vincentown Diner carrot cake

Vincentown Diner Service: C

Throughout the years, the service has always been lackluster, and this was no different. The service started off well, but when we were done with our meals, we waited an additional 20 minutes for the waitress to come back. She walked by our table several times. She was nice, but we couldn’t figure out why she began ignoring our tables.

Cost: $$

The Vincentown Diner is expensive and most meals cost between $15-20.

Overall Thoughts/Would I Come Back?

I like the Vincentown Diner and it’s a good stop. The burgers are good, but I do wish they served different desserts and the service was better.

You can see more Diner Reviews Here.

Questions for you:

What is your favorite type of cake?

What is a restaurant you’ve been too multiple times? 

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Yetter’s Diner (Augusta)

October 12, 2019 By in Diners Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Yetter’s Diner (Augusta)

Yetter’s Diner (Augusta, NJ)

A few weeks ago, I stopped at Yetter’s Diner in Augusta before hiking Stokes State Park. It was early and there were only a few people in Yetter’s Diner. Augusta, NJ is a small town in Sussex County.

Yetter's Diner

Atmosphere: A
Yetter’s Diner is located right off the main road. Since there aren’t a lot of buildings, the cobblestone building is hard to miss while traveling. It’s clean and modern, not a stereotypical retro metallic chrome diner.

The interior is dimly lit and has plenty of tables, booths, and a full-length bar. Something I found interesting about Yetter’s Diner was the menus. They were decorated to bees! I’m not sure why that was.

Coffee: A
The coffee at Yetter’s Diner was brewed hot and fresh. One of my favorite details was the Yetter’s Diner logo mug, with a photo of the diner.

Yetter's Diner coffee

Yetter’s Diner Food: B
The Yetter’s Diner menu has everything you want and need in a diner. From breakfast specials like pancakes and waffles, to classic diner dinners. Since it was early, I opted for my favorite breakfast: steak and eggs. I was between steak and eggs or nova lox omelet, but the steak and eggs won out.

The steak and eggs was decent, but it wasn’t my favorite steak. The steak was drier than I prefer. The buttered rye toast tasted good and then there were plenty of hashbrowns. I wish the plate at Yetter’s Diner were bigger because I found myself making a mess.

Yetter's Diner steak and eggs

Service: A
The service at Yetter’s Diner was great. The waitress was friendly and the food came out fast. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Cost: $
For my steak and eggs and toast, it was $15.

Overall Thoughts/Summary:
I liked Yetter’s Diner and it’s a pleasant stop if you find yourself in northwest NJ. Now that Chatterbox is gone, this is the stop for good food.

Atmosphere: A
Coffee: A
Food: B
Service: A
Overall: A

You can see all 264 Diner Reviews here.

Questions for you:
What’s your favorite breakfast?
What is your favorite coffee mug? Where is it from?

Cow Run 10 Miler 1:15.00

October 10, 2019 By in Running, Training Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Cow Run 10 Miler 1:15.00

Cow Run 10 Miler (7:30)

The Cow Run 10 Miler was the longest and fastest run I’ve done since the 18.12 Challenge. I had no idea what to expect. The weather forecast was decent, although we dealt with a headwind most of the race. I was too concerned and my goal was to start and finish healthy, something I hadn’t done in 5 weeks.  Plus, I was wearing a $15, one size fits all Cow Dress. It was the first time I feel like a costume hindered my running, but that’s okay.

The 6th annual Cow Run 10 Miler ends in Salem County, NJ. Most people don’t realize, but southern NJ has a lot of farmlands and a lot of cow pastures.  One year, actual cows chased runners in the “great cow chase.”  Luckily, this year at the Cow Run 10 Miler, no cows chased us…or turkeys…or anything.

Anyway, my husband and I got to Salem, NJ, around 7:45. We met up with friends Grace and Lom and took the bus over to Cow Town Rodeo. The Cow Run is a 10-mile point to point race. Unfortunately, that meant we dealt with a headwind for most of the race.

cow town 10 miler

Anyway, I warmed up 1.5 miles with Grace (who ended up winning for women). I felt like garbage and my mind couldn’t comprehend I was going to run 10 miles. The Cow Run 10 Miler start was delayed due to one bus running late.

We finally started. During the first mile, I thought I felt “pretty good.” Maybe I’ll surprise myself, and that quickly faded. I ran the first mile in 7:00 and knew there was no way I could hold that for the entire race.

During the second mile of the Cow Run 10 Miler, my body started to heat up. We ran up a couple of hills and I was already sweating through my dress. The dress was not moisture-wicking and maybe I should have practiced running in it beforehand. Truthfully I wasn’t out for a PR or to run fast, just to have fun and get a solid workout in.  I completed stopping and taking off the dress but just decided to keep it.

During the third mile of the Cow Run 10 Miler, I ran alone. I was running near a man playing music out of his phone, it annoyed me, but I bit my tongue. I just kept plodding along.

The next mile of the Cow Run 10 Miler, felt like it would never end. We were running a straight, boring road, into a headwind. My dress was flapping around with the wind, and I was overheated. It was not pleasant and I questioned myself every step of the way.

I hit mile 5 around 37:00 minutes and just chuckled. It’s been challenging to adjust to paces the last six months and what is hard effort versus easy. I was overheated and running in headwind and I tried not to let that get me down.  I reminded myself, “you’re halfway there.”

The next mile went by a little faster, but we were just running into a headwind. I began counting down. At mile 6, I was like just half an hour to go. A few women went by me between mile 6-7. I just kept plodding along.

Mile 7 felt like I hit a huge wall. Since the Cow Run 10 Miler was my longest run in 5 weeks, I began to hit a wall. Hitting a wall in a 10-mile race makes me question running a marathon next month, but I just progressed on.

During mile 8 of the Cow Run 10 Miler,  we passed a hospital. Two more miles, I told myself. I just kept trying to motivate myself.

The last two miles went by without notice. I was just counting down. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to my watch but just trying to run around effort. I thought 7:30 pace would be good.

By the time I knew it, we were in downtown Salem sprinting towards the finish. My sprint was more like an “in my mind I’m sprinting but not really,” and I crossed the Cow Run 10 Miler finish in 1:15.00 exactly.

It was fun to see so many actual cows at the Cow Town 10 Miler finish. I wanted to take a photo with the cows. Apparently, they just wanted to lick my cow dress because of all of the sweat and Gatorade I spilled on it.

Cow Run 10 Miler Thoughts:

I felt decent and my hamstring seemed to hold up. It’s a bit sorer than I would like post-race.

Questions for you:

Have you ever run a race in a costume? I’ve done many and I really enjoy it.

Have you done a cow run?

Hiking Franklin Parker Preserve

October 8, 2019 By in hiking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment
Hiking Franklin Parker Preserve

Hiking Franklin Parker Preserve (Chatsworth, NJ)

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Franklin Parker Preserve. I’ve wanted to check out more hies, especially in the Pine Barrens.   When I first moved to NJ, I lived in the Pine Barrens. Not many people know, but the Pine Barrens make up 25% of the entire state of NJ. There are plenty of nature preserves, blueberry fields, and cranberry farms. We moved because it was making our commutes to long. I do miss the running on dirt roads, but it was nice to get back.

The Franklin Parker Preserve hikes through old cranberry bogs, around Chatsworth Lake, Cedar Swamp, and through the Pine Barrens.  According to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the Franklin Parker Preserve is also known for bird watching.

In the Pine Barrens, Franklin Parker Preserve, Wharton State Forest, Penn State Forest, Pine Snake, and Brendan Byrne State Park, you can combine multiple trails to get over 30 miles. The red trail, green trail, white trail, yellow trail, and Batona Trail all connect.  All of the trails are well marked and easy to follow at the Franklin Parker Preserve.

The hike itself at Franklin Parker Preserve is about 6.5 miles. Be careful after rain and check for ticks. It can get buggy. There is a parking lot near Chatsworth that has about 10 spots. Once you park, it’s a quick turn left onto the trail. It took us a few minutes to find it!

Here are a few photos from the Franklin Parker Preserve:

The start of Franklin Parker Preserve and trailhead

Franklin Parker Preserve

Franklin Parker Preserve

Hiking sand roads around Chatsworth Lake and Cedar Swamp

Franklin Parker Preserve

Franklin Parker Preserve

 

 

Franklin Parker Preserve

Crossing Chatsworth Lake

We also found snakeskin at Franklin Parker Preserve

Franklin Parker Preserve

Crossing back over Chatsworth Lake and Cedar Swamp

Franklin Parker Preserve

There are a lot of bugs, including praying mantis. I never knew how big praying mantis are!

Franklin Parker Preserve

In all, I had an enjoyable time at Franklin Parker Preserve and I’m looking forward to checking out and revisiting more of the Pine Barrens.

You can see all the hikes here.

Questions for you:

Have you ever seen a praying mantis?

Where is your favorite spot to hike? Have you been to Franklin Parker Preserve?

 

Toms River Diner

October 5, 2019 By in Diners Tags: , , , , ,
Toms River Diner

Toms River Diner (Toms River)

Last week, Cyd from New Jersey Isn’t Boring and I went to the Toms River Diner.  The Toms River diner recently reopened after a two-year hiatus. The same owners also own the “Holiday City Diner,” which is one I haven’t been to yet.

Atmosphere: A
The Toms River Diner sticks out on the main road. The exterior of the Toms River Diner is cobblestone. The interior has been redone and is modern.

Toms River Diner

Coffee: A
The coffee at the Toms River Diner was brewed hot and fresh and the waitress kept it refilled.Toms River Diner coffee

Food: B
The Toms River Diner menu has everything a diner typically has. There are all the breakfast favorites, including omelets, waffles, and pancakes.

There was page of lunch specials on the Toms River Diner menu. I was hoping to find a special that spoke to me but decided to order the pork chops.

Toms River Diner greek salad

I decided to upgrade my salad to a side Greek Salad and I’m glad I did. The small Greek salad had everything, including anchovies. Sometimes I can’t even find a dinner size greek salad with anchovies.

The pork chops themselves were presented well, but they were dry. I was kind of bummed and hoping for better pork chops. The mashed potatoes and corn were bland and nothing to write home about.

Toms River Diner pork chops

Service: A
The waitress at the Toms River Diner was friendly and our food came out fast. I have no complaints.

Cost: $
For my pork chops, Greek salad, and coffee, it was $20.

Overall Thoughts/Summary: 
I liked the Toms River Diner and it was a fun stop on the New Jersey Shore.

Atmosphere: A
Coffee: A
Food: B
Service: A
Cost: $10-15

Overall: A

You can see all 263 diner reviews here.

Questions for you:
Do you like pork chops? 
Where is the best corn you’ve had?

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