Today was our road trip adventure day. Yes, it’s true; I rented a car and we drove to our destinations today. Some think I was crazy to plan this, but it really was not that bad.
Our first destination: Carlo’s Bakery of Cake Boss fame in Hoboken, New Jersey. We actually placed an order ahead of time for pick up, which was a brilliant thing to do because when we got there (and we had been warned) the line of people who had not pre-ordered was extensive. So much so that the smaller group directly in front of the store was the group that had their ticket numbers already. The larger line still waiting for their tickets had to wait across the street. Crazy! We had ordered the chocolate mousse cake but did not devour it until later in the afternoon.
Our next stop was for lunch at a little ’50s style diner I had actually found on Tripadvisor.ca located on Staten Island. It was perfect. A small place designed like a malt shop with red and white colouring inside. We took a photo with the girls outside and there was even a couple of older gentlemen sitting on the bench outside. It was classic! The burgers and fries were delicious, the milkshakes were made with real ice cream, breakfast was an all-day affair (which is what Maggie ended up having – short cakes), the waitresses were friendly…What more can I say? The girls even gave our primary waitress a loonie and a toonie after we had a discussion about the difference between Canadian and American money. No, I don’t mean as a tip; this was beyond the tip. And before I forget, the place was called the Bay Street Luncheonette.
The next leg of our journey was significantly longer but really the primary reason for starting this trip in the first place. Red Bank, New Jersey, is the home of Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. I am one of those terrible parents that actually let her children watch the Jay and Silent Bob movies, but I reconcile it with the idea that the characters’ behaviour is a reflection of what NOT to do with one’s life, regardless of how ridiculously funny they are. But let me also clarify at this point that Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash is not a place recumbent with drug-related paraphernalia. Oh, no. It is rather a comic book and movie memorabilia store. Granted the movie memorabilia is primarily Kevin Smith characters and movies, but the comic book selection is quite extensive covering Spider-Man and Batman, et al, as well as Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Kevin Smith’s own comics as well. It was a must-do visit that was encouraged by the man of the house as well, who I am certain was quite jealous he could not be there with us. We viewed, we purchased, then we got a map to the Quick Stop from the clerk at the comic book store. Me thinks he gets requestes for the Quick Stop location often; he had a stack of printed directions immediately available under the till.
Obviously our next stop was the Quick Stop. For those of you not in the know, the Quick Stop is the convenience store which is the primary location in the movie Clerks and Clerks II. Again, terrible parents letting our children watch these movies. Anyway. We went, we photographed, the clerk was very gracious and accommodating (again, he confirmed he gets these requests often), and we did actually purchase plastic spoons and red plastic cups and milk to assist with the devouring of our chocolate mousse cake later in the afternoon. In hindsight, we did not ask to go on the roof where they played hockey in the movie, but I seriously doubt we would have been able to.
Next stop, under the Brooklyn Bridge. Why? Primarily so that we could eventually have supper at Grimaldi’s Pizzaria, but first we spent some time at the park on the boardwalk where we finally devoured our chocolate mousse cake. We were also quite terrible in that we video taped a somewhat taunting video of our enjoyment of the cake for a friend of Jessica’s who is a huge fan of Cake Boss. Sorry, Sydney, but there was just no way a sampling of his dessert would have made it home for you and still been edible. The T-shirt we bought you will just have to do.
We were then intending to do a geocache, but the one I had planned on did not download as it was supposed to to my GPS. We did try entering the coordinates for another one, but that started taking us into an area we weren’t comfortable in, so we turned around and decided we had digested enough of desert to go for pizza.
No worries being too full for the pizza though. there was a line up, as expected, and the wait for us was about 25 minutes, but by the time we did get in we were sufficiently hungry and the pizza was as good as it’s reputation, so the wait was totally worth it. Classic New York style pizza, gotta fold it to eat it with your hands, yummy!
Finally we made our way home via West Street, which runs along the west shore of Manhattan, dropping the car off and walking the rest of the way to our hotel. Upon arrival the girls finished off the left over pizza and cake, and currently are reading the comic books they picked up at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. A long but satisfying day!
Tomorrow: Rockefeller Centre and Spider-Man…speaking of which, we actually happened upon the Blue Moon Diner on our way home tonight! It was a total fluke and I think the girls want to see if we can find it again after the show 🙂
Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Jessica received her box of Stay-Puft Marshmallows from ThinkGeek.com today! Yes, that’s right, the Stay-Puft marshmallows of Ghostbusters fame have been made real, although with extraordinarily high concentrations of caffeine. She wanted them for Christmas, but ThinkGeek.com cannot ship food outside of the US. So our solution to this dilemma was to order them for delivery to our hotel in the US. Miraculously it worked! Had to make her and Maggie promise not to eat them unless it was morning time; can you image them hopped up on caffeine all night? Last thing I need…
Where I stayed
Guigon Travels 
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