SANDY HOOK AND WEST LONG BRANCH

May 17 & 18, 2010

 

 

SANDY HOOK

   

This year cousin Mark, brother Jim, Bob and Camille took a side trip to Sandy Hook, a place full of wonderful memories.  Many a summers day was spent at Sandy Hook enjoying the great swimming beaches when we were kids.  Jim took these photos. Click on them to see larger images.

 

ILLUSIONS

     

The weather was perfect for a really  good stretch of the legs - not too sunny.  There was an unusual optical illusion laying along the horizon on this day that caught the image of ships and flipped them upside down.  None of us had ever seen anything like this before. Jim took these pictures and you can click on them for a closer look.

 

WE LOVE THE BEACH

 

We try to get to the beach whenever possible.  Getting there with family makes it even more fun!  Jim took the picture on the right.

 

RELICS

 

Horseshoe crabs have captured our imaginations since we were very young.  Camille's father used to warn her and her brothers to be careful around their sharp tail.  Llittle did we know that these menacing but harmless creature have been in existence for over two hundred and fifty million years.  James puts his shoes back on in front of a Ammunition Magazine which was built in 1938 when Fort Hancock.  Here's a nice page with some good photos from someone else's website.

 

THE TRAIL HOME

    

We walked across the sand dunes back to the parking lot along this shady trail.  

 

DINNER AT FRANK,  SHAWN'S

 

Frank, Shawn and Houston really know how to entertain.  They have a beautiful home on the river with a great deck out back with views to die for.  As you can see, we are all deep into good wine, hors d'ourves and conversation.  Frank is turning to see who is snapping photos and that photographer was Jim.  Click on the picture to see a larger image.

And then there was the meal!  Penne pasta with a light sauce, beet and baby green salad and grilled everything!

 

BIRTHDAY CAKE! 

 

Houston brings her grandmother (Camille's Aunt) a birthday cake and Kathy prepares to blow out the candles. Birthdays are special for everyone involved and cake makes even the best meal even better.  What a great way to end a wonderful evening!  Jim brought the cake and captured the moment with these lovely photos.  Click on the pictures for a better look. 

 

THE HOME PLACE

 

Camille had an epiphany after noticing a for sale sign in front of the house she and her brothers grew up in.  She and Bob now felt free to take more photos and linger along the street outside the house.  What Camille realized is that this home was her "Home Place" a phrase she recently began hearing and took to mean where your family began.  Even though Camille was already nine years old when the family moved to this house, those seven years in one location became the stage for most of our family memories.

 

64 HOLLYWOOD AVENUE - 1960'S

Camille's cousin Barbara stands outside the house more than forty years ago.  Camille's parents bought the eleven room house in 1963 for $17,500.  The roofed in porch was built as a contingency to the sale.  There are sun porches, two fireplaces, two staircases, a ballroom, library, dining room and butler's room.  This home was built in 1924 as a summer cottage to compliment the cottages at Norwood Park on Hollywood Avenue.

 

DAD'S LIBRARY AND THE SPARE ROOM UPSTAIRS

Camille's father taught at what was then Monmouth College just a few blocks away.  He made his own book shelves and made his library and study downstairs in this large, windowed room.  The room upstairs had a bed in it but belonged to no one.  On hot summer nights, Camille would lay beneath those windows to escape the heat of her room.

 

STILL LOOKING GOOD 

Many of the old trees are gone, while new trees have grown up.  The house has been painted and the lawn seeded with wildflowers.  If Camille and her brother's had half a million dollars, they'd buy it just to have someplace to visit in the summer! 

 

FRONT AND BACK

 

Johnny and Bobby shared the bedroom up front which featured its own balcony.  Camille's room, the butler's room was in the back of the house behind the last window to the left upstairs.  She remembers inadvertently lighting her bed  on fire with a candle one night, waking up to flames and pushing her mattress out the window onto the roof.  So do her parents!

 

ACROSS THE STREET VIEWS

 

Across Pinewood Avenue, what had once been a riding arena, casino and stables has become fenced in tennis courts and housing.  Camille spent a lot of time at the stables learning to love horses.   Across Hollywood Avenue stands the house where our friends and the doctor who delivered brother Jim lived.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Annual May Road Trip North ] [ Dickinson College Farm Visit ] [ Cumberland Valley Family Visit 2010 ] [ Sandy Hook and West Long Branch, 2010 ] [ Hanging out with Ned in Cabin John - May, 2010 ] [ Sunken Gardens of Moncure - May 2010 ]