Atlantic City to Princeton

This morning I said good riddance to Atlantic City. When people told me there was nothing there, I took that as a challenge, as I always try to find something, anything, noteworthy or interesting wherever I travel. Atlantic City really was a fail. Perhaps it used to be the gambling mecca of the Atlantic Seaboard, but now it is just run down and sad. Fortunately, the location did allow me to explore other areas in Southern and Coastal New Jersey. But I was sorry to leave.

I spent part of yesterday morning struggling with the NJ toll system. I had had a few concerning experiences which led me to start asking questions, making phone calls and sending e-mails. You can only imagine the time sink that engendered. Because I was paying cash for tolls, when no toll-taker was available, I was reduced to scrounging for change to throw into the little basket. More often than not, the electronic sign failed to change from toll due to toll paid. I had no choice but to continue through. And then I finally ran out of change and had to go through a toll station 20 cents short (and even that was after going through, pulling over, scrounging for change and walking back to drop it in the basket).

After speaking with the representative at the Ocean City Welcome Center (I was there for the rookery anyway), I learned that NJ has three different expressway systems, hence three different toll authorities. And of course I had no idea which toll booth belonged to which agency. I started by calling the NJ Turnpike Authority. E-mail produced an auto-response, and a phone call asked me to leave a message, which I did. While waiting for a response, I decided to go ahead and investigate the EZPass system . Had I understood in advance that the East Coast has an integrated electronic pass system, I might have even signed up before I left. It never occurred to me because in CA our electronic pass system is state-specific. And, of course, the problem now is providing an address to receive the physical device.

I went ahead and signed up on-line, hoping to resolve receipt of the physical device afterwords. I finally received a phone call back from the NJTA (after several e-mails back and forth). Edward was remarkably helpful once I actually had him on the phone. He explained that: 1) you are allowed one pass on a toll violation; 2) the failure of the electronic sign to change is due to some prior person throwing debris in the basket and I am not responsible and 3) absent a physical device, the EZPass toll system will simply scan your license plate and debit your account. That really did seem to solve all of my problems, both past and future. I’m still waiting for an e-mail response from EZPass about shipping the physical device. I guess worst case, it will go to CA and have to be mailed back to me. I did try going through an EZPass lane today. It said toll not paid, but go. So we’ll see if the license plate scan and account debit works.

The next issue is the air quality due to the fires. It has been deteriorating over the last few days due to forest fires in NJ and now the smoke from the fires in Canada is also contributing. Apparently, NY had the worst air quality in the world yesterday. I feel like I am back in CA a few years ago when the red sun and smoke-filled air evoked a Martian landscape. I will have to drag out the KN95 masks that I have stopped using for COVID to filter particulates when I am outside. It is not really an option for me to stay inside until the air quality improves. But photos will be weird and difficult. As will be trying not to breathe.

After sorting out the toll issues, I took a detour on the way to Princeton to stop at Cook’s Beach . This beach is famous for the horseshoe crabs that come ashore each year in the Spring to spawn. This also attracts an enormous amount of seabird and shorebird life that dine primarily on the roe, which is rich in fat. Fin fish and Sea Turtles also eat the roe, as well as the larvae. Yet other species live in and on the shell of the crab in a symbiotic relationship. The crabs themselves are an interesting species as they are evolutionarily ancient , dating back to the Paleozoic era, and predate most other species on the planet. They also have an interesting life cycle that is interlocked with both the astronomical calendar and other species. Finally, the blood of horseshoe crabs has a variety of medical uses, from testing the safety of vaccines to endotoxin testing. Their main spawning area encompasses both sides of Delaware Bay, both on the DE and NJ sides.

I arrived at Cook’s beach only at midday, not prime photography time, or even the best time to see the crabs , (that would be high evening tide) but they were around and active. Oddly, the fire haze in the air provided some relatively soft light, negating the midday issue somewhat. While the famous Red Knots (which nest on the beach and depend exclusively on the Horseshoe crab roe at that time) had already departed, the beach was still filled with other shorebirds. I made some images and on my way back to the car ran into Eddie and Joe. They were both both camping nearby. Joe is a retired rigger from Pennsylvania and Eddie was in the area to fish. We chatted for a while before both departing, the men to their camp, me for the two hour drive to Princeton.

I have learned that the quality of even supposedly equivalent hotels varies widely depending on management. You can see it in both the physical facility and in the way the staff interacts with guests. This Courtyard in Princeton is similar to a couple of other hotels - the Courtyard in Charleston, SC and the Fairfield in Easton - in that you are immediately welcomed as family. The staff goes out of the way to meet your needs, even anticipating them. And even modest rooms are well cared for and nicely equipped. I wish all hotels would understand that this makes a huge difference in the comfort of a stay. I even have a balcony on this property, unfortunately not useable because of the air quality.

Tomorrow I will take care of some tasks (grocery shopping, trying to find a camera shop to clean my dirty sensor) and explore Princeton a bit, as possible taking into account the air quality.