Spring Break

Dear Dad,

For once — due to the fact that I’m homeschooling G3 and get to make the rules — my spouse’s and my son’s spring break coincided, which meant we got to escape New Jersey for a couple days. You know I love to get away and travel even if it’s still fairly close to home. Due to the pandemic and our finances, we didn’t go far. My father-in-law allowed us to stay a few nights in his house in Delaware, which opened up Maryland and Virginia for day trips.

On Tuesday morning we headed south. When G3 was a baby and a toddler, I often read him the board book Good Night New Jersey. In the years since, we had visited every landmark and attraction mentioned in the book, except for Lucy the giant elephant. Both of us had been wanting to see her, but it was a long trip just to see the oldest roadside attraction in New Jersey. However, I had also wanted to visit Cape May. After sixteen years in this state, it was the only town I hadn’t been to that held any interest for me. Therefore, we decided we’d begin spring break with a trip to the Southern tip of New Jersey and on the way we’d pay a visit to Lucy. Lucy was closed for the season so we couldn’t go inside and climb the stairs to her back which doubles as an observation deck. I didn’t mind. With COVID still a threat, I wouldn’t have wanted to be inside tight quarters with other people anyway. Simply seeing her and taking a picture with her was enough to knock it off our bucket list. I can’t say the visit was terribly exhilarating, but I’m glad we went.

From the Lucy we continued on to Cape May. It is a quaint beach town, much like every other beach town I’ve ever been too. But as G3 commented, it wasn’t as nice as Cape Cod or even Greenport. But I’m not sure anything will ever be better than Cape Cod, and since Greenport holds so many memories of you, I think it will be hard for G3 to find a beach town he likes more. You kind of set a high bar for him. Whenever he’s near the beach he’ll probably always think of you.

My father-in-law introduced us to a new geocaching game called Adventure Lab. We all seemed to enjoy it more than traditional caching. Instead of searching for logs hidden away from the public, this game brings us to tourist attractions. The caches are in sets — usually of five — and they have various themes. The first one we did was Haunted Cape May. It took us on a walking tour to five buildings that are allegedly haunted. To play the game, you have to approach a specific location with your cell phone. Once you get within seventy feet or so, a question pops up. The question is usually simple, like “How many windows are on the front of the building?” To get credit for the cache all you have to do is correctly type in the answer. 

G3 loved playing because we let him go off on his own. He enjoyed the independence. Once we all correctly answered a question, he raced ahead to the next location. After all the hiking and traveling we have done through the years, he’s very capable of reading a map. And we aren’t too worried about him being alone. It was broad day light, and he is well trained in self defense. Plus, he had a cell phone, so he was never more than a phone call away. 

Once we completed Haunted Cape May we drove to the beach. Water makes me happy. We didn’t stay long. It was getting late and we still had nearly a two hour drive to Delaware. But I figured, we couldn’t get that far south and not see the ocean. When we left I said, “Now that I’ve seen Cape May, I’m ready to leave to New Jersey for good.” My son laughed and responded, “You’ve been ready to leave for years.” Yep, that is true. But now I’ve seen all I wish to see.

Day two of spring break found us in Virginia at Manassas (The Battle of Bull Run) battlefield. Oh how my spouse hates battlefields. She finds them incredibly boring, but G3 and I enjoy visiting them and seeing where history unfolded. Of course, the first thing G3 needed to do upon arrival was visit the gift shop. It was small, but we bought him a souvenir patch for his collection. While my spouse took a brief nap in the car, my son and I walked around where the first Battle of Bull Run took place. I didn’t realize it was the first major land battle of the Civil War. Local residents gathered for a picnic to watch the battle from a distance. That seems rather grotesque to me. How could anyone enjoy a meal while people were being slaughtered? But this was a society that also enjoyed gathering for public executions. 

We stopped at the statue of Stonewall Jackson and G3 wondered why this statue of a Confederate had not been removed. We discussed the difference between statues built to idolize a particular person and statues in a museum and concluded that museums, including battlefields, are important to remember history as it happened and the people who participated in it. Near the statue was a sign that explained that it was there in Manassas that he earned the nickname Stonewall, because he held his troops steady like a Stonewall during the battle.

In the early afternoon, we — the three of us — took a ranger tour of the Deep Cut. In 1862, during the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Union and Confederate armies fought here at the sight of the unfinished railroad. The Union lost. At one point, short on ammunition, the troops resorted to a rock throwing skirmish. The tour was okay. The guide had a great deal of knowledge but he was a rather bland story teller. The best ranger tours are with the men and women who can tell a story with a great deal of animation and bring the events to life for the audience. I applaud my spouse for sticking it out even though she was thoroughly bored.

After the tour, we did another Adventure Lab cache which brought us to different key locations on the battlefield. One site was the surgeon’s pit, which is where the surgeon discarded all the amputated limbs following the battle. I enjoyed this set of caches because it was a mini history lesson.

On our last day, we drove down to Cambridge, Maryland to visit the Harriet Tubman museum. The museum was really small, and we didn’t learn anything new about either the Underground Railroad or Tubman. But we did see an amazing mural of Tubman. The artist painted such a realistic portrait, it seriously looked as if Tubman was stepping out of the side of the building. We also took a leisurely stroll down to the water to visit the harbor. I couldn’t be that close to saltwater and not see it. Following our walk, we did another Adventure Lab cache, this one with a Harriet Tubman theme. The last stop was most interesting. It brought us to field that was once a farm where Tubman toiled before she escaped slavery and ran away to the north. 

On our way back to my father-in-law’s house, we did one final Adventure Lab cache. Like the Tubman one, we had to drive to each location, but it brought us up the coast of Delaware to some picturesque places. 

I wish you were still here. I think you’d also enjoy the Adventure Lab caches. More than the caches themselves, you would really have enjoyed doing them with G3. There are a few of them out on Long Island near Riverhead. If you were alive, I know you would have been excited to do them with G3.

As always — at least since you died — I took a picture of every empty bench we encountered. By the third or fourth bench my spouse started to joke about it. It hurt my feelings. She thinks it’s silly to take pictures of empty benches, and maybe it is. But at the end of the day, she got to see her father. She got to have a real conversation with him. All I have left are memories, and the conversations I wish I could have with you.

I miss you!