We exited I-80 at the Budd Lake turnoff onto Route 46 on July 19th some 10 days after we left our home in Henderson, Nev.
Our daughter, Dani, and her son, Hunter, moved to an apartment complex across the highway from the lake early last year. We asked Dani if it would be all right for us to stay with her for our New Jersey visit this year.
“Sure, if you think you’ll be comfortable. I’m happy to hear you are even considering it,” Dani said. She has a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment. Hunter gave up his room for us.
“I’m hardly here,” he said. “I work all the time.”
Hunter is now 19 and still works at a country club in West Orange. Dani works most nights at a nearby steakhouse.
Budd Lake is an unincorporated community located within Mount Olive Township, in Morris County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 8,968. Budd Lake was named for John Budd. Prior to that, it was called Hattacawanna Lake.
We no sooner got a few things unpacked when we had to get going to a concert. Grandsons Brandon and Brody had a concert at the music studio where they have been taking lessons the past year.
Brandon, 10, has become a very accomplished guitar player. Brody is now 9 and the drummer in the family (his birthday was last week). I thought he was good on the drums last year. But, he has that God-given talent of being able to carry a different beat with each hand and foot at the same time.
His teacher said he has a future as a drummer if he keeps on practicing the way he does.
We went to one other concert of theirs while we were in New Jersey.
This was a real family visit for Diane.
Although we stayed at Dani’s in Budd Lake, we spent most of our daytime hours at daughter Tammy’s house in West Orange, about a 40 minute drive away. We enjoyed lots of time with the grandkids.
Tammy and her husband, Brandon, also have two daughters, Brylee. 7, and Brielle, 4.
We met her brother, John, and his wife, Gladys, at their favorite hangout since high school. The River View East restaurant in Elmwood Park. We all had hot dogs “all the way.”
Hot dogs weren’t our only family culinary traditions we enjoyed.
There’s a deli in Livingston called Irving’s that has the best “mile high” pastrami sandwiches this side of New York City. It’s always a must-stop.
We had lunch one day at Jose Tejas that has a menu of Tex-Mex and creole offerings and dinner at Houlihan’s with those great “Shroom” appetizers.
Of course, we had to take in the Appian Way Italian Ristorante. We missed owner and Tammy’s father-in-law. Bruno, who was off on his annual trip to Italy.
We also enjoyed getting together with her sister, Teresa, and her family; husband Victor and their son, Victor. Lunch was at Meson Madrid in Palisades Park, N.J. Victor proposed to Teresa at the restaurant some 34 years ago. It was their first time back to the Spanish restaurant and the food was as good as they remembered. There’s no reason why it took so long to go back other than they live in upstate New York.
Other regular stops during this year’s New Jersey adventure were the many diners. Diane and I had the Eggs Benedict and the corned beef hash at the Millburn Diner. It was full on a Sunday when we went back there, but we had a great breakfast when we filled the counter at the Verona Diner. There’s a new place in West Orange called the Chit Chat Diner that had not only good food, but great views of the New York City skyline.
We spent a week at the Jersey shore in a rental house in Point Pleasant. We had one afternoon thunderstorm and one after we went to bed another night. Otherwise the weather was great. The forecast had been for storms or rain every day.
My next column and the last in this series will be the long trip home.
