Atlantic City, New Jersey

I cannot even begin to calculate the number of hours I spent as a kid playing Monopoly, hanging out in what seemed to me to be fictional places, such as Marvin Gardens and Park Place, Baltic Avenue and Reading Railroad.  Living so far away on the West Coast, the thought that those colorful squares on the game board might represent real places could never have been more than a vague concept. So, it was quite a delight when we visited the Real Atlantic City in New Jersey, and drove up and down actual streets called Oriental, Baltic, and Ventnor Avenues, and of course, strolled up and down the actual Boardwalk. This internationally renowned resort city caters to gamblers, the tourist crowd, and beach-goers, replete with the boardwalk amusement park, and innumerable retail outlets hawking souvenirs.  Although we just spent one afternoon here, we had a good time walking up and down the beach and finally setting foot and eyes upon this infamous little corner of the East Coast.

Trenton, New Jersey

In June 2011 we spent two weeks in Clarksboro, New Jersey, which included a visit to the state capitol in Trenton. Set along the Delaware River, the capitol is the second oldest state house in continuous legislative use in the United States. The majority of state capitol buildings in the U.S. are built to resemble the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., but the New Jersey State House is unusual in this respect, and is shaped like a sideways "H". Normally when we tour a capitol, it is just the two of us, and we use the available brochures and exhibit descriptions to pick up as much as we can about that particular state, capitol, and history.  But per the rules, we were not allowed to tour here on our own, so we joined up with a group of local students and had our first formal guided tour of a state capitol.  We were pleasantly surprised about how much we gleaned by having a knowledgeable guide explain the significance of certain details we may otherwise have passed right by. Afterwards we had a chance to chat with the guide, a retired school teacher who now volunteers her time giving capitol tours. She was very interested in hearing what we thought of "her" capitol, and how it compared to the others we have visited so far.  Even though it wasn't our preference to have a guided tour, it turned out to be one of those serendipitous moments for everyone.