Saturday, February 12, 2011

Englishtown Auction and Marketplace

Once again, we've had one of our stimulating misadventures! This time I'm chalking it up to a combination of mid-winter blues and cabin fever. I HAD to get out in the world!!!
Picture is from Englishtown Auction's website.
We saw clouds and piles of snow!


So, for years, I've been hearing tales of a wondrous marketplace "up the road" in New Jersey. The Englishtown Auction combines a farmers market, outlet center shops, flea market, food vendors, arts, crafts, antiques, and, oh yeah, auctions, too. All this on just two days a week, Saturday and Sunday, year round. It's been happening there since 1929!!!! They have five large buildings and 40 acres of outdoor vendor space. It is the largest of its kind - anywhere. --- And, we had never been there before!!

With decent weather forecast for the day and nothing else on our schedule, it seemed a brilliant plan. Earlier in the week, I'd been online looking for a particular item and finding they don't sell it online but they do have a shop at Englishtown, I had that extra push I needed. It is about a 2 1/2 hour trip so I expected The Big Guy to shoot it down but he actually knows folks who have gone there frequently and I think I sparked a little curiosity in him.
So, not so bright, but early this morning, we set out for New Jersey. We hit almost no traffic so the trip was easy, until we got off the main highway. I had printed out the Mapquest directions but forgot to grab Samantha (our GPS) from the other car. I should know from experience, MQ sometimes has problems differentiating its right from left when it comes to turns. This was one of those occasions.

After proceeding an extra 1 1/2 miles down a country road looking for a specific intersecting road, we turned around and went back to the main highway and tried going the opposite direction. Aha!! There was the road we were looking for! Things got back on track until we came to the dreaded DETOUR. Seems the bridge was out! After some finagling and backtracking, we finally stumbled upon the Auction site. In good weather, it might be awesome!! (See pics.)

Today was cold, cloudy and windy (not in the forecast) and the parking lot was full of piles of snow with narrow driving paths and limited spaces available but we found a spot. The semi-paved and gravel surface was very muddy and a bit slippery to walk on but all that mess was on the parking lot. The sales area itself was plowed clean and the pavement there was dry.

I was shocked to see how many outdoor vendors were set up on this day. We were also disappointed to see how many indoor shops were closed. (I'd say half.) One vendor told me, "It's February. They go South." You really can find just about anything there. I saw garage-sale shoe rejects, brand new mink jackets, appliances and musical instruments, endless sock vendors, foods of all ethnic styles - both ready to eat and grocery supplies. Clothing, jewelry, audio equipment, car supplies and more. There was one great shop full of vintage toys. I'm talking 1960s era G I Joes and wooden Fisher Price. Just imagine what's there when they're all open.

I found the guy I was looking for but he didn't have what I wanted. After chatting a bit, he promised to send them to me later this week when the items come in and simply mail a bill with them. He told me he's still trying to develop a way to sell online through his website. We did manage to spend a whopping $47 (including a really tasty lunch) at the market plus the gas for the 3 hour drive each way and $9.70 in tolls. I should say $10.70 as we got shortchanged by a toll taker on the NJ Turnpike. I'd already started rolling when The Big Guy realized it. He says we probably won't go back - too far, too big, TOO EXHAUSTING!! (He's really getting grumpy in his old age!)

On the upside, we needed to pass his favorite casino on the way home. (I use the word "pass" loosely here.)

***Oh, we stopped at one of the rest stops on the Turnpike and I saw plain white T-shirts featuring the green Turnpike logo. You know, if the best souvenir you can find on vacation is a shirt featuring a turnpike logo (for ANY state), you need a better travel agent!!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like reading a post that will make people
think. Also, thank you for allowing for me to comment!



My web site: Click here

Anonymous said...

Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular post!

It's the little changes which will make the largest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!

my site: he has a good point

Anonymous said...

Magnificent site. Plenty of useful information here.

I'm sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you for your effort!

my weblog - http://pornharvest.com/index.php?m=2518548

Anonymous said...

I have been surfing on-line more than three hours lately, but I
by no means found any interesting article like yours.
It is beautiful price enough for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content material as
you did, the net shall be much more useful than ever before.



Also visit my web site: http://pornharvest.com/index.php?m=2501262

Anonymous said...

Hurrah, that's what I was exploring for, what a material! present here at this website, thanks admin of this site.

my website ... click here

Anonymous said...

Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot
of spam feedback? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can recommend?

I get so much lately it's driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.

My page - in porn tube

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous quest there. What occurred after? Thanks!


My homepage - Additional resources

Anonymous said...

Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine
Optimization? I'm trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm
not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share.
Kudos!

Feel free to visit my homepage http://pornharvest.com/index.php?m=1915484

Anonymous said...

Hi! I just would like to give you a big thumbs up for your great information you have got here on this post.
I'll be coming back to your web site for more soon.

Here is my blog; horny lesbians go crazy

Anonymous said...

Wonderful goods from you, man. I've understand your stuff previous to and you're just too excellent.

I actually like what you've acquired here, certainly like what you're saying and
the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and
you still take care of to keep it smart. I cant wait to read
far more from you. This is really a wonderful web site.


Visit my page :: check this out

Anonymous said...

Hello there! This blog post couldn't be written much better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept preaching about this. I most certainly will send this post to him. Fairly certain he's going to have a good read.
Thank you for sharing!

Also visit my site; Website Http://Pornharvest.Com/Index.Php?M=2260454

Anonymous said...

I love what you guys tend to be up too. This kind
of clever work and coverage! Keep up the very good works guys I've included you guys to our blogroll.

Feel free to visit my blog :: pornharvest.com

Anonymous said...

Hey! I realize this is somewhat off-topic however I had to ask.
Does building a well-established website like
yours take a massive amount work? I'm completely new to operating a blog but I do write in my diary on a daily basis. I'd like to start
a blog so I can easily share my experience and feelings
online. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or
tips for brand new aspiring blog owners. Thankyou!


Here is my web blog :: learn more here

Anonymous said...

I like the helpful info you provide in your articles.
I'll bookmark your weblog and test again here frequently. I am somewhat certain I will learn many new stuff right right here! Best of luck for the following!

Also visit my blog post :: http://ignu.ungi.com/tiki-index.php?page=UserPagestarfivv

yanmaneee said...

mbt shoes
converse shoes
kobe sneakers
yeezy shoes
kyrie shoes
balenciaga shoes
nike vapormax
adidas yeezy boost
coach outlet
yeezy boost