Tag: new jersey

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Zumanjaro Drop of Doom Opens at Six Flags Great Adventure

I am super disappointed to miss the press preview of Zumanjaro Drop of Doom tomorrow at Six Flags Great Adventure. It opens to the public on Friday, and to season pass holders on Thursday. My kids are not going to forgive me for missing this one.

This is the world’s tallest and fastest drop ride, at 415 feet and 90 miles per hour. It’s 41.5 stories high, and is nestled into the middle of Kingda Ka (the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster). Eight riders go up for 30 seconds on three gondolas. The ride down is 10 seconds, and the gondolas descend together as well. In case your little ones are wondering if they can go, the minimum height requirement is 48 inches. And no, you can’t wear your mountable GoPro camera on it.

Zumanjaro
Zumanjaro Drop of Doom at Great Adventure is the world’s tallest and fastest drop ride.

Continue reading “Zumanjaro Drop of Doom Opens at Six Flags Great Adventure”

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Sleeping with the Fish: Overnight at Adventure Aquarium in Camden

We joined the scouts for an overnight at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. This was our fourth overnight, so we’ve had lots of experience seeing how they’re run in different facilities. This one was very well organized, and we slept better than at others. Even if you have no intention of sleeping over at the Adventure Aquarium, read on because there’s lots of great information about the animals in this post, and some awesome pictures too, if I say so myself.

camden1
View of Philly from the Adventure Aquarium.

Continue reading “Sleeping with the Fish: Overnight at Adventure Aquarium in Camden”

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Review: The Other Josh Cohen

I have to admit, it was fun going into the Paper Mill Playhouse to see The Other Josh Cohen and knowing nothing about it. So if you want to do the same, skip the review, but know that it’s a really fun show.

We went on press night, though we were not there as official press (we bid on our tickets at a silent auction). Paper Mill Playhouse – please put me on your press list! And I have a few recommendations for Paper Mill, but I’ll put those at the bottom.

The plot

The musical is about a NYC man named Josh Cohen who is trying to get his life together. He’s underemployed, loveless, poor and feels the world is out to get him, but he’s also a mensch. In a quirky twist, the narrator is an older version of Josh Cohen (and it’s not the OTHER Josh Cohen). Josh Cohen gets a big check from a mysterious person, possibly a relative, possibly a mistake. What will he do with the check? I won’t spoil that for you.

The Other Josh Cohen at Paper Mill Playhouse; Photo by Jerry Dalia
The Other Josh Cohen at Paper Mill Playhouse; Photo by Jerry Dalia

Why it’s unique Continue reading “Review: The Other Josh Cohen”

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Review: The Grounds for Sculpture

The Grounds for Sculpture had been on our bucket list for the past few years, and we finally made it there this summer (on a very hot, muggy day – with a rain interlude while we were eating lunch). If you haven’t been, you must go. This is a place you could go to multiple times and not see everything. Why? There are more than 260 sculptures spread out over 42 landscaped acres.sculpture2

It’s located on former New Jersey State Fairgrounds land, and was started by J. Seward Johnson, whose work you will see prominently. More to come on him. It was Seward’s idea to make a sculpture garden open to the public, to introduce and make others comfortable with modern sculpture. The Grounds opened in 1992, financed by public bonds, private institutions and Johnson’s foundation. It transitioned to a nonprofit organization in 2000. Read more of the history of the Grounds for Sculpture here. 

This is supposed to resemble Monet's garden and bridge - which it totally does. They pipe in the smoke/fog for effect.
This is supposed to resemble Monet’s garden and bridge – which it totally does. They pipe in the fog for effect. You can walk across it. It looks a bit like a painting itself!

The name “Johnson” certainly rings a bell in Central New Jersey. For good reason. Continue reading “Review: The Grounds for Sculpture”

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Review: Duke Farms In New Jersey

When we read about Duke Farms opening to the public a year ago (May 2012), we put it on our list to do. We finally went, albeit without kids (they’re at camp) but can’t wait to take them there.

The barn house ????
The farm barn, which is now the orientation center, is the first building you’ll see in the parking area.

Duke Farms is one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land in New Jersey, made up of more than 2,700 acres. Doris Duke’s father, tobacco farmer J.B. Duke, bought the land as a luxury homestead, endowing it with formal gardens, water features and grand buildings like the one you see above. Of note, the family home is not available for touring (and we couldn’t even see where it was while there).

F meadows
A meadow outside the Farm Barn.

Doris Duke, as the sole heir, inherited the land, where she spent part of her childhood. She put it in her foundation, for land preservation and land stewardship. What a gift! Continue reading “Review: Duke Farms In New Jersey”

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Cicadas in New Jersey – part 2

The cicadas have reached a threshold. You can now hear their constant hum outside. It sounds like a constant rubbing of one of these frog instruments.

frog

This may give some of you nightmares, but it’s a beautiful movie: 

The kids were privileged (!) to see two cicadas mating yesterday- at least that’s what I think they were doing – right there in the Bank of America sidewalk in their parking lot. In the 20+ minutes we were in there (exchanging U.S. dollars for Canadian dollars for my trip to Toronto – yay!), they stayed at it, though moving slightly to a different part of the sidewalk.

cicada sex
cicada sex. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

We’re hearing that some areas of NJ – even some areas of our town – still haven’t seen any.  So here are some pictures for those of you who are missing them. Continue reading “Cicadas in New Jersey – part 2”

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Brood II Cicadas in New Jersey

You’ve probably heard about the cicadas taking over New Jersey and other parts of the country. It’s part of the 17 year cycle. I read all about their lifecycle on Wikipedia.

Last week we spotted the first few nymphs emerging from the ground. A block away there were reports of massive molting, and a few started appearing on our block. For us, the change was last night/this morning. On the walk to school there was a definite change. You have to look down if you want to avoid stepping on them. They were littering our front walk way. I’ve heard this will get much worse. They aren’t making noise yet and the ground isn’t undulating with the creatures.

The nymph shell.
The empty nymph shell. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Apparently these are called nymph shells. After the bug crawls out of the earth (almost a foot down), they shed their skins and become adults. You can see those skins everywhere, from the ground to the grass, to tree trunks and telephone poles to tires. Continue reading “Brood II Cicadas in New Jersey”

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Review: Sleepover at the Liberty Science Center

There’s nothing like being at a Liberty Science Center Camp-In with 900 Cub Scouts and (some of) their parents.

One of the advantages to a museum sleepover is a behind the scenes look. You won’t get that here, but what you do get is presumably a smaller crowd than you’d get on a weekend. Of course if you’re there with almost 900 Cub Scouts, you’ll find that they all want to do the same things: race cars.

Even if you don’t want to read about the sleep-over portion – this post has a regular review in it too – keep reading.

The LSC does have a number of evening programs like you’d find during normal open hours – and like open hours, you can go to the programs or explore the museum on your own. While we were there, they offered two live science presentations (one on electricity and one on the four states of matter), and two lab programs (one on infections, and one on the Hudson Home lab).

The museum is too huge to tell all, so I’ll just pinpoint some of the highlights. You can’t see the whole museum in one trip.

Liberty Science Center lobby
Liberty Science Center lobby with collapsible sphere.  Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Continue reading “Review: Sleepover at the Liberty Science Center”

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Review: Big Apple Circus – Legendarium

This was my first time at the Big Apple Circus, having been to many other circuses. What I loved most about it was its size. It was an intimate circus, without extraneous characters running around. Everyone counted and the show was high quality.

The ring before the show started. The middle has a listing of the performers. The live band is above the entrance in the lit-up area. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The ring before the show started. The middle has a listing of the performers. The live band is above the entrance in the lit-up area. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

I brought three 11 year old girls to the show and they loved it, as did the younger kids sitting around us. With only 16 rows of seats (about 1,700 total guests), you’ll have a good view no matter where you sit. I’ll tell the story mostly through photos. Continue reading “Review: Big Apple Circus – Legendarium”

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