College, Wine, and Shopping oh my!

This weekend, Elissa and I had our first roadtrip to Ewing, NJ. The day was beautiful and our first stop was The College of New Jersey, her alma mater, and the school at which I spent 4 weeks of intense classical vocal training for The Governor's School of NJ. We each had many memories of this place and it was really nice walking around. Elissa gave me the grand tour and we even snuck into one of her old dorms. There were many parents and students walking around, being given tours by "the ambassadors" who were all dressed in the same striped shirts. I took a few photos which I will post when I get them uploaded.

We left the campus and then headed to Hopewell Vineyard in Pennington, NJ for a wine tasting. I honestly had no idea that there were vineyards in NJ. I knew about the tomatoes, corn, and peaches, but apparently people are making the vino as well. The place was on a quiet little dirt road and not at all crowded. We walked into the store and a customer was getting ready to leave with his purchases. He turned to us, "You are in for a great treat, oh boy, he will take great care of you" and then he left. I wasn't sure whether he had had one too many tastings, maybe I should have stopped him from getting behind the wheel. We were left standing in front of the wine counter, on which were dishes of olives, and then the owner, Sergio, started our tasting. I was really curious how he and his wife came to NJ to start this vineyard. He gave me a very brief answer when I asked him, but I didn't feel like probing any further. I had read that they also have a vineyard in Italy and you can even rent their place in Italy for the week. We tasted the wines and bought a few bottles. We thanked him and then hopped into the Honda. Next stop, Liberty Village outlet shopping.

Liberty Village feels like a little town, complete with pond, clock tower, and screaming children wanting ice cream. But get this, it's an entire town of outlet shops! From Brooks Brothers to Harry and David (delicious free samples), you could shop 'till you drop and then shuffle over to the Pepperidge Farm outlet to buy some goldfish for a midday snack. We ended up buying polo shirts at Ralph Lauren and then drove back to Madison.

We had a fun-filled day in NJ and were able to do it before the floods came. I can't believe how much rain we've gotten here. Better start building the arc.