All the Way Around

Taking county routes where we could, we drove through Northern Jersey and into Ocean County. Having spent much of my childhood there, I was ecstatic to see Jersey trees again. Dave was in awe of everything on the first real driving day of our journey. It was warm and the windows of the car were open for the first time this early spring. After reaching my Aunt & Uncle’s house in Jackson, we drove off to the Point Pleasant boardwalk, something Dave wanted to see after I told him “its the Jersey thing to do.”

We experienced all the joys of the Jersey shore: Dave dipped his feet into the ocean, we admired shells and sea glass, made out under the dock, and held hands along the wooden boardwalk. We even went into an arcade that boasted, “Open Year Round!”. Walking the Atlantic sand, we shared our excitement that in just over a month, we’d be standing at the shore of the Pacific, thousands of miles away.

That evening, we convinced my 14-year-old cousin Lee to come dancing. We drove west to Princeton University and were impressed by its architecture, what we could see of it in the dark anyway. Students rushed around campus and Dave muttered, “They’re smart enough to get into Princeton, but they don’t know how to cross the street…”

The Princeton dance is held in The Suzanne Patterson Center, which is a senior resource center when its not holding two lines of Jersey contra dancers. We only met one Princeton University student but we were told they come in waves.

During the break, the dance organizers announced a birthday. Now, the Greenfield, MA dancers do a unique and amazing birthday song, but I’d do my birthday in Princeton. Singing, they produced a cake lit with candles. However, the birthday girl hid behind a friend, too embarassed to blow them out.

The greatest suprise during the dance was when the caller, Mark Widmer, announced a proper dance. During the walkthrough, me and Dave caught eyes open-mouthed across the room, realizing we were about to dance a Princeton Chorus Jig. The two of us were the only dancers singing while Harbor Mystic played the corresponding tune. We couldn’t help it, so used to the chorus of “lalalalalalala lalalalalalala” in our home dance of Nelson, NH. Though the dancers were close-mouthed, the musicians let loose with skat style vocal accompaniment during the dance’s next tune–”The growling old man and the cackling old woman.”

The floor had a few blemishes but the snacks were free. All in all it was a great dance that made me proud to be a Jersey girl.

-Jackson, NJ