A Fun Day Off in June

I had the day off today, so my daughter and I went to the Twin Brook Golf Center in Tinton Falls today to play miniature golf. The 18-hole course is interspersed with waterfalls and flowing streams. There's even a cave at the ninth hole. I was on my game today, I must say. From there we went to Belmar and had lunch at the Boathouse Bar and Grill. We were hot from playing golf, so we ate inside, but it was a bit dark. I'd recommend eating at a table on the patio out front. On our way home we stopped in at the Matawan Starbucks, where my wife joined us for coffee. My wife and I are having pizza in tonight while my daughter and her beau head out to Red Bank for the evening.

News Updates as of 29 April 2010

• Clean Ocean Action (COA) released its 2009 Beach Sweeps data, per Atlanticville. 74 volunteers picked up more than 3,000 pieces of debris from Cliffwood Beach last year.  This year's event was last Saturday.
• Home Facts provides a list of local criminal and sex offenders. We've got three at the moment.
• Local Babe Ruth Softball website.
• There was a college football recruiting event at Matawan this past weekend, per ESPN. It was apparently the place to be for the best players in the NJ/Phila area.
• The first comment on an APP article about dune restoration at Sandy Hook was a sharp response from an advocate of Cliffwood Beach. Kim wrote, "It would be nice if Monmouth County cared about other beaches. Cliffwood Beach in Aberdeen Township was leveled after the last storm, yet nothing has been done other than remove the dunes from Ocean Blvd by pushing it back onto the side of the road. The Middlesex County side of Cliffwood Beach has seen some cleaning up already. Aberdeen Township never cares about it’s parks – it’s sad. I have some pictures if you are interested."
• SJV crushed the Huskies in girls softball, per NJ.com. The girls' result was much closer but still a loss against Colts Neck, per NJ.com. Boys baseball fared even worse against Holmdel, per NJ.com.
• The Aberdeen Family Fishing Contest is coming up on 8 May 2010, per APP Fishing Calendar.
• A NY1 reporter, a resident of Matawan, recently lost her sexual harassment case against her employer, according to the NY Daily News.
• Parkway 120, a new office building at 90 Matawan Road in Laurence Harbor, has won the Energy Star compliance rating, per Pitch Engine.
• McTeach was a MAMS PTSO project that involved teachers getting behind the counter at the McDonald's on Route 34, per The Independent. They encouraged people to vote in the school board elections that day.
• The Matawan Aberdeen School Board installed its new members, per APP. Incumbent Jeff Delaney and past board president Pat Demarest were sworn in for Aberdeen, the latter replacing Tom Gambino. Anissa Esposito is replacing Larry O'Connell as the Matawan representative on the board. Charles Kenny was nominated to continue in the role of board president. Elizabeth Loud-Hayward was voted in as Vice President. The teachers union expects to discuss its next contract with the board on 6 May. The next board meeting will be 10 May. (See my 6 March article for further info about the new board members.
• The Board of Education axed the golf team before consulting with the coach, per APP. She would have liked to have had a chance to seek accommodations from vendors and students first. The team has produced some college stars, so it's a real shame to lose it if it could have been saved.
• 1-2 May 2010 Weekend in Old Monmouth to include visit to Burrowes mansion, per Atlanticville. The Keyport Steamboat dock Museum and the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel are also featured.
• True Love Bridal came to the rescue in a pinch, per APP.
• A 16-year old Matawan girl attending Collier High School is mentioned in an APP article. Read more about the school in this associated article.

News Updates as of 25 November 2009

• Monmouth County was second only to Essex County in the number of heroin addicts seeking treatment last year, according to Department of Human Services statistics cited by APP. That's not tourists from New York City going to the Jersey Shore to score some heroin; it's local county residents who are getting hooked. And we need to admit to ourselves that the dealers live among us. The authorities rightly urge us to fight drug use on every front. And while it is good to see investigation, arrest and prosecution of drug dealers, we really need to look into ourselves to reduce the demand for this stuff and get it off our streets.
• Alcoeur Gardens, based in Aberdeen, has facilities here on Matawan Avenue in Aberdeen, as well as in Brick, Ocean, and soon in Tom's River for the institutional care of patients with Alzheimer's in home-like environments.
• Bloomfield is reviewing its recent choice for township administrator, according to Baristanet. Frederick Carr, who used to do work for Matawan Borough, once worked for the company that Bloomfield hired to walk the township through the candidate selection process for the position he now holds. Bloomfield's mayor wonders how the selection was whittled down from 46 candidates to 2 so quickly. Referring to Carr, the mayor is quoted as saying,"Is he a golf buddy, or what?" See also the Star-Ledger article.
• According to The Leader, Becton Regional School District is seeking to leave NJ School Boards Association and join instead Dollars and $ense, which MARSD and 28 other NJ school districts belong to.
  
• Matawan and Manasquan will square off for the NJSIAA Central Group II sectional high school football championship match at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) in Ewing on 4 December at 7 pm, according to APP. Click here for directions to the campus. The school's virtual tour includes a photo and description of Lions Stadium under Recreational Areas.
  

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Massanutten Holiday

My step-mom recently gifted us her deed to an Eagle Trace timeshare at Massanutten Resort in McGaheysville, Virginia. My wife, daughter, and I just returned from a restful week's stay at the resort. It rained on and off towards the end of the week, but we managed to squeeze in some swimming, tennis, and miniature golf whenever the weather cleared.

From Aberdeen, the trip is about 5-6 hours. We took the GSP to I-287 to I-78, which we followed to Harrisburg, PA, where we turned south on I-81 to Harrisonburg, Virginia.

While we were there we upgraded our timeshare to a 2 bedroom Week 5 (late January early February) condominium at the new Woodstone at Massanutten facility. This gives us prime access during the ski season at Massanutten. We're not big skiers, so we'll probably split our unit and rent half and exchange the other half using RCI.

The heavily wooded mountain has loads of deer, chipmunks, and woodchucks. They say there are bears, too, but we fortunately didn't run into any. A couple of times I saw what appears to have been a Northern Harrier flying low through the trees near our condo.

We drove to the beautiful overlook by following Del Webb to the top of the mountain. You can park your car at the top and take one of two marked trails. You'll want to have good hiking shoes and bottles of water if you plan to hike the 4 hours to the ski area and back. We didn't have the chance to make the hike; the vista on the left is from another person's stay in 2004.

My daughter and I became acquainted with some interesting microbrews during our stay. On Saturday there was a beer and wine tasting event at the ski lodge. Then on Thursday there was a Beer Tasting Dinner at the conference center. Between times, the three of us visited the well-stocked and adroitly tended bar at the Fareways Restaurant off Del Webb Drive. Among our favorites were Starr Hill Brewery's Jomo Lager (Charlottesville) and Rogue Dead Guy Ale (Oregon). We skipped the Wine Tasting Dinner and the Murder Mystery Dinner because the dinners were rather exclusively priced and those meals included foods that members of the family were allergic to.

If you're interested in spending a free weekend at the resort, send me an email and I can sign you up. You'll get a $100 VISA gift card. You'll have to let a salesperson give you a personal tour so they can promote their timeshares, but you'll have the rest of the weekend to enjoy the resort. You'll have free lodging and use of the gym and pools but will have to pay for things like horseback riding, go karts, miniature golf, a huge indoor/outdoor water park, tubing, and a world-class spa. If you're unfamiliar with timeshares, they'll be more than happy to explain the pros and cons.

Caveat emptor: Massanutten sales staff are very good at selling their properties, so buyer beware. My neighbor at Eagle Trace this week was visiting as a guest of an owner and ended up buying a timeshare at the Summit. The Timeshare Users Group can give you some independent information on sales practices and will try their best to dampen your enthusiasm for buying a timeshare from the resort. I find they tend to be overly zealous against the sales process. I recommend that you do some research before you go and decide for yourself.

Visitors check in at Woodstone Center off Resort Drive. Woodstone at Massanutten is south and east of Resort Drive, just east of the center. Eagle Trace and the Summit are accessed by taking Massanutten Drive, just west of the center and north. (You'll want to use directions from the website because GPS devices can lead you astray. There is also a resort map online.)


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News Updates as of 2 May 2009

There have been quite a few news stories lately about our local sports stars. Here is a sampling of what I'm seeing on the web.

• Jaclyn Clifton, Matawan Regional High School, won the Monmouth County Girls Golf Championship at Charleston Springs Golf Course in Millstone on 29 April 2009, according to an article in the Asbury Park Press. This is only the second year of the event and Clifton has won it both years. Rumson won the event overall.
• Vin Avella, of Matawan, junior first baseman for Wagner College on Staten Island, hit his 12th homerun of the season to tie the school record and help the team defeat Mount St Mary's 17-6 on 26 April 2009, according to SILive.
• Dan Bullen, of Matawan, won in doubles tennis play for DeSales University on 23 April 2009, according to the school's athletic website. Dan attended SJV.
  
• Maria Moya, of Matawan, placed fourth in pole vault for Kean University at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Rowan University on 2 May 2009, according to Kean's athletics website.
  
• Monica Kloc, of Matawan, was listed among the outstanding newcomers in the javelin throw at Monmouth University, according to MUHawks.