Help me find quirky activities in New Jersey
December 9, 2019 2:32 PM   Subscribe

The hubby and I have a 2 day visit to my mom coming up. I need your help building a list of things to do that fulfill a few specific criteria in and around Monmouth County, New Jersey.

While I love my mom dearly, the only way to make visits to her house bearable is to come armed with ideas for things to do. If not, we end up sitting in her living room, watching some show marathon on TLC or Food Network, while she frantically knits (she works at a yarn store on the weekends).

The issue as you might have guessed, is that finding something my mom, my husband, and I will all enjoy is not so easy. Some activities we've succesfully all enjoyed include:
* exploring an antique mall - sparks conversation, finding funny/nice/horrifically ugly things
* visiting the jelly belly factory - lighthearted, short, guided tour plus samples
* House on the Rock - zany, quirky, bizarre collection of things. similar to antiquing in a way
* El Zanjon in Buenos Aires - a guided tour that talks about architecture, history, and layers of intertwining stories

definite no nos:
* traditional museums w/lots of reading/just standing around
* serious/heavy topics (war, death, etc)
* hiking
* rigorous activities

So, in and around Monmouth County, NJ, what are your favorite:
* brewery or food factory tours
* food experience (like a really awesome specialty foods store, dim sum, high tea, or something else?)
* bizarre/one of a kind museums or attractions
* hands on experience that feels fun/playful for 30 somethings and a 70 something
* preferably under $100 for the 3 of us, it would have to be insanely perfect to even go that high

This trip is in winter, but I'm certainly open to ideas for better weather too. Thank you in advance!
posted by CookieNose to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Off the top of my head:

Battle of Monmouth reenactment -- yes, I suppose technically this is "war" but doesn't feel heavy at all. 2-day encampment, costumes, galloping horses, serious reenactors, the works. Usually mid-late June.

If it gets cold enough to freeze the river, you can watch iceboats race at Monmouth Boat Club in Red Bank.

Silver Ball Museum on the boardwalk at Asbury Park -- this was a surprisingly huge hit with our 60-77 year old guests last year. Immaculately restored video and pinball games you can play all day for one admission price. Lots of games they remembered playing in the 60s! Atmosphere is very relaxed.
posted by apparently at 4:07 PM on December 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


Sometime maybe take a day trip to the Pine Barrens and go to Batsto.
posted by gudrun at 4:32 PM on December 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


If you like antiques, I recommend Salvage Angel by the Sea in Asbury Park. As far as restaurants go, I really liked Taka, but Asbury is full of great places to eat and drink (as well as 1920s architecture and weird history like the Morro Castle disaster).

Alternatively, you could make something at Hot Sand.

If you don't mind driving out of Monmouth County, you could tour Lucy the Elephant in Margate or the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works and Fonthill (which is a real weird house worth seeing because it was made out of hand poured concrete in weirdo shapes) further out in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
posted by marfa, texas at 5:33 PM on December 9, 2019


Best answer: West Lake in Matawan has good dim sum (and authentic, from what I gather.)
If grocery shopping counts, Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck is huge farm market that’s fun to walk around, eat samples, and they have food you can purchase to eat there as well - smoothies, sandwiches, their famous apple cider, and apple cider donuts.
Agreed about shops in Asbury Park. You can check out both the boardwalk and Cookman. There’s also some art galleries, a brewery, and a paranormal bookstore there too.
I’ll come back if I think of more!
posted by moogs at 5:39 PM on December 9, 2019


Best answer: I would go to Convention Hall in Asbury Park. On the weekends during the holiday season they have pop-up shops, and there's restaurants in the hall and along the boardwalk. The Asbury hotel is a block down, has a relatively nice bar in the lobby, and Asbury Lanes is right behind it. I was just there Saturday night.

Or you could go to Kane Brewing Company - they have tours and a big tasting room.
posted by lyssabee at 5:52 PM on December 9, 2019


Came back to say you may also be interested in Grounds for Sculpture, though it's more pleasant in warm weather.

Net Cost is a Russian supermarket chain with a location in Monmouth County; worth a stop if you want to try new things (like pickled watermelon, or good pierogies, Turkish delight, and Russian honey cake).
posted by marfa, texas at 5:56 PM on December 9, 2019


Check out udelco if you can. It’s a bulk vintage store in Hawthorne New Jersey wo th boxes and boxes to sort through.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 6:27 PM on December 9, 2019


Allaire Village . Especially in December, when they have the different stores open, and you can take a brief train ride; watch the blacksmiths; sample items in the bakery; visit the general store.

Red Bank! My hometown, with a plethora of restaurants, shops, breweries, and an antiques mall.

Sandy Hook and Fort Hancock. It's an easy drive around to view Officers Row, the Lighthouse, and various battlements. Seals come there in the winter; dolphins play offshore.

Asbury Park. It's a come-back kid kind of town. Some areas have a long way to go, but there are great restaurants, and quirky fun, like the Catsbury Park, a cute cafe that also has cats for adoption; Paranormal Books and Curiosities, if anyone has an interest in the supernatural.

Laurita Winery has all kinds of things going on in most seasons, too. I almost forgot to mention them!


Monmouth County has a lot to offer, and it's very close to other areas too. You can find anything in NJ. I hope you all have a blast!
posted by annieb at 6:15 PM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


I was also going to suggest Laurita Winery! They often have live music and/or food trucks etc on the weekends, in addition to their normal wine and food.
posted by amro at 7:08 PM on December 10, 2019


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