New Hope

We took a ride to New Hope, PA on Tuesday. It was a beautiful day, and we were able to dine alfresco by the Delaware River for lunch.

New Hope is a historic town on the Delaware, just a short walk across a narrow bridge from Lambertville, NJ. The town is sometimes described as "artsy" or "new agey," and there are lots of shops and restaurants. Some of the shops carry unique, handcrafted items, and some carry the usual touristy stuff. Most of the shops are located in partially restored historic buildings of the father-son-holy spirit variety (three story early American firetraps) often found in East Coast revolutionary era towns (Philly, Trenton, etc.).

The ride up through New Jersey was nice, traveling through the pinelands, then through Trenton and the outskirts of Princeton, and winding along the Delaware past Washington's Crossing State Park. It's nice to remember some of the good things about New Jersey. There is quite a lot of bitterness here these days, centered on politics and state and local budgets. It can sometimes be hard to see this as a nice place to live. It was nice to forget all of that for one lovely spring day.