Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Measuring Up Morristown

Having returned from the MARAC Meeting in Morristown, a word about the town where Washington slept. The Westin Governor Morris is located on the outskirts of Morristown, far from the center of town. It is hard to locate, especially when arriving at night. One issue is the problem that occurs all over New Jersey, that being the inability to turn left from most roads. In New Jersey, you are often forced to go right to go left, making use of the infamous "Jersey Jughandles." Also, the hotel is situated in such a way that the back of the hotel faces the road and you can drive right by it and not see it.

The Westin is a very nice hotel, complete with Heavenly beds and Heavenly showers. It also features an excellent restaurant, Copeland's. While I did not partake myself, several of my colleagues sampled the fine cuisine offered and reported it outstanding. One still wonders how a five-star restaurant manages to do well in a hotel on the outskirts of Morristown. This is also a hotel that features a rack rate of more than $300/night. God bless the corporate expense account.

On Wednesday night, upon arriving, a friend and I went in search of a snack, specifically some ice cream. However, the many one way streets and the several times we circled the Morristown Green, along with the late hour, foiled us in that effort. We finally came across a grocery store on the main drag, only to find that it had closed at 10:00pm.

A word on the Morristown Green. While it is very nice to have a green space in the middle of town, with an impressive and long history, the streets that surround the Green are all one way. Roads head off like spokes and it is very easy to get turned around. Also, heading into town, one quickly discovers that you can get to the same spot in several ways, but will not be able to head back the same way.

As to Morristown culinary delights, I sampled a wide variety during my three days. On Thursday evening, I and two other colleagues headed to the Morristown Diner, a true greasy spoon diner. We all sampled from the early bird menu, my two friends opting for the Prime Rib and I had the meatloaf. It's a beautiful thing to have dinner like that for $10. But, please don't get me started on the pudding.

To watch the World Series each evening (Thursday and Friday), I wound up at a local bar, The Office. It featured an impressive beer list, both tap and bottled beers. And the wings were good, too.

On Friday for lunch, my roommate and friend headed for town to grab some lunch between sessions. As previously mentioned the roads in and out of Morristown are tricky so we pulled up short of the Green and wound up at Grasshopper off the Green. An Irish pub, I am happy to report the Fish and Chips were outstanding. I almost went for the Bangers and Mash, but went to the Fish and Chips instead. The wild card was on the specials menu, a Cuban Sandwich, but I couldn't bring myself to order a Cuban in an Irish bar. Friday night, after the reception, as previously mentioned, a large group went to the Famished Frog. We were eighteen total and the staff did an outstanding job with all of us and we all reported that our meals were great.

On both the trip up and back, I stopped at rest areas to get myself some of my favorite comfort, fast food, Roy Rogers Chicken. In a future post, I will report on my one man operation to try and understand why the Roy Rogers restaurants were rapidly disappearing.

1 comment:

Archivalist said...

As an undergrad, I used to eat Roy Rogers chicken sandwiches almost every day from the school's caf. I can't say I miss Roy himself, but he made a mean sandwich. Fries too. Good luck in your quest.