Morris Plains for a few weeks... (Newark, Jersey City: loan, house, to buy)

[kmc1979]

Hello. I will be traveling to Morris Plains for business for about a month and was hoping someone could give me some details. How far to NYC and drive or train? Closest beach, and how far? What airports are closest? Downtown area... bars and restaurants?

Please excuse my ignorance... I have unfortunately never visited and any advice will be very helpful!

Have a nice day.
Kay

[LittleMissSunshine]

My family lives in Morris Plains...it's mostly just homes and such, but you'll only be 5 to 10 minutes from Morristown where there is a main road, South Street, with shops and resturants and bars. If you like sushi, there is a really good place there called the sushi lounge.

There is a train in Morristown that you can take to NYC. If you go on Route 24, there is a really fancy mall, the Mall at Short Hills. If you go west on Route 80 there is Rockaway Mall.

Newark Aiport is the closest.

You're no where near anybeach. There is a lake not too far in Hopatcong.

[ottomobeale]

I stayed at the Candlewood in Morris Plains for 8 weeks. Decent enough motel.

Overall the area is safe, quiet, hilly and full of trees. IOW nice.

Driving in at 550AM start. 55 mins to GW Bridge. Dunno how long to inside city. I get off a few miles before it. I never took the train as it would involve a train change for me.

Bars. Dunno I dont drink.
Restaraunts. Rockaway Mall exit 35 on I80 has a number of the chains. Denville has some local favorites that I have never personally been to but hear about. The mall area has both a large Target and a large relatively new Walmart for basic supplies at a reasonable cost. The grocery stores are EXPENSIVE here. The target is on the Mall ring road. So is the Quiznos (favorite cheap eats)

Closest big airport is Newark. Id call Newark Airport the pit of hell but the devil might call me to complain about the unfair comparison. Unfortunately it is better and closer than the other 2 airports.

At night I just got a Blockbuster movie pass. All the movies I can watch for like 30 bucks a month. I saw a ton of good and really really bad movies.

Coming out figure 1:05 due to the Paterson traffic jam coming out.

Beach no idea. Other than dont try it on Sundays as I heard a traffic report about a 23 mile backup coming from the beach. yes 23 MILES. Never been to downtown Morristown. Dont think there is a downtown Morris Plains.

Driving in New Jersey is certainly different than most of the rest of the country.

[DodgeViper01]

That is a very nice town. Try this website:

Borough of Morris Plains NJ

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by ottomobeale

The grocery stores are EXPENSIVE here.

Funny, I don't find it so expensive here compared to other parts of the country. Just don't go to Stop N Shop or A&P and you'll be fine. I belong to another message board where we sometimes compare prices of food and my prices are consistantly lower than most.

[Ellwood]

Originally Posted by kmc1979

Hello. I will be traveling to Morris Plains for business for about a month and was hoping someone could give me some details. How far to NYC and drive or train? Closest beach, and how far? What airports are closest? Downtown area... bars and restaurants?

Please excuse my ignorance... I have unfortunately never visited and any advice will be very helpful!

Have a nice day.
Kay

I live in the next town which as described in other posts is mostly residential area. You can also avail yourself of the bus to NYC. There are several PARK & RIDE lots in the vicinity.

The closest beach would be Sandy Hook Park, probably about an hour. The Garden State Parkway AKA Garden State Parking lot tends to have a lot of traffic in the summer, as people are headed to the beach areas. Actually September is very nice down the shore, water is warmer and the crowds gone.

Suggestion for a bar: Molly Malone's on Route 10 West; Sushi: Midora Route 10 West.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by tahiti

Funny, I don't find it so expensive here compared to other parts of the country. Just don't go to Stop N Shop or A&P and you'll be fine. I belong to another message board where we sometimes compare prices of food and my prices are consistantly lower than most.

I was also pretty quizzical with that remark. I am glad you addressed it. Shop Rite offers groceries for far less than say Stop & Shop, Wegmans, etc. Pathmark is good too. I am quite dismayed here in New Mexico when I have to buy groceries at a Wal Mart Supercenter that cost more than Shop Rite. Albertson's is even more obnoxious, on the level of Acme, which is owned by Albertson's.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by mike0421

I was also pretty quizzical with that remark. I am glad you addressed it. Shop Rite offers groceries for far less than say Stop & Shop, Wegmans, etc. Pathmark is good too. I am quite dismayed here in New Mexico when I have to buy groceries at a Wal Mart Supercenter that cost more than Shop Rite. Albertson's is even more obnoxious, on the level of Acme, which is owned by Albertson's.

you've got it right - Shop Rite is cheapest! I used to go to Pathmark in Jersey City before I moved to the boonies, we don't have one here.

[quintab]

Originally Posted by kmc1979

Hello. I will be traveling to Morris Plains for business for about a month and was hoping someone could give me some details. How far to NYC and drive or train? Closest beach, and how far? What airports are closest? Downtown area... bars and restaurants?

There are plenty of nice restaurants in the area! Staying at the Parsippany Hilton? - Ruth Chist[sp?] steak house in lobby. Arthurs steak house in downtown Morris Plains (best hamburgers in area! CASH only) - across from train station, also a nice chinese restaurant on the main street. Morristown has many nice restaurants around the square (downtown).

Train from Morris Plains stops in: Morristown, Convent Station, Chatham, Summit (20 minutes change train - next tract), (Mid-town direct to NYC another 20-45 minutes) - approximately 1 hr from Morris Plains to NYC by train (if no problems!).

Forget the beach (they call it 'the shore' here) - you can't get there from here! otherwise, you can drive from morris plains, 24 to I-78 to GSP ('the Parkway') to shore points - on Friday afternoons in summer is bumper to bumper! Once you get to the beach, you will have to pay to park (if you can find a place), pay to enter beach, etc....

Hope this helps - have pfun!

[netsirk]

As others have noted, the downtown of Morris Plains is pretty small, but there are some good finds there. First, I'm at Arthur's at least once a week. Great steaks and burgers, and, as the previous poster noted, bring cash. (There is an ATM there.) There's another "Irish" bar (not all that Irish-feeling, which is why I put it in quotes), Collins, next door. There's also Tony's Pizza and Ambrosia, which has pretty good food, and sometimes a one-man band.

There are a couple of decent places to get you nails done, too.

The train station is right there, across from Arthur's. Depending on when you're taking it (determines how many local stops it makes), it can take anywhere from 55 minutes to an hour and 20 or so to get in to the city. Lets you off at Penn Station (34th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues).

Morristown is five minutes down the road and it has more options for food and a bar scene. There's Pazzo Pazzo, which has a large outdoor eating area and bar, The Grasshopper, which has a lot of televisions for sports, as does the Famished Frog. The Frog occasionally has live music, as well.

Then there's the Dublin Pub, which is actually Irish (although they tend to kick people out of the bar at 1:20 a.m.), and other establishments such as The Office (basic fare), the Funky Monkey (mostly early 20s), and The Muse (Mediterranean food--pretty good--and a bar that gets a crowd sporadically).

I live in Hanover Township (right next door) and I used to commute to Teaneck, which is just a couple miles from the GWB. Took me 35 minutes on most days. If the bridge hits some disaster, it can get bad. But I also take my mother in to Sloan-Kettering periodically for appointments, and they're usually at 8:30 or 9:00 a.m., and it rarely takes me more than an hour and fifteen to get there. The bridge tends to be better than the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels in the morning.

Depending on when you go, you can make it to Point Pleasant, down the shore, in about an hour. All bets are off on Friday nights, naturally, but a little later on Saturdays isn't terrible (I've done it at least four times this summer and been at my friend's house in just over an hour.) There's a boardwalk there with games, etc. Prepare to pay to get on the beach at Jenkinson's or anywhere else, for that matter.

Enjoy Morris Plains. I really enjoy the area, though I'm biased, having lived here since childhood <grin>.