Sandy Hook

For MLK Day on Monday we took a day trip to the Sandy Hook area of New Jersey. We had two main purposes for our journey: 1, to visit the house Grandma and Grandpa Whitesides used to live in, and 2, eat at Carrabba's, our favorite Italian restaurant chain. It took about an hour to get to G&G's old house in Long Branch. They lived there for 5 months while Grandpa was in the Army, stationed at Fort Monmouth during WWII. It was nice to see their little white house (we were happy that it was still there) and then to spend the rest of the day getting familiar with the area where they lived.


Long Branch is only minutes away from Sandy Hook, which is a popular beach area in the shape of a hook. It was a pretty misty day for sunbathing, but it was perfect for lighthousing. We checked out the lighthouse on Sandy Hook (the oldest operating lighthouse in the U.S., pictured) and another in nearby Highlands (the Twin Lights). Henry especially enjoyed some time to run around in
the sand and watch the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, which were terrifying to him. We were amazed to see a few people actually surfing in the freezing cold water! We also stumbled across The History House, an old officer's house on defunct Fort Hancock, located on Sandy Hook. The house is furnished to look as it would have during WWII. It was fun to get a feel for the time period when Ben's grandparents were in New Jersey.
We ended the day with a fabulous meal at Carrabba's. We fell in love with this restaurant in Provo and were mortified when we found out the nearest one to us was 50 minutes away! It was a good excuse to go there, and the Chicken Bryan and Mezzaluna were superb, as always.