Such was the case today when our trusted Garmin GPS routed us through the town of Princeton, NJ. We drove right through the sprawling campus of Princeton University, including all the centuries old buildings with manicured lawns and flowering gardens. We had no idea it was on our route, so we weren't prepared and didn't get any photos to share.
One of the benefits, at least in my eyes, of writing these blogposts is I learn something new each time I research the topic I'm writing about.
Everyone is probably aware of the fact that Princeton University (NJ) is one of the eight Ivy League schools in the United States. The other seven are Brown University (RI), Columbia University (NY), Cornell University (NY), Dartmouth College (NH), Harvard University (MA), University of Pennsylvania (PA) and Yale University (CT). They are all located in the northeastern United States.
Seven of the eight schools were founded between 1636 (Harvard) and 1769 (Dartmouth). Only Cornell University came nearly 100-years later in 1865.
Princeton ranks as the most prestigious of the Ivy League schools, thanks to the fact it has produced Rhodes scholars, U.S. presidents, Olympic medalists, Supreme Court justices, and Nobel Prize winners. It is also ranked as the prettiest campus, which we saw a small portion of as we drove by today.
The average acceptance rate at these universities is around 5%, with Harvard being the lowest at 3.4% and Cornell the highest at 8.7%. What would the odds be of a person being accepted at all 8 Ivy League schools? I don't know, but it doesn't happen as often as you would think. In recent years, there has been anywhere from 0 to 4 students achieving this remarkable feat.
Anyway, that's what I learned today! ...and now you too!
We are spending just 2-nights here in the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in south Jersey. With nothing really planned to do here we are just going to "chill out" in THE POD for two days. As a matter of fact, we didn't even unhitch THE POD from ROVER to save a little set up and break down time.
With 0% chance of rain, highs each day at 70°F and lows in the mid-40°s, it is very comfortable weather to be inside with all the windows and door open.
While Tricia was climbing all those stairs to the top of the New Jersey Veterans Memorial, I was outside at the base of the tower looking at all the large "bugs" on the concrete platform. I was so captivated by the appearance of the bugs I did something I rarely do, I grabbed my cellphone and took this picture.
The spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect, indigenous to parts of China and Vietnam.
It first spread to South Korea (2006) and Japan (2009), but since 2014 it has been reported in most of the Northeastern United States.
The first reported sighting was outside of Philadelphia, PA and currently have been found in 16 states.
Although they don't pose any direct danger to humans through biting or stinging, they are very devastating to crops like soybean and grapes, and pose a moderate threat to young sappy soft wood trees.
As adults they'll swarm an individual tree and chew on the leaves and then leave a sappy excrement which also is harmful to the leaves. They have a 1-year lifespan, laying eggpacks of 30-50 eggs just before winter and then the eggs hatch in the early spring.
Canada has been mostly spared the invasion of the species, because the temperatures are so cold during the winter. Speculation is and studies show that temperatures below -15°F kill the eggs before they have a chance to hatch.
In their native habitat of China there is a wasp species that feeds on lanternfly eggs, keeping their population in check, but here in the United States no such predator exists.
Unlike the common house fly, these lanternflies are not very quick to react when a human tries to dispose of them.
Judging by the fact that September/October is not typically the end of their adult life cycle, plus all the dead spotted laternflies I saw that day seemed to have been "squished", my guess is that there was a visit from a local 4th grade elementary school class and the students were given permission to "stomp on sight".
The fact that these adult lanternflies are big (easily the size of a quarter) and don't really fly that well (they move more like grasshoppers) makes them easy targets.
I'm not suggesting this as a real solution to the problem, but it is a fun and entertaining start.
We've got less than 80-miles to travel today, so there's no good reason to get up early and hit the road.
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