Travel Feature Assignment (to hometown)

A child sometimes draws a smiling yellow sun situated in a baby-blue sky looking down on a red, pointed household rooftop that sits among colorful buds of flowers sprouting from the green grass. The drawing may sometimes include a blue pond alongside a perfectly drawn tree with some sort of garden animal like a rabbit or even a dog nearby.

You would think this child found the inspiration for this drawing from Parsippany, New Jersey, which one may argue could set the scene for a modern Stepford Wives adaptation.

Minus the eerie, unsettling mystery of that background, Parsippany invites you into that close-to-perfect suburban atmosphere that only inspires a quiet tranquility.

Lake Parsippany, nestled at the center of the municipality in Morris County, complements the storybook landscape as if it were painted with the baby-blue color reflected in the sky.

The town certainly takes pride in the natural beauty, as it has created an organization to encourage activity on the lake, including: the Sailing Club, the Fishing Club, and the Ladies Club, promising a peaceful springtime escape. The Lake Parsippany Property Owner’s Association generally hosts most of these clubs every month usually starting in April.

Lining the 168-acre lake is a total of three well-maintained swimming beaches for summertime sunbathing and swimming, where swimming classes are available to the public. Although the beaches are small in size, residents energize and amplify its appeal when they frequently visit to enjoy the sandy volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, and cool down with an ice cream cone and snacks.

Along with its unique appeal, Parsippany also exemplifies its suburban façade through its multiple shopping malls, strip malls, fast food chains and further usual suspects.

So after a long day of leisure time and relaxation, one may be pleasantly overwhelmed while driving down Route 46 with the variety of restaurant choices. Beginning with the all-American Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, Longhorn, then a Japanese and sushi choice at Sakura, a Spanish and more formal cuisine at Seville, or perhaps an urge for seafood at the traditional Red Lobster.

Applebee’s boneless wings could start off a comfortable and intimate meal with its tenderness, much symbolic of the warm, familiar ambience of the communal town.

Sakura offers delightful sushi with subtle but fulfilling flavors, comparable to that served at top restaurants in Manhattan.
On another day one could take full advantage of the recreational activities available down Route 10 such as bowling, the cinema, mini-golf, roller skating, ice skating or perhaps a Fun-Plex and Chuck-E-Cheese’s for children. This town seems catered to all demographics with its wide variety of entertainment gateways.

If visiting Parsippany for Memorial Day weekend, one can view the annual parade down Route 202. Fire companies, scouts, clowns and veterans march down the residential route dispersing a subtle roar of consistent pronounced footsteps in proud celebration of the men and women of the US Military.

Parsippany may be sometimes overlooked when surrounded by more prestigious locations such as New Brunswick which houses Rutgers University, or towns with closer proximity to New York City like Fort Lee and, of course, Hoboken and Elizabeth.

However, in the shadows of the Garden state sits Parsippany with its family-oriented glamour. There is a reason the town slogan was “the place to be…Parsippany!”