Ocean City, New Jersey
One of the perks of this virtual summer break of mine is the flexibility to pack up and head to the beach on a Monday without the guilt of calling out of work and lying to my boss about a scratchy throat. Last summer I spent a couple of days in Ocean City, Marylandwith several friends, and this week I headed down to OC, New Jersey for a day of warm summer sunshine. Both have a boardwalk, carnival, packed beaches, and tempting treats, but plenty of uniqueness as well.
Around noon the boyf and I packed into the car and drove the hour and a half down to “the shore” (for those outside of the shore area – it’s a vague term referring to any number of beaches primarily along the New Jersey, Delaware, and some Maryland coastlines) to meet up with a friend at his family’s beach condo. Luckily, since it wasn’t a Friday evening or Saturday morning, the drive was relatively painless. After parking and picking up a new $10 pair of flip flops we were out on the beach, which was extremely crowded but absolutely comfortable. The water, chilly at first warmed up and felt great to float around in. For lunch we munched on boardwalk hot dogs and the largest funnel cake overflowing with chocolate chips. I brought a chair and book intending to pass the time submerged in the world of Julie Powell’s French cooking adventure, but ended up laying on a beach towel drifting in and out of a nap while the warm sun wrapped around me like a blanket and the cool breeze comforted my skin.
After what could have been hours or seconds we packed up and spent some quality time at the wizards & dragons putt-putt course, playing an epic round of mini golf on a cleverly designed course and listening to highlights of the Lord of the Ringssoundtracks. There were families and gaggles of shore girls pedalling around on beach cruisers looking so sweet and carefree that I was almost ready to trade in my road bike for the curved lines of an off-white Schwinn with a front basket full of flowers and sunscreen and vintage brown leather seat.
To top it all off Matt whipped up some banana schnapps/Irish cream/vanilla milkshakes that tasted like banana pudding, followed by pizza and watching the moon come up. Is there really any better way to spend a Monday in the summertime?
