So, this weekend my husband wanted us to go to the beach, and the closest beach to us is about an hour and a half away in New Jersey. Yeah, that's right, New Jersey. I say that only because I'm from the South, and my only experience in New Jersey has taken place in Newark, and Piscataway.....both stellar examples of the industrial shithole part of Jersey. Hey, I started kindergarten in the armpit of Texas also known as Alice, so I can rag on my own state too......don't get all "jersey shore" on me.....I'm just sayin. Yes, so needless to say, I was a little skeptical of this Ocean City place. I was thinking of Newark and the small snippets I had seen on Talk Soup of that horrible Jersey Shore show, and not having high hopes or expectations of our impending weekend getaway.
I was instructed by my husband to find us a "rathole motel" for the one night that we were going because according to him....that is part of the fun of it all. Hmmmmm, rathole, and motel are not really part of my vacation dialog, but I am an obedient wife, so I started my search. My search was way harder than expected. I expected the challenge would lie in choosing the least crappy of places, but it took a turn when I called the first 5 places and all of them had at least a two night minimum. Thus my search turned into a search for a one night rate that wasn't over $200. I love a vacation, and a nice hotel room, but I'm not going to pay over $200 for one night in a Mo-tel that has reviews on Trip Advisory written by college kids. I have my standards people!
We picked up two extras for our mini beach vaca....my father in law and his wife were game for the weekend as well, so the one night motel search was made more challenging since I had to find not one, but two rooms......it was daunting, but I talked us into a two bedroom suite at the Ocean 7 Motel. I tried my hardest to set low expectations in all, since I had no idea what we were in for, but my nervousness subsided when Opa and Moma showed up with no suitcase, but a laundry basket full of belongings for the trip....I thought, well, they packed in a laundry basket, so at least we will be appropriately entering our foreshadowed accommodations.
Alas, we arrived, and our room was really nice, well....it was clean and comfy. It was like a Motel 6 goes to the beach, but with a little more swagger. We were all pleasantly surprised and happy with our room. The front desk was all about kids....we got balloon animals, and the opportunity to pick one piece of treasure out of a treasure chest of choking hazards. It was fantastics!
After we checked into our room, we hit the boardwalk. It was fabulous! It was full of families that were there to enjoy the beach and enjoy their time together. I felt like I had stepped back in time. The boardwalk was lined with pizza joints, arcades, souvenir shops, old fashioned candy joints, ice cream stands, and places that kids could only dream of. We walked up and down the boardwalk first, followed by a quick dip in the water. The weather was perfect! It wasn't too hot; the water was the perfect temp.....it was the perfect beginning to our mini beach vaca. After our dip, we went to Mack & Manco's pizza shop since it was recommended by my good friend Jen. The pizza was enormous and fabulous; pure thin crusted perfection!
So, nothin like getting back out in the water after 3 too many pieces of pizza. We swam, we made a dragon in the sand, I made tons of things that my kids took joy in destroying in a Godzilla-like manor in the sand. It was so fun! After that, we went back to our room, popped a bottle of wine, showered, and made it out to Ocean City Seafood Co. Once again, total Americana. The shops were all old but kept up, the servers were obviously local teenagers and very friendly. There was such a "mom and pop" feel to everything. My crab-cake platter was delicious, even after Pigpen decided that he needed to poop right when the food got to the table. (never fails)
After dinner we watched the people from Shrivers make homemade Salt Water Taffy, and then filled a giant bag full of pretty little colored treats. With bellies full of food and taffy we made our way down the boardwalk to the Music Pier where my kids served as the primary entertainment in addition to the live band playing surfer music. It was hysterical, my daughter went absolutely berserk during a drum solo while my son hopped around like a ninja on crack. After the music show, the young one went to bed with her Moma, and we headed down the boardwalk to the giant Ferris Wheel. My son was bursting with excitement and fighting exhaustion all at the same time. He was like a Jeckle and Hyde when we were waiting in line for the "steering wheel". Once we got on the Ferris Wheel, it was like no other Ferris Wheel ride I've ever had. I got to experience it through his eyes, and it was so exciting. I just couldn't imagine what was going through his little head. Ahhh, perfection. After the Ferris Wheel we had a few tickets to burn, so Pigpen decided to do the bumper cars.....and boy we had no idea the hilarity that was about to take place. It was the biggest cluster of kids and cars I had ever seen. Everyone was around 3-5 years old, and no one knew the first thing about driving a car. The poor girl that worked there had to pull them off of one another all while trying not to get pummeled in the process, while parents stood on the other side of the fence yelling, "go left, push on the gas, go right, watch out". I was ridiculous!
The next day started with a hearty and delicious breakfast at Augie's Waffle house. The Oatmeal pancakes were divine! The day was filled with a little bit of the same except we added a Surrey Ride to our experience. A Surrey is a huge covered bicycle that seats six and is peddled by four. We strapped the kids on the front of the basket and took off down the boardwalk. They loved it! Everyone loved everything, and that is the sign of a great mini beach vaca. I don't even think Birdie minded the two pounds of sand that fell out of her diaper when I changed her for the ride home.
Ocean City New Jersey.....you rock so much that I even bought a sweatshirt that I will proudly wear around my house. :)
