BACK FROM THE SHORE

Hey Minions:
Greetings, folks. Hope your summer is being enjoyed. I'm sure it is, especially if you're a duck. Much too much rain this year. Many of my neighbors have eschewed taking their pool covers off, feeling the rain has lost them the summer, so why bother? It IS some work owning and maintaining a pool. But on a day like today (sunny w/projected high of 86), you're happy you have one.

Just got back from the Jersy shore (Cape May). It was our first trip there. Here are my ratings:

Motel--I give it a 6. The Blue Fish Inn, a small (12 Units) motel about 6 blocks from the beach. Older, but updated, with a small swimming pool. It was okay. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Rooms were layed out strangely and a bit overpriced, but it's the season. Wouldn't go back. Chose this place because we reserved late and most other places were too high ($$$) or unavailable.

Beach---I give it a 7. GREAT, and I mean great waves (maybe because of the windy weather and storms). The boys and I got beat up pretty good, but had fun. Unfortunately, because of the choppiness, the beach near the water was mostly stones, shells and pebbles. Very hard on the feet. 10-20 feet into the surf the bottom was all gravel and also hard on the feet. Undertow was the strongest I've ever experienced. The town charges $5/day to get onto the beach...I assume to keep out the riff-raff (whatever that is....I guess "huniacs" from the City). We all got sunburned despite our applications of Sun-Block. PT did not enjoy it at all. Beach was very clean and manicured every morning.

Town---Can't give an accurate rating. Houses, Inns andthe like were all beautiful. Lrge Victorian structures, beautifully decorated/painted. Nice town to walk around in. I took a 3-4 mile walk every morning, so I got to see alot of it. Many shops, restaurants, small boardwalk, you know, the typical seaside resort community. Wish we had more time to explore things and avail ourselves of the surroundings (kayak tours, whale watching, driving to Wildwood for the boardwalk). Went to a tavern the first night and spent $100 on sandwiches and drinks. Plus, our table kept getting dripped on by and overhead air duct that had condensation build-up from the humidity. the waitress basically said, "Sorry, can't help you." No comps for inconvenience or anything. would have bought a shirt from the place, but we were turned off by the whole experience. Later meals were better and cheaper.

Overall---I guess a 7, at best. This may be due to first day sunburns and the unhappiness with the motel. Perhaps a different motel, closer to the beach, less sunburns, less shell/stone on the beach (it's NOT that way in Gloucester, the water's just colder), MUCH TOO MANY Phillies fans walking around. Will we go back? Probably not, but I don't rule it out.

Over this next year, we'll be making a family plan for next year, as to what we want out of our vacation time and money. Florida is always an option because PT's dad lives there and we know alot of people there, and we know what there is to do (amusement parks, golf, good beaches, etc...)Downside of Florida is that in the summer it's really hot and humid and it's also hurricane season. Plus, the ocean water is generally too warm to be refreshing. But it's gotten familiar. We all have different agendas for vacation. Some people just want a quiet beach to hang out on for the week (PT and me), some want stuff to do (me and the boys), some are on a budget (us, usually), some want familiarity. We'll be studying our options over the coming year.

Please don't judge the Cape May, NJ area by my report. Go and try it for yourself. We just didn't think we got enough bang for the buck. This was 50% the area/motel/beach condition and 50% us looking at the glass half-empty. We'll prob try Virginia Beach or the Outer Banks, or Cape Cod next year.

Peace Minions.
I am,
Len Tollerton