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We were surprised there was so much traffic on the way to the shore. 10:30am and the roads were filled.
What a beautiful day. Sunny, warm, but with a refreshing cool breeze. We dropped off our things at our friend’s home and headed for the boardwalk. Atlantic bookstore is always fun to browse. On the shelves we found a big difference from when we were here just a few weeks ago. They have quite a turnover of reduced priced books and we did well not buying any.

Taffy was being pulled at Shriver’s so we went in to take a look. The machines are impressive as they spit out the wrapped Salt Water Taffy. Besides, coming from the sun drenched boardwalk, the air conditioned store was a relief.

We stopped at the Hula Grill for lunch and had crab cakes. An iced cold beer would have complimented the food but Ocean City N.J. is a dry town, so we settled on cold water and Lemonaid. We ate outside under an umbrellaled table and picked up an order of Curly Fries to suppliment the Crab Cakes. The cakes were better than expected. On a scale of 1 to 10 we would give them an 8. We liked that we were given real forks and not plastic.

Walked a bit more, noticing police on bicycles, boys smoking dope on a boardwalk that does not allow tobacco smoking. We saw girls in bikinis, men without shirts who must not have mirrors in their homes or friends to tell them, ‘you can’t go out in that’.

Back at our friend’s home we take a twenty minute power nap, change to beach garb and head for the beach. Neither of us like the beach at the height of the day, preferring to go around 4:30 and hanging out until near sunset. Most times we have the beach to ourselves.

Our friends were still at the beach. Tommy, just promoted to first grade, and myself went for a walk looking for seashells. We found some treasures washed up by the tide waiting for us to find them. A huge amount of baby mussels all along the high tide line were starting to create a fragrant seashore smell. Among them we found some small razor clams, starfish, and angels wings.

What a great beach time. The water, after initial shock, was tolerable. Hundred’s of white winged gulls just beyond the breakers were feasting on bait fish. I watched as they followed the fish along the shore from left to right and then bunching up feasting again. You have to guess that as well as being attacked from above the small bait fish were being chased from below by bigger fish. Not a great beach day for the bait fish.

Back at the house we ordered pizza for the younger folks and we older folks went out to the Anchorage in Somers Point. Always such a good meal there with pleasant staff and reasonable prices. We did not get there until past 9pm so there was only a ten minute wait. If you go, as we often have, at early evening hours, be prepared to wait an hour or more for a table, perhaps longer on Saturday nights in the summer.
We always found it worth the wait. If you are staying at the shore you can call ahead and take out. Not a terrible option if time is of the essence.

We dropped off our friend, Jean, said goodby to Amanda, Kevin, Mike, Anna, and Tommy and headed home to Philly. Today we are exhausted, but refreshed, from the day trip.