Down the Shore

I’ve recently returned from a long weekend trip down to the Jersey Shore. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew made the trek down from Maine, while my world-traveling parents headed up from whatever their previous port of call was.

We hit the beach:

Photo of the beach with some grasses in the foreground.

The water was too rough for swimming, but we walked along the shoreline and enjoyed watching the surfers riding waves.

We walked the boardwalk:

My parents standing in front of some amusement rides.

Here’s Mom and Dad posing for the camera. Nobody was brave enough to ride the roller coaster behind them, but we did ride the carousel:

Photo of the author on a carousel horse.

We ate ice cream (and lots and lots of good food):

More than one person thinks I picked this particular ice cream cone because I was trying to coordinate with my outfit, but I can assure you it’s purely an accident. What I want to know is how anyone is able to work at the Mister Softee stand without losing their mind when that song plays over and over and over again.

The weather was mostly good during our shore trip, but we did get caught out in a rainstorm as we walked back from our carousel ride. As we hurried down the boardwalk toward our rental place we watched throngs of people running up from the beach and various points on the boardwalk toward the covered arcades. We returned back to the rental pretty well drenched, but then a short while later we did get to see a rainbow:

A rainbow with the Ocean View Restaurant and House of Fries in the foreground.

That night we ate some pizza back at the rental place. It’s a big treat for all my relatives who have abandoned the state as I’m told they can’t really get good pizza where they live.

Then it was time to take a group photo of everyone, that meant some fun with getting Mom’s phone and the timer set up, then after a few different takes we eventually wound up with a photo that wasn’t completely awful:

Photo of my parents, sister, nephew, brother-in-law and me on the couch in our rental place.

All in all, it was a fun trip!

And just as I was getting home from our beach adventure, Ron’s parents were leaving Florida to make their way up north. So, very shortly our new next door neighbors will finally be moving in to their new-to-them home.

— Alissa