Jersey Shore

The first time I really paid attention to the buzz surrounding the jersey shore, I was living outside of Philadelphia and my coworkers were talking about it. I went down to AC, then Cape May, then Wildwood, and I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty the beaches were and how mellow.

The thought I had of Jersey shore before visiting was a bunch of Sopranoettes and needles in teh water. not the case.

I spent a weekend here on my to New York. While we were here, my husband’s uncle dedicated our daughter to God in his church. I had a great weekend visiting with lots of family I had never meet before.

Lived in Jersey in my formative years, when Bruce still actually dropped by the Stone Pony and Asbury Park was shady. And I’m not talking about trees. Best way to see the Shore is a long leisurely drive down Route 9. You should hit Atlantic Highlands first and just drive slowly. Each town is different and offers you an alternate take on Jersey. Cops in some of the places are just a bit tight; Deal, Loveladies, and even Cape May. (Has got to be about the amount of money in those towns). Take at least a week for the trip. Don’t make reservations; some place is always available as long as your standards are flexible. A buddy and I slept one night in the Little League dugout in Seaside Park (Kids playing that day woke us up with cries of “Hey, there’s hippies in our dugout.” Never been called that before or since.) Though Bruce sings about sleeping “underneath the boardwalk”, if he was referring to an all-night snooze, I would not recommend it. Quite a few seedy characters and then there’s always the local gendarmarie to poke you along. By the end of your trip at the very tip of Cape May, you should be coated with sand and jsut a bit burnt. If not, you’ve done the Shore trip wrong and, yes, you have to go to the beginning and start over again.
One summer I made it half-way down from Atlantic Highlands to Surf City with a buddy and 2 bicycles (the peddling kind). Great way to do it but guys we met were a lot more impressed than the girls we met, no matter how we regaled the latter with stories. Biking just doesn’t leave you looking clean and appealling I guess.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVEEEEE the Jersey shore!

People from 49 other states would say they are going “to the beach.” Not here! In New Jersey, one does not go “to the beach” but “down the shore.” (No, not down “to” the shore, either!)