I truly never really heard about New Jersey growing up. Maybe that was just a Midwest thing. Sure, I knew that it was a state (I think), but not much beyond that. And anything I gleaned as I grew older was not favorable.
But my New Jersey gentleman of a husband proudly declares his birthplace "God's country" to anyone and everyone who will listen. And as soon as I visited the beach town he grew up in, I had to agree. But I still find the whole boardwalk culture completely foreign to me. The huge crowded beaches. Massive amounts of bad for you food. Rollercoasters and arcades. It just wasn't what I grew up doing. BUT I decided to ride along with the kids and their grandparents on their Ocean City boardwalk trip this year and we had a BLAST.
We lucked out at pretty much everything. Sweet parking spot. Early bird visit to an uncrowded pier of rides—I even went on the rollercoaster with Cam. A short trip to the arcade followed by an immediate seating at the kids' favorite Manco & Manco where they devoured an entire pie. Hard ice cream, fudge, and saltwater taffy rounded it out.
And although you won't find me back on that rollercoaster ever, ever again, it was all worth it just to see the constant joy on their faces and their sheer determination to absolutely destroy each other at the bumper cars.
4 comments:
This is awesome!
You captured their joy. What fun. And a little admission...growing up in NY, I truly thought that NJ was a NY suburb(!) :)
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Love it @Doodle T!!
I second your feel about the carnival atmosphere of the beaches. I grew up in SW MI and our local beach off Lake Michigan was very rustic and but also very restorative to the spirit. I've been in the DC area for 15 years and my co-workers don't understand how I've never made even a day trip to Ocean City, MD.
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