Now
I've forgotten where I left off so my apologies if I'm repeating
myself, but we were originally thinking of going to the Cape but we
didn't have the time. We also wanted to go someplace warmer and
figured going south might accomplish this, which it didn't, but it
sounded good in theory. Finally, we didn't want to go to far away. We
looked into Georgia and North Carolina, which were too far this trip,
and then thought of Delaware, which is supposed to be nice but not
practical. Florida was too expensive during school break, probably
because everyone has the same thing in mind.
Mom
finally decided on New Jersey, specifically Cape May, which is at the
southern tip of the state. Now I'd been to Cape May before nearly 20
years ago and didn't get the greatest vibe. It struck me as a bit
stiff, but I didn't want to make waves (no pun intended) with our
plans, and truth be told, it was actually very nice. We all enjoyed
it a lot, and our place was pretty cool.
Mom
found a room through AirBnB and the rate was pretty reasonable. We
were across the street from the beach and there were plenty of places
to eat. Cape May is actually a fairly nice town, though it was early
in the season and many places were closed. The drive down was a bit
rough because it's long, and I don't think we really planned it
properly because we stopped too soon on the first day, such that the
second day was a long haul. However, as I mentioned, our time in Cape
May was nice.
First
off, the beaches are nice and spacious, and not too developed. I
could imagine surfing down there, though the waves were tiny. We
rented bikes and as always, they were key to having a nice family
vacation. Once you have bikes you can just cruise around and check
out the sights and go out for a meal. The weather was cool-ish, which
made for good riding, and because it was early in the season, it
wasn't too crowded and the traffic wasn't too bad.
We
hung out around Cape May on our bikes exploring all the different
places, and then made some day trips up to Wildwood and Ocean City,
both of which are very interesting. They are majorly developed, with
massive boardwalks with food stands and carnival rides (see pic). It was like
Coney Island on steroids, I couldn't believe the scale of the place.
What made it extra eery was that there were no people; the place was
completely deserted save for one or two people (locals I guess)
walking around. It reminded me of a Steven King horror story.
All
in all it was a nice time, and I would go back, though I could
imagine it would be nutty in the high season. On the way home we
stopped in Mawah NJ to rest for the night, and it wasn't easy getting
around. At least in the sections we were in NJ seemed like on big
strip mall, with big roads and even bigger stores, not unlike LA,
mind you. The traffic was amazing, and even getting to our hotel was
a logistical nightmare. We decided to head over to New York, which
was very close, to get some supper, and even that excursion required
getting on a massive interstate highway just to go a few miles. We
ended up in Suffern NY for supper, which was interesting, as well.
For a small town there seemed to be a lot of ethnic diversity. I
wonder if the people there took the train down to NYC for work, it's
a doable commute.
The
final leg of the trip was a bit of a trek, but we made it just fine,
stopping in a small town for lunch before getting home. I have to say
that I enjoyed Cape May, it was nicer than I expected. I'm not sure
if we'll ever go back again, but it's reasonably close, fairly
affordable, and has nice beaches. What more can you ask for?
Until
the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Nestor Rivera Jr for the pic.
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