In September during one of my first years in college in Philly, my South Jersey friends took me “down the shore” for the first time. On the way down, I asked them what it was like and they told me there were numbered streets, wooter ice, funnel cake (aka fried dough) and of course, a board walk.
I never frequented the beach as a kid. In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I have laid on a Cape Cod beach. When I was really young my family would go to Maine, but at the end of the day, we were a winter family. We went sledding, snowmobiling and ice skating on a lake behind our house. I did visit Kennebunkport a few times, but overall, to me a beach town meant scenic woods leading up to a beach, most of it rocky and all of it cold.
On the way down to the shore, when I was told there would be a board walk, I pictured just that. Boards of wood that formed a path on which beach-goers could walk, dry off their feet and get away from the heated sand for a bit.
When we arrived in Ocean City, New Jersey what seems like ages ago, I was struck when I saw what they really meant by a boardwalk. I think the first words out of my mouth were “there is a carnival on the beach!” They assured me that the spectacle before me was in fact, the boardwalk.
Last weekend I visited Ocean City for the second time with my Jersey friends. It was our fourth or fifth girlfriend getaway. Older and wiser and in dramatically different weather, I experienced that Ocean City Jersey is much more than just a carnival on the beach…
And slabs of wood where people can walk…
It has Mack and Manco’s pizza that is so good I couldn’t wait to dig in before taking a photo…
It has Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy. And if you get your picture taken with him, they email you a copy and you get posted on their site. I didn’t find that out until after I approached good old Shriver here and asked him if I could get a picture simply because I wanted one. When you’re a blogger, you’re pretty much obligated to make photo opps like this happen.
It has a store where you can create your very own t-shirt to solidify that you are in fact, on a girls’ weekend, in the most obnoxious way possible…
Best of all, last weekend Ocean City had some girlfriends out to have a good time….
What more can you ask for?
After our day on the boardwalk, we made our way to Atlantic City and for me, it was a first. But more on that later…
I love Ocean City! And Atlantic City, actually. Haven’t been to either of those places in awhile though. Glad you had fun =)
I remember my first trip to Coney Island, with its boardwalk and recurring cast of freaks and strange characters, and the corn dog I ate and the smell of the saltwater and how it all looked from the top of the Ferris wheel.
Loved this post. Thanks for the memories.
Correct, girls tshirts are a MUST! What a fun weekend getaway!! It seems like a lot more peaceful than over the summer when i’m sure its super crowded with tourists
i LOVE that you had shirts made, haha. Glad you had a great time!
hahaha…the jersey shore is like a carnival on the beach!! craziness everywhere! Did you get cheese fries anywhere on the boardwalk? that was always a necessity when me and my girlfriends would drive down to the shore.
and I can’t wait to read what you have to say about AC.
ocean city is great! my cousins live about 20 minutes away so whenever we would go down when we were small we would go there. mack and manco’s is the best! and the jersey shore is a place of it’s own!
those shirts are amazing
The Ocean City is a great place to be.
[...] the four of us, we’ve hit Providence, Portland, the Bronx, Boston, Ocean City/Atlantic City and Portsmouth. Our goal is to actually get on a [...]