Today's the day, people! Today's the day. We're in the car now heading toward New Jersey, just one of many cars heading to their vacation week, or heading home afterward. It's the first Saturday in August and intensely hot again and I can't wait to see the ocean.
Packing up the car for a beach week is a significant endeavor, one in which my role is minimal. I pack my own stuff, of course, and I pack the linens, because you have to bring your own when you rent a beach house in New Jersey. And then I sit and wait while my husband and sons pack everything into and on the car. I was watching Simone Biles and Jade Carey win Olympic gold and bronze while the men strapped the bikes to the back of my RAV4. Go USA. And Brazil too, because Rebeca Andrade is amazing.
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We don't rush to get on the road on Beach Week departure day. We're on vacation and we're not on the clock. Plus we can't pick up our keys from the rental office until 3 PM so there's no reason to hurry. We're on 95 North now, still in Maryland. The vacation really begins when we cross the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Two hours give or take, God willing.
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It’s Sunday morning now, our first full day at the beach. The weather forecast for this week is all over the place but as always, I do not care about a little rain. I don't even care about a lot of rain but check with me later this week. If we do get a lot of rain, I might feel differently.
But it's not raining now. It's beautiful and sunny and likely to be hot but with cool breezes from the water. I'm on the deck right now. I just had my first vacation cup of coffee, and now I'm just looking at the bay. We have a lovely unobstructed water view from the third floor deck.
Our place is an upside down condo, on the second and third floors of a 16 unit mini community, eight units facing the other eight units across a courtyard with a pool. We're three blocks from the beach and less than a block from the bay. It's a lovely little spot. The condo itself is very beachy and bright. Not overly fancy but clean and comfortable and cheerful.
The deck is still wet from overnight thunderstorms and rain showers, which are the best kind. A few early risers are out walking and the anglers are unpacking their tackle in the parking lot by the bay, but other than that it's just me and the seagulls. I expect it to be a lovely day.
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“I like your pink bike!”
“Yeah I like your pink bike!”
“Thanks ladies!”
That was a five year old girl and her three year old sister, complimenting my old pink beach cruiser as we all rolled up to the 82nd St beach in Stone Harbor at about 1:30 PM on Sunday. Next Saturday we'll strap that bike to the back of my car and take it back to my garage in Silver Spring, where it will remain undisturbed for the next two years.
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Yesterday was a lovely day. The weather varied wildly throughout the day but we had a solid six hours of overcast but still sunny and breezy conditions, perfect for the beach and pool. The ocean water was too cold for swimming yesterday after an overnight storm that brought cold deep water to the surface. The air temperature varied from shorts and a T-shirt and flip flops in the morning to a long skirt and sneakers and a cardigan at 7:30 pm. On the beach at 9 pm, the cardigan was not enough.
It's Monday morning now, not even 8:30 yet, and already about 85 degrees on the deck. After I straighten up the house and fold the laundry I'm going to ride my pink bike to my favorite used book store, and then come home and make sandwiches for anyone who wants one (I can't convince anyone else to eat tomato sandwiches and they don't know what they're missing) and then commence with another day on the beach followed by another swim in the chilly pool.
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It's Tuesday morning now. I think. I just finished my morning reconnaissance routine. I do a certain minimal amount of housekeeping during beach week. Laundry, daily straightening, dishes and countertops - enough to keep everything pleasant and livable for the week. It takes very little time, and it's very much worth the effort.
And now I'm on my deck again listening to seagulls and looking at tiny sailboats on the bay. I'm like a human version of those giant wooden “Relax” signs that decorate every beach rental on Seven Mile Island. It costs a fortune to rent a condo here for a week in August and I guess the owners think that we need a reminder to relax. Certainly I do because relaxing is contrary to everything in my nature.
It's been a nearly perfect week so far. The ocean water is much colder than normal in August so I haven't been all the way in yet but I'll do it before the end of the week. But thanks to the very underused courtyard pool, I still get to swim every day. My biggest problem right now is that my Kindle has gone missing and I'm kind of upset about it, not just because I don't want to have to replace it but because I was sure I had it after the beach yesterday but now I'm questioning myself. Now I'm afraid I'm losing my mind a little bit. But there are books here in the house so I'll find something else to read on the beach and I'll keep looking for the Kindle. It has to be somewhere. It's probably where I had it last. I heard that this is the best place to find missing things.
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It's Wednesday morning now, pearly gray and mild. The sky is nearly completely clouded over, with little patches of blue here and there, and some pale sunlight just filtering through. If it stays like this all day, it will be a perfect day.
Yesterday morning, I conducted a hard target search of every farmhouse, outhouse, doghouse, and henhouse in this vicinity, and I still can't find my Kindle. I went to the public works department, the police station, lifesaving headquarters, the Chamber of Commerce, and the recreation building, hoping that maybe someone had picked it up and dropped it off. No luck. Apparently there is a Facebook group where people post notifications about found items. My sister is checking it for me because I'm no longer on Facebook.
The absence of the Kindle created a reading emergency, and the bookshelf here in the condo was not much help at first. A lot of Tom Clancy and Mitch Albom. No disrespect to these esteemed authors, of course, but I've read one each of their books, and that's enough.
Then I found a paperback copy of Murder on the Orient Express, which believe it or not I have never read, and I am completely engrossed. It's delightful. No wonder it's the best selling novel ever. I'll probably finish it today, and then I guess I’ll give in and read another Tom Clancy or maybe take another trip to the bookstore. Meanwhile I'm now one of literally millions who have spent afternoons on the beach reading Agatha Christie.
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It's Thursday now, rainy and cool. I don't really mind too much, though I would obviously prefer a nice day.
Yesterday we walked on the misty, foggy beach, barefoot and carrying our sandals. The water had warmed considerably and we walked in and out of the water. We ate a slice of pizza at a 96th Street pizza place, and poked around the shops and then got back on the beach and walked home. No one was sitting under umbrellas, but lots of people were out walking and some swimmers and surfers were doing their thing in the water. The lifeguards were on duty and we had to ask our location at one point because the fog was so thick that the street markers on the fences near the dunes were invisible. A few drops of rain fell here and there but not enough to spoil the walk. It rained a bit again after we came home so we went swimming, rain drops falling on the chilly pool surface as we moved through the water. I recorded 21,000 steps. And my husband found my Kindle! An excellent day.
*****
I just looked at the weather forecast and I wish I hadn't because it's supposed to rain all day today and there's a very good chance of rain again tomorrow, which is our last full day here. Mist and fog and cool overcast grayness is lovely but hard rain is not. But weather forecasts have been wrong before so I'm going to remain optimistic. Anything could happen. I'm hoping for one more day on the beach.
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It's Friday morning and despite a pretty dire forecast, it's sunny and bright, breezy and fresh with pale blue skies. The clouds are uncertain looking; some white and fluffy and harmless and some a little heavy looking, a little leaden. I haven't rechecked the forecast yet but my analysis suggests an anything-could-happen day. But it's certainly very nice right now.
It rained for most of the day yesterday, but it was light rain with not much wind so we went to Ocean City to have lunch and walk the boardwalk and poke around the town. Ocean City was once a pretty fancy resort town that has gone to seed in places but it's still quite charming. The 101-year-old Flanders Hotel is still rather elegant. Luigi's restaurant looks exactly as it did in the 70s, which is the last time I walked around Ocean City. Shops still line Asbury and West Avenues, some fancy and some far less so. We had an amazing lunch including the best turkey hoagie ever constructed. It was a nice afternoon. We drove home in steady light rain and wind and then swam in the dank, cold pool, then got together with neighborhood friends who are also vacationing here and ate steamed seafood and Mack's pizza. My house is very full now, with three of my son's friends camped out on the couches. They had been staying with one of the boys’ parents in Cape May, who decided to return home early this morning. The boys wanted to stay until Saturday so they're here with us. These boys practically grew up in my house so they're quite comfortable here, and we're quite happy to have them. And it looks like we'll get that last beach day after all.
*****
Today's the day again. That is a wrap on beach week 2024. We're on our way off the island, heading toward the Elmer Diner in Elmer, NJ, for our traditional last day of vacation diner breakfast. We were up betimes this morning, and after a last cup of coffee on the deck and a last bike ride to the beach, we commenced with the packing and clean up operation. The rental agency sends cleaning crews in to ready the units for next week's vacationers but you have to clear the refrigerator, rid the place of all trash and recycling, and strip the beds. And then you have to pack up the car, which is just as much work for the return trip as it was for the trip here a week ago.
It was such a lovely week, even with the crazy weather. Especially with the crazy weather. We got to walk surrounded by mist and fog on the beach, and we got to sit in the wind and sunshine watching surfers in the choppy waves, and we got to swim in the rain. We wore long sleeves and jackets at night, and we were still a little cold. It's bright and sunny and warm this morning and this week's beachgoers have an excellent forecast for the week. I kind of feel sorry for them.
*****
It’s Sunday morning now, and it’s nice to be home. I’ll miss the beach for a few days, especially my water view. A few other early risers and I were out on our decks every morning, nodding politely to one another as we settled for a few minutes of watching the boats and the seagulls as we drank our morning coffee. I’ll miss the family who sat on the beach right near us every day, their three little girls practicing their gymnastics moves as their parents and aunts and uncles watched and applauded. I’ll miss walking miles in bare feet on the cool packed sand. I’m catching up on news today, which I’ve been ignoring all week. Ignoring the news might be the best part of vacation, really.
I have some work to catch up on today; laundry and organizing and restocking and neighborhood association meeting minutes, which I need to deliver before our next meeting two days from now. Tomorrow, I’ll be back in the office drinking from the proverbial fire hose, and it’s all good. Somebody has to do the world’s work, right? It might as well be me.
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