By the Beautiful Sea

The morning started cloudy and fairly quiet. Keefe and Anny came over to pick up Skylar for an appointment with doctors at Cooper River Hospital in Camden. Dad went to work. Mom went out for a hair appointment (and came back with a very cute and short new do). I hung around here, played Super Mario Wii, read Mom's craft books, and watched cartoons.

Mom came home around quarter of 11. She first chatted with my sister Rose. Anny and Keefe were supposed to be meeting Rose after Sky's appointment, but they weren't sure how long they were going to be there or if they were going to have the time to go to the Please Touch Museum in Philly. We chatted on the porch about my sibligns for a little while after she got off with Rose.

Our next stop was the Peebles and JcPenny in Rio Grande. Mom had good-naturedly fussed that my shorts were too tight and too short. Well, of course they are! I'd just gained weight, and really hadn't planned on buying new clothes until I'd lost weight. I wasn't going to argue with her, though. So, I ended up with two pairs of capris (I don't care what Mom says, they're too long for shorts) and a new shirt in a nice brown/black pattern.

(And while I appreciated the clothes, I'm still really embarrassed. I'm still at a large/1X in shirts...but I've gone back up to 18s again in pants. That means I'm back to plus sizes. I'm so upset! I was so, so proud of being able to lose so much weight and get out of plus sizes. Mom says I look better than I did at Christmas, and my pants have been a little looser at home. At least all the walking and swimming I've been doing lately does seem to have paid off, even just a little.)

Mom had a cell phone call from Dad even before we made it back to the house. He was at home. He'd postponed his fishing trip again when he was overwhelmed by paint fumes and had heart papatations. He was at home, resting. We decided to let him rest and head into Cape May for lunch and a walk after I dropped off my clothes.

It took longer to get to lunch and a walk than we planned. First of all, the lady at the counter at Peebles forgot to take the ink-thing off my pants, and we had to go back there. Then we were chatting and Mom lost track of where we were going and kept going straight instead of turning off to the Garden State Parkway. We ended up taking the "scenic route" through Wildwood Crest to get into Cape May. That was cool, too. I got to see the outside of the rebuilt Wildwood Acme (which looks GREAT, BTW - Doo Wop without being as overdone as some of the other newer 50s-style buildings in the area).


While I did enjoy the drive through Wildwood Crest and seeing some of my old haunts, I was very happy that the drawbridge from Wildwood Crest to the boat docks in Lower Township was just going down when we pulled up there. (Mom did have to scramble for $1.50 for the toll, though. Apparently, it used to be a dollar, and she wasn't prepared for the rise in price.) We went past the boat docks, across the marshes, around the country club marinas, and over the big Cape May Bridge and into town.

Mom parked next to the water tower in central Cape May, a few blocks from the former Madison and Blue Amber Motels. (The Madison, at least, is now a condo-hotel, and both had elaborate remodels that make them fit in far better with the tony neighborhood than they did when I was a kid.) We strolled up to the Boardwalk first, past lovely old bed-and-breakfasts and condo buildings with gorgeous gardens, along with the Chalfonte, one of the oldest hotels in Cape May.

We ended up at the Promenade, Cape May's concrete boardwalk, and had lunch at Henry's By the Beach. Henry's is literally by the beach; we ate on a porch area that looked out onto a picture-perfect day. It was a day out of a Cape May postcard - clear blue sky, bright-colored umbrellas dotting the white beach, cooling breeze. The clouds and humidity had disappeared by the time we were in Rio Grande. It was 2:30 by then, so we both had the "mini meals." I had a crab cake and salad. Mom had a small cut of blackened salmon, salad, and a tomato-seafood soup. We enjoyed our lunch tremendously.

After we ate, we walked a couple of blocks to downtown Cape May and the Washington Street Mall. The Mall is three blocks of restored Victorian buildings filled with cute shops and literally some of the best restaurants in New Jersey. We visited some of my favorite stores there, in many cases since childhood.

We walked through Carpenter's Square Mall. We browsed in the Whale's Tale, a wonderful gift shop. (Mom bought Keefe a dragon card for his room - he collects dragon items. I didn't get anything. I was disappointed they only had a few AG things. In the early and mid 90s, the were the only place in Cape May to buy anything American Girl.) We went through a shop that had really cute hats. We went to Bath Time, a bath store. Mom got a lotion she really likes. I a coconut-lime bar of soap. Good Scents mostly specializes in scented items like candles, but they have other gift-items, too. I bought a journal with real dried flowers in the cover. We went across the street to the mall where the Cape May Acme is. Mom browsed in the yarn store; I browsed in Oma's Doll Shop. We admired the adorable Japanese-girl sign in front of Cape Orient. (It looked so much like a life-sized Japanese doll, I wondered if someone at Oma's Doll Shop next door made it.)

We strolled back to the car after leaving the mall, past more older homes, the post office, and Alexander's Restaurant. Mom used to live in that area, in an apartment behind a long-gone leather store; she had some great stories about living in Cape May in the mid-70s, and I told her mine about when I would visit a friend of mine who lived near the post office in high school.

Unlike getting to Cape May, we had no trouble whatsoever getting home. Dad called Mom while we were in Cape May. He was feeling much better and was up for joining us for a stroll on the Boardwalk in Wildwood. Mom wanted coffee, and we both needed to sit down for a while after our walk. Mom and Dad watched an antique show downstairs, while I browsed through Mom's old Christmas With Southern Living books. I've always loved the heck out of those. Not only do they have awesome recipies, but the first chapters talks about Christmas both in the old and new Southern US. This may be where at least some of my love of Christmas traditions in other parts of the US stemmed from.

(Oh, and Mom answered my question as to why I walk so fast. She does, too. We've spent most of our lives walking against the sea winds and blowing sands, not to mention the tides of tourists. You either walk fast...or get blown back several feet or carried off by the throngs.)

Dad, Mom, and I took Dad's truck into Wildwood around 6:30. There were no problems getting there this time. Dad parked in the big lot next to the Wildwood Convention Center and the cool, cute beach ball sculptures.

The boardwalk was busy at 6:30, but it wasn't packed. There was a lovely, fresh breeze coming off the beach. We browsed in the Boardwalk Mall (where I got a Wildwood T-shirt), then had dinner at the Original Hot Spot next to Mariner's Landing. I had a tasty mushroom cheesesteak that wasn't too stuffed, like some of the ones up north tend to be. It was just the perfect size. Mom and Dad had gyros. We had the funniest waitress, too. She was a tall, cute Russian girl with an adorable accent and a great sense of humor. She handled Dad's good-natured teasing very well, and even gave him two high-fives.

Everyone wanted some candy to go with dinner. I suggested Douglass Fudge, the most elegant of all Wildwood candy stores, and one just a few doors down from the Original Hot Spot. I found my favorite candy of all, the fruit slices. Mom bought her favorite candy, Almond Butter Crunch, and peanut butter fudge. Dad got raspberry jelly squares.

Mom wanted to check out a kitchen store on the Boardwalk between Mariner's and Morey's. It's a larger version of a tiny kitchen store in Collingswood. They sell gourmet mixes and cute and kooky kitchen gadgets of all kinds. I bought a buckwheat pancake mix as a special Sunday treat for me next weekend and a new address book. Dad got a piece of metal that's supposed to make your hands smell better. Poor Dad always gets fussed at about the way his hands smell after work; one of the hazards of being a fisherman.

Dad wanted soft-serve ice cream, so we next took a look at several ice cream booths. It was around 8:30 by this point. The boardwalk was filling up fast, and getting busier and busier by the minute. It was getting colder, too. The nice breeze from earlier was quickly becoming a chilly wind. We walked back to the car, stopping at the Kohr Brothers stand at Wild Wheels for soft-serve cups. Mom had Peanut Butter-Chocolate. Dad had Orange-Vanilla. I had Mint Julep. We enjoyed our treat while watching people play games. I also tried a Care Bear crane machine that had larger Care Bears in it than usual; didn't win anything.

There was a little bit of traffic on Rio Avenue in downtown Wildwood when we went home, but once we got off the bridge, it was smooth sailing. Dad's downstairs, probably watching action movies. Mom is in her room, watching Guys and Dolls. I'm about to take a shower. Tomorrow, I'll be on my way home; everyone here has to work. I'm glad I came up here. I had a wonderful day. I don't get to spend nearly enough time with my parents, and I rarely got them to myself as a kid. This was really lovely of both of them.