Cape May? Maybe.

Hail Victoria!

 I have been making an effort to be interested in the local beaches. From the greater DCMarylandVirginia (DMV) area, local means the Delaware beaches, primarily Rehoboth, Dewey, and Bethany. They will do but they aren't Maine, my favorite. 

But they are close geographically. Only a three hour drive. But they seem like a desperate shortcut. Are you really even getting away if you just slide over to the next closest state? 

Chalfonte Hotel, 1876

So when my friend Kathleen invited me to the beach at Cape May, New Jersey, I was eager to give it a try. The map app said the fastest route is 3.7 hours. Really not that much farther than the DE beaches. And the trip would involve three states. 

But it took five hours to get there and five to get back. And don’t fall for that “take the ferry from Lewes” business. Yes, it goes in and out of Cape May, but the travel time is an hour and a half including the vehicle loading/unloading. Plus you have to make a reservation. I confidently chose the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike instead. 

Pretty, pretty

But once I got to Cape May, I found it to be a dandy little town, in fact one that was inhabited by dandies 150 years ago. Cape May claims to be the oldest seaside resort in the country.  A fire brought the city down in 1856 and the Victorians swept in and built it back up. Victorian architecture dominates, it’s well preserved, and colorful and pretty. 

Cape May has been modernized with one of those ubiquitous pedestrian malls. The Washington Street Mall features three blocks of cute shops and restaurants. That makes shopping and dining easy for visitors, no one who comes to Cape May wants to have to work very hard. In fact, a lot of the tourists were in the late Septembers of their lives. Wait, wasn't my visit in late September?  The street mall is a great place for both walkers and for those using walkers.

The dream team

My first exposure to beach food was the excellent  serving of french fries at Quincy's Lobster Roll. I knew I'd be back because they also had lobster rolls for only $19.99.  I had great blackened flounder for dinner at Cape May Fish Market, with excellent warm bread and butter (a la Portugal), and for dessert we walked over to Kohr Bros custard.  Very cute shops included  Madame's Port, The Whale's Tail and Love the Cook, where it just seemed important to buy kitchen utensils at three times their normal cost. 

Whose tracks are these?

The next morning, I was exhilarated by a sunrise run on the beach and promenade watching the surf, hearing it crash, and having the pretty place pretty much to myself.  I went back for beach time with an iced latte from Bagel Time Cafe and all was right with the world.

Kathleen was staying at The Camelot.  It did not much resemble Camelot, but it was a mere block from the beach. 

Cape May beach

The Cape May beach is broad and wide, unlike those Delaware beaches that have to be retrenched all the time. The ocean was sweeping and spectacular. Kathleen had animal hallucinations about dolphins, but I saw no such thing. I saw and felt what I always feel beside the ocean, hope, triumph and power. Well maybe a little too much power for Kathleen, who was thrown to the ground by some waves as she went wading in. That ocean, what a control freak. 

Sadly at noon on the second day I felt sick to my stomach. If they say pneumonia is the ‘old man’s friend,' then I can tell you, nausea is the traveler’s enemy. It’s so unfair when you plan to eat recklessly on vacation, and you can’t face food, much less exert yourself for the simplest tourist outing. 

How sick was I? I couldn’t eat a lobster roll. 

How sick was I? On the drive home I had to stop for ginger ale and saltines, the snack served to post-surgical patients.  Wawa stores were my nursing stations.

Sunrise run

Time to bundle up

Cape May was the perfect destination for the last day of summer and the first day of fall. With the precision of Big Ben, summer's last day was sunshine and heat; and fall's first was blustery and cold. Maybe there are still four seasons, after all.

Nothing says summer is over more than...

Whose tracks are these?