A Post from (Jersey) Paradise

We should get to have an entire summer off for vacation. It’s the most relaxing thing to be sitting here on a balcony at the Jersey shore with the sound of the waves in the background. Despite the fact that the lighting over the bay is beautiful, I’m not a huge fan of the approaching storm since I’m outside with a laptop (that could end badly), but the sound of the waves is fantastic!

Apparently on a vacation where there’s not touristy sight-seeing stuff to do, it can be interesting to look back at your daily activities trying to figure out how you killed your time waiting for reality to bring your happiness to a screeching halt. For instance, yesterday cocktail hour started at 4:30pm. Cocktail hour lasted through dinner and the Phillies game until it was time to walk to Sea Isle City proper for $1 Miller Lite night at La Costa. That lasted until around 1am when cousin Matt and I walked back to the house. I proceeded to continue drinking on the front balcony where I’m sitting now. Uncle Dan and Uncle Bruce had also gone out to Shenanigans for reggae night and they pulled into the driveway around 1:25am. Uncle Dan went to go to sleep (pass out if you will) while Uncle Bruce and I continued to drink on the porch and chit chat until after 3am.

I woke up around noon (I wanted to be up around 10:30am but it’s my vacation and I don’t mind sleeping in after a party night). I had a sandwich for lunch, played online for awhile, and then proceeded to slather myself with suntan lotion in order to head to the beach. Apparently if you go to the beach at 2pm you get a nice spot near the water since the tide is on its way out from 11 to 5 every day and night during our vacation this year.

On the beach today after I had sufficiently drained my iPod battery and had enough sun to burn my legs, Matt and I played paddle ball for about a half hour before heading back to the house. It was the first time I had played paddle ball and I wasn’t prepared. We didn’t think to Google the rules of beach paddle ball or actually, beach tennis. However, I did learn that beach tennis is not like real tennis. Or at least my backhand is not the same as my tennis backhand. Matt learned that, too, since the ball went way over his 6’5” body. Tomorrow we will have to try it with the rules and maybe make it a 4 player game since Colleen and Mary should be here. I just need to remember one very important thing – make sure to tap the sand off of the ball before serving. Otherwise, I end up with sand in my eyes and there is a danger that I will be hit in the face when Matt returns the ball. It is a dangerous game – not as dangerous as darts, but dangerous nonetheless.

So after coming back to the house, it was time to shower, make a quick beer run, then get ready and head out to dinner. Most of the places at the shore are pretty pricey since they only have a few months in order to make their money for the year. But the food was decent at this place, Carmen’s. The restaurant was pretty cool because it was semi-outdoor seating. When I say semi-outdoor seating, I mean that there was a roof over what was almost like a pier or a very wide dock with open sides overlooking a tiny marina and picnic table seating. While the food wasn’t really anything to write about, the scenes from the table were. There was a duck and her duckling that swam by. Some kids on the dock below our “window” fed them some bread, causing seagulls (dirty birds) to appear to steal the bread. Then I saw a full-fledged, knock-down, drag-out fight between 2 seagulls. That was pretty cool. The first seagull grabbed the tail of the other seagull and dragged it to the water. I think they were trying to drown each other. A mutual drowning would have been nice but sadly, both birds made it out alive.

And that brings me to now – blogging from the balcony, listening to the ocean, and watching the lightning. There are some stars overhead where there is no cloud cover. I honestly wish this could be my life in the summer. Hanging out on the balcony with the waves…the laptop can be here, too, but only for surfing the web and blogging. Not work. I should probably play the Powerball when I get back home for a chance at early retirement with lots of money…