End of Summer 08 - Part I

I took three vacation days and combined them with the Labor Day weekend to have a nice end of summer respite this year. I liked it so much, I may do it again!

On Wednesday we went to the Shore. Those of you not from this area would probably say we went to the beach. BUT you'd be wrong. We went to the Shore (with a capital S). I've probably been to the Shore at least for a day every year since I was 9 or 10. Except in 2007. At the end of 2007 I realized I had not made it to the Shore even once for a day. And I came dangerously close to doing it again in 2008. That is what made the trip on Wednesday (8-27) so important.

We entered Ocean City, NJ (not Maryland.. don't even get me started!!) over the 9th Street Bridge as we planned on using the 13th Street Bathhouse to change so the 9th Street Bridge entrance made more sense than 34th Street. So first we had to get past Somers Point Circle. Follow the link to my previous post on replacing the Circle with a regular intersection!!!! To preserve the circle to memory I had to take some pictures. We pulled off into the Point Diner and took these.

As luck would have it, we were also stopped by the raising of the drawbridge which I believe will also be gone as part of the causeway project. I wonder why no one has thought to put an advertisement on the bottom side of the bridge. We were a captive audience for a few minutes. You know something like what used to be on the airplane banners for Noxema or local restaurants. By the way, we only saw one such plane the whole day. It flew an ad for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

The weather was P-E-R-F-E-C-T. You could not ask for a better day. Low humidity (almost none at home and very low for the Shore), breezy, a few clouds and the water which has been cold most of the summer was very nice. Just a slight coolness when you first entered and then it was fine. The waves were so-so. I did ride a few and one it took me all the way in and gave me a minor scraped up knee.

We spent a good 4 hours on the beach then headed to the Bathhouse to shower and change. Before hitting the beach we had breakfast at Litterers (of course!). After cleaning up we walked the boards for a bit eating dinner at Del's. The lines for Mack and Manco's were forever long at all three locations!! We shopped for a Christmas tree ornament which we found not in the Christmas tree shoppe but in the "Old Salt" store. We also found a gift for someone there. (Not telling you who!). We didn't make it to Kohr's for an orange and white cone. We had already walked the lenght of the boardwalk one and half times and it was time to get on home.

Now that I've taken up running, I have put on my to do list to run the boardwalk. But I was not prepared for that on this day! Mostly becaues I did not have sneakers with me. I think i'll do it when I'm 50. (16 months to go for those of you trying to do the math!)

Dave got too much sun on his upper body and back of his legs. He's been itching for the past few days. I have learned my lesson and only showed skin when I was in the water and then only after lathering up!

Christmas in Bethlehem

Yesterday, Boxing Day, we travelled to Bethlehem (PA). It seemed like a neat thing to do at the holidays. As usual we took side/back routes mostly. We left our house just around noon and with only a little bit of misdirection from incomplete maps we arrived in Bethlehem around 2:30. It was raining/sleeting and every so often a snow flake appeared. The tours were all booked so we walked around on our own and when we couldn't stand the wet weather anymore we got in the car and returned home.

We saw the Sisters' House from the outside. In Moravian society the people lived in groups based on gender, age and marital status. Single males and females lived in different houses performing tasks for the community. The segregation was so strict that even their outdoor activities were planned so as not to run in to the brothers. Interesting concept! I can think of a few siblings who may have found such segregation welcome for part of their growing up anyway! Fortunately, eventually they all come around.

As we waked we saw evidence of earlier snow falls. *Sigh*

And the toy store had the extra large version of the K'nex Ferris Wheel. Jimmy put together a smaller version once.

On the way home we stopped for dinner at the Bethlehem Diner which is between Bethlehem and Allentown just off route 22. We had eaten there several times before when I traveled with Dave to some summer softball tournaments. You can't go wrong with Diner food.

Cookie bake 2007

On December 8th, four families came together to make 70.5 dozen cookies. We made Pecan Sandies, Snickerdoodles, Rolo Cookies, Chocolate Chip, "Heart Attack" Cookies, Fudge, Christmas Cut-Outs and Thumb Prints. Each family brought the recipe and ingredients for two varieties and we mixed and baked for 8 hours. Here are some pictures from that event. Enjoy!