44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39 days Down the Shore

Alright, so I'm kind of crap at this daily thing. But I'm going to work on it, I swear! So the past week I was down the Jersey Shore at a friend's family beach house. Monday I had a job interview for 'The Merchant of Venice', and thankfully, I got the job! Woohoo! That night, I met my friend Sue at Penn Station and took the train to Point Pleasant.

Her family has had a beach house in Lavallette since the 70's I think and it was fantastic! 3 blocks from the beach and it reminded me so much of both my grandparents' homes, it felt like walking into a memory. The vinyl table cloth, the linens with the summer quilts, the old little table lamps and just the feeling of a loved home that had been lived in for a long time.

We hit the beach everyday, didn't really go in the water though because the waves were huge! I was kind of hoping to get some open water ocean swimming in, but the water just didn't seem safe enough.

It was amazing to just laze on the beach for the better part of the day, go back to the house, shower and have an equally relaxing evening. We walked into town and went to the early bird dinner at the Crab's Claw. I'd brought my little DVD player with me, so we watched movies.

Sue was very brave and rode her niece's bike into the neighboring town to go to the grocery store and get taco fixings the next night. She cooked a delicious dinner and I ended up getting sucked into 'Without a Trace' on TV, so we didn't make it to the boardwalk like we'd planned. It was kind of a good thing,  we were so stuffed from our taco dinner I don't think I would've made the walk to the boardwalk!

I had forgotten just how relaxing time at the beach can be. Listening to the waves roll in and crash and lull you into a state of utter calm. And the light wind of the water cooling your skin from the hot rays of the sun. There's really nothing quite like it! And the Jersey Shore has an absolutely beautiful beach. Soft, clean sand and so well maintained. Granted I was down there after the season, and there were still other people on the beach, but in a way it felt like I was part of a special club of people who come to the beach off-season... I suppose they're mostly locals.

The last night I was down there, we walked over to Seaside Heights which is a few towns over and where the boardwalk is. It's also where that awful MTV reality show was filmed. We walked along the boardwalk which was practically dead, majority of shops closed up for mid-week or for the season. We ate at a hopping bar and grill that I think the whole town was in, then headed back to the boardwalk.

I was determined to win something! So we went into an arcade and the first thing I saw was a photo booth, which of course we had to do. Then we headed over to play skeeball. I thought I was kind of crappy at it, but turns out I actually kind of rock at it! I kept hitting the 10,000 point corner, it was awesome.

I did get sucked into trying to win an iPod from the stupid claw machine - damn things are rigged! I couldn't even win the lame sparkly plush black Halloween kitty. Had to go back and win some more tickets from skeeball to be able to actually get anything with the tickets!

Our friend Ginny LOVES skeeball, and I figured she was returning from her honeymoon in Italy this week and it was just her birthday so got her a little birthstone ring with my tickets! That was kind of the best they had to offer. The fake little flies, chinese finger trap, bag of marbles and plastic toys just didn't quite tempt me. And I didn't have nearly enough tickets for the cute plush animals, the Coach sunglasses or the Red Sox pint glass they had.

We walked back along the boardwalk and in a moment of youth and insanity, I did a cartwheel along the boardwalk. Thankfully, I don't think anyone was around to see my flip flop go flying, except for Sue of course. Glad I can at least amuse my friends! The next day Sue's parents came down, and her mom was nice enough to give me a ride to the train station. I didn't remember it being such a long commute, but it felt like forever getting back to Manhattan! But well, well worth it. Jersey Shore, I'm coming back to see you!