Wildwood Crest beach. The appropriate word is 'expansive'.
The colors aren't Victorian, but I'm sure the darkness and dampness inside are.
- The Wildwood beaches are ridiculously large. It’s as if someone took a super-sized Costco and made it into a beach. You can have a “beach access” house and still need to walk 15 minutes to get to the ocean, two thirds of that being a walk across the sands.
- At least the sand is packed tight! Great for walking and castle-building, and I hope it’s less prone to a deadly collapse because I’ve never seen so many families spend their beach time just diggin' holes — and not even that close to the water in an attempt to make a pool. What is the purpose of it? What are they expecting to find?
- Too bad that it’s still the ocean… I have been forever spoiled by the mild Mediterranean seas, never mind the exorbitant prices and the overcrowding.
- Morey’s Piers — the Mariner’s Pier in particular — are better run and more fun than anything in Atlantic City. Which, duh, of course it would since one is clearly geared towards adults with “family fun” somewhat of an afterthought, but this was a confirmation.
- I was genuinely surprised by the amount of pro-Trump T-shirts on display in every boardwalk store. There was a mug shot T-shirt on sale less than 24 hours after his arraignment. No one on the boardwalk wore any of them, though I did see quite a few “I ♥︎ hot guys” shirts.
- A different type of an amusement park is the town of Cape May, which is apparently a Victorian bed & breakfast bonanza. I’ve lived in 100-year-old house, and it’s not what it’s cracked up to be, but maybe the feeling is better when you know it’s not your own place and you’re just there for a vacation? Still, they are pretty on the outside.
- And all of this in less than 4 hours of driving from DC! The key is to leave on a Monday morning.
- So, if anyone asks what the default affordable beach holiday should be, my vote is probably for the Shore over OBX if you’re in it for the beach and the attractions, the other way around if you prefer the activities; but as the designated driver I really can’t discount that one is half the driving distance of the other. Jersey Shore wins.