Ocean City, MD --July/August 2011

Normally, at this time of the year, my family and I head off to the Jersey shore for our summertime vacation. We fly into Philly and rent a car, go to see family in PA and then drive on over to the shore and stay there for a couple of nights and then drive down to Delaware to see my uncle and stay with him for a few days and then drive on back up to Philly to fly home.

Last year, my favorite place in Jersey was packed full of people! It was a madhouse! It seems that the show, Jersey Shore was filming there! YIKES! It also seemed that so many foreigners were hired in the shops and stands instead of the local Jersey kids that I was used to seeing. I had noticed this trend over the years, so many exchange students or young people from Russia and other countries coming over to work the stands and shops during the summer. It was a bit disheartening to see as I missed the Jersey guys calling out to us as we'd pass the stands to try to get our attention to come on over to play their game of chance to possibly win this prize or that.

But yikes! Jersey Shore....as we had walked down the boardwalk too, they had Snookie and some other girl on the shore walking in front of us as they were filming while we were there. It was hard to see my favorite childhood spot infiltrated by the media and mobbed with people.

So this year, we decided to take a break from the shore and spend our time at Ocean City, MD. We had noticed that along the main strip were a ton of miniature golf courses! We have not played putt-putt as some call it, for a long time!

We flew Southwest on free tickets that were saved up and stayed at the Holiday Inn right on the beach, also using points too that were saved. We didn't really have a good plan like we were used to doing with the NJ jaunt but we had a really great time!

The hotel itself is right on the beach and the water was nice. Temperatures were really great although there was not much of a challenge for waves. I didn't get to see it at low tide at all but the water felt great. One of the only things I didn't like was that there was a live band that played the same beat over and over again one night. It was a bit obnoxious.

We got to play about 4 different miniature golfs and had a blast tho' we found out if you are going to go play them there, be sure and go before 5 pm because after that time, you pay a much higher rate as most people will play at that time or later so that they are not burning under the heat of the sun.

There were lots of little souvenir beach and surf shops, many were the same and tons of Candy Kitchen stores! WOW! Of course Dunkin Donuts were scattered all over too.


We met up with my uncle and ate with him a few times at a few places like Seacrets which is a wonderful restaurant on the bay side. The owner transplants palm trees every year and the whole
 
 

floor of the place is the sandy beach. One section has tables right in the water that you can sit at and have your feet in there. Several bars and dance floors, it's just a really fun, fun place to go!

 

Of course we had to go into the arcade and I had to play the coin slide games that I am really good at. I ended up winning enough points to get some great Halloween props! Take a peek over at my Halloween blog: Under the Crooked Hat and you can see the pics of all that I got! It was great fun! We went on the Haunted House ride and enjoyed shopping along the stores on the boardwalk.

Ocean City was a great alternative to the Jersey shore. Having the beach right on the beach itself was really bonus but I still missed Seaside.