Palace Hotel Of Cape May

Hello, Travelpod. Kelsey here :)

On this lucky Wednesday, we only had one show in the afternoon - yay a late day! So, we got a motel on the beach with plans to enjoy a peachy beachy morning together.

Note about the motel on the beach: We are experiencing the life of out-of-season tourists. We pulled into the parking lot of the Tropicana Motel, where we had a reservation. We were met at the car by the owner, "Hey ...

I've been wanting to visit the European Christmas Markets for several years now, but my husband was reluctant - he's not a fan of the cold! But this year he relented. I'm approaching one of those "milestone" birthdays, and frankly, I would rather travel than have a party, so this year we are going!

We got brochures in the mail from a number of different companies featuring Christmas Time Cruises. I also ...

... the back of the pentagon. We weren’t about to risk ending up in Richmond so we set the GPS for Ocean City, Maryland and headed off to pick up our new van.

This was by freeway most of the way and only once took the wrong exit which took us into a rather poor part of town but gave us a chance to see a different side of the place

We eventually rejoined the freeway for the 150 mile drive to the seaside resort of ocean city ...

... ferry to Delaware where we explored the town of Lewes and hit the outlets. We came back for a late birthday dinner at the Peter Shields Inn. Good food and a fantastic view of the ocean from our table.

Wednesday was already our last day. So we hit the beach all day and then jumped in our cars and left. All in all it was a perfect little relaxing beach get a way.

... then 9.5kts. We were humming. The ETA started pulling in and what had showed an arrival at 8pm not looked like 5pm....looking good.

I was ready to make the turn into the Cape May canal but was held up by a very large ferry about ready to leave the narrow channel. I hail the cap on the radio and hear...."small trawler, I would stand off....we both cant make it". OK, he wins.

By 1800 we are tied up at the ...

... dinner. This sets a pattern that repeats over the next 4 days....

Cape May is the last piece of land on the Jersey Shore before it is cut by the Delaware Bay and is therefore the last piece of the great ocean beaches that make up the Jersey coastline. It was obviously a popular seaside resort for wealthy New Yorkers and New Jerseyites way back at the end of the 1800's and they built hundreds of Victorian Gothic style villas and hotels here. Today ...

... they are counting on that. (If you received a ticket on Saturday afternoon the mail won't go out until Monday anyway). This only further agravates the situation because you would then be notified of the late fees that would be acruing even as you tried to pay-up by mail. So my advice if you are visiting any small shore community but not staying in that town, don't assume that no sign means parking is allowed... Don't count on anyone saying anything ...

... that exciting although we did get to stop and get Chipotle with one of my best friends Justin, who now lives in NC. When I realized that we were close to his town I called him up and we were surprisingly only a few minutes down the road. Leah was also interested in looking into graduate school so it was a convenient pit stop along the way. We arrived into Atlanta around 1 a.m. and happily crashed. The signs for a town called Kannapolis cracked me up everytime.

Labor Day. Three Day Weekend. NEW JERSEY SHORE. Woohoo! My parents drove down from Northern Jersey. Silke and I drove up from Washington, DC. The weather was perfect. It was a nice chance to relax in the sun and surf.

... Allerdings - und das hat auch seinen Wert - liebt Cipo Cipollino ohne die Nachmittagsonne ;-). Nach kurzer Pause am Strand gehte es weiter nach Atlantic City wo wir am Capgroung 5 min vor "Office Closed" ankommen. Wir planen das Erstemal zu grillen und kuafen noch Rost & Co, nachdem wir uns unterwegs mit Steaks, Saucen und Getränken - Alkohol gab es nur im Spezialgeschäft - versorgt hatten.