Ocean City, NJ- NJ's Family Beach

   The occasional caw of a seagull, children playing, and the roar of the ocean are the only sounds I hear when I lay back in my chair and shut my eyes on the beach in Ocean City, NJ. A family friendly atmosphere, boardwalk amusements, pristine beaches, and its close proximity to my home make it my favorite day trip beach.

    Traveling to OC is always an adventure. It’s easy to get there from my home in South Jersey; all I do it take the Atlantic City Expressway to exit 7S, which leads to the Garden State Parkway, and take the Parkway to exit 25.

     It’s only a 50-minute drive and with my windows down, my radio blasting, and my sister, Lauren, dancing in the passenger seat the ride is far from tedious. For the last two summers my sister and I made that drive every Friday, weather and schedules permitting.

     Our weekly jaunts to OC allowed me to get to know the town, but I still discover new things every time I go down. Last weekend when I was down there I discovered a gelato stand on the Ocean City Boardwalk that served delicious, creamy strawberry sorbetto. I really wanted a gelato, but I am lactose and intolerant so I settled for the dairy free sorbetto, which I loved, because it reminded me of a strawberry smoothie.

     Parking can expensive, especially when combined with the price of beach tags and tolls, and it took me several trips before I found a cheap parking lot.  Jilly’s parking lot, located on 12th St. behind the boardwalk, is my favorite parking lot because it is only $10.00 and it is located right near the public restrooms.

    Jilly's parking lot is also right near the beach tag stand. Daily beach tags only cost $5.00 and trust me you cannot sneak on the beach because they do have people walking around and checking for tags. 

     Ocean City is a dry town; making it the perfect place for young families to vacation and it has received many awards from various media outlets. It is the only dry beach town in NJ and, as a dry town, there are no bars in the city’s limits and restaurants are not permitted to serve alcoholic beverages. However, there is a liquor store right outside the city limits and there are several popular seafood restaurants, also outside the city limits, that serve alcohol.

Seagulls: Friendly Shore Staple or Menaces in Disguise?

     Every shore town has them; the grey feathered, wailing birds that are the bane of a beachgoer's existence.

     My love-hate relationship with seagulls started on the Wildwood Boardwalk when I was six-years-old. It was a crisp night and I was wearing my new red Wildwood, NJ sweat shirt and carrying my favorite stuffed dog when, all of a sudden, I felt something plop onto my head. I reached up and discovered it was a wet, sticky substance: seagull poop. A seagull had pooped on my head! I started crying and my mother told me it was good luck when a seagull pooped on your head. I didn’t believe her and was forced to spend the rest of the night with the remnants of seagull poop in my hair.

    That incident started an undeclared war which has yet to end. Sometimes my encounters with seagulls are innocent enough. When I was child and my family vacationed in Cape May I would feed the seagulls from the porch of the Family Fun Arcade where we ate lunch, blatantly disobeying both my parents and the metal signs that read, “DON”T FEED THE SEAGULLS.” The seagulls were polite and only took what food I threw them.

     However, last summer the war escalated. Last July I was sitting on a bench on the Ocean City Boardwalk facing the beach and eating funnel cake. I was unable to finish it so I decided to throw it to a lone seagull who was walking on the sand. As soon as I threw it all of his seagull friends converged and, upon discovering there was no more food, they moved as one and decided to chase me.

    Two weeks later I was on the beach in Ocean City, sitting on my pink Mexican blanket and eating my Wawa hoagie. I was talking to my sister and not paying attention to my food. All of a sudden a seagull swooped down and grabbed my hoagie out of my hand. I didn’t even realize what happened until my sister, who had a look of shock on her face, burst out laughing and pointed to my empty hand. I glanced over and saw the seagull thief happily devouring my turkey hoagie a few feet away.

    Lesson learned: don't feed or tempt the seagulls otherwise they will attack. I no longer feed the seagulls and so far there have been no incidents. However, the summer is far from over and the seagulls still have time to attack.

A seagull eatting a discarded bag of chips in a parking lot behind the Ocean City Boardwalk.

Lucy the Elephant- Margate, NJ

    How many New Jersey beach towns have a giant elephant sitting on the beach?

    Well if you guessed one then you would be correct.
    Margate, NJ, home to Lucy the Elephant, is the only beach town in NJ to have a six-story, elephant-shaped building sitting on valuable beach front property.

    Recently I was in Margate and I decided to visit Lucy. One of the reasons I wanted see her was because I heard she used to be a hotel, a rumor which I discovered to be untrue, though she has housed a restaurant, business office, and tavern over the years.

    Nestled among the elaborate vacations homes, many with fish filled fountains gracing their perfectly clipped, bright green lawns, Lucy looks tiny, standing 65 feet high, 60 feet long and 18 feet high, in comparison to the deluxe condos and three story mansions that surround her.

     I didn’t know what to expect when I embarked on my visit, but I didn’t expect an elephant themed gift shop, though I guess I should’ve since every tourist attraction I have ever been to has a gift shop. The gift shop employees impressed me more than Lucy did. The employees are very knowledgeable about Lucy and her history and, since I’m a history buff, I loved hearing them talk about her history.

    I guess I could have taken the $7 tour, which is offered every half hour, and ventured inside Lucy, but I figured that would be a waste of money, especially since the gift shop employees were willing to part with Lucy’s history for free.

    Lucy, “born” in 1882 to proud father James V. Lafferty, inventor of animal shaped buildings, was built in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourism. Lafferty created several elephant-shaped buildings, including one in Cape May, NJ, which was later torn down, but only Lucy survives. However, over the years, Lucy’s life has been threatened several times, including in 2006 when she was struck by lightening.

    In addition to being Margate’s claim to fame, Lucy, is famous in her own right. In 2009 she was featured in an episode of the show Life After People, which showed how the environment would take over the Lucy without people to maintain her.

    Though Lucy herself failed to impress me, her history fascinated me and I enjoyed taking pictures of an animal shaped building, the first I have ever seen.

   

Links:

Lucy, The Elephant Hotel

Lucy’s Beach Grille
Lucy on Facebook

Ventnor, NJ: The Land of Mini Mansions and No Public Restrooms

    Ventnor is a small beach town south of Atlantic City and on Monday my sister, Lauren, and I, decided to play hookie from work and travel there. Empty streets with an abundance of parking greeted us when we arrived. The beach was small; the distance from the ocean to the boardwalk was only about 150 feet.  There were also no public restrooms which led me to assume that most of the people who vacation in Ventnor rent houses, an assumption furthered by the fact that I didn't see any hotels when we walked around town.
    Since Ventnor lacked public restrooms, my sister and I decided to leave Ventnor and travel to Margate’s beach, which was less than two minutes away by car.

     It was very peaceful on the Margate beach, with most of the sand being unoccupied except for the occasional sun worshipper, older couple, or family with young children. The water was a warm 70 degrees, but it was windy out, which made it was too cold to go swimming, unless you were one of the surfers wearing a wet suit, but we did enjoy walking along the water's edge. 

    We did eventually end up back in Ventnor because my sister wanted to walk on the boardwalk, which is connected to the Atlantic City boardwalk and lined with mini mansions.

      In the end we walked over a mile and a half to get to the casinos. We didn't mean to walk this much, but my sister was convinced the casinos were closer than they really were. However, we put the walk to good use and gawked at the beach front mansions and snapped pictures. 

    All in all, Ventnor is a town full of rental homes with a small beach and a convenient location since Atlantic City is a short walk away and Ocean City is a short drive away, but I wouldn't recommend going to the Ventnor beach for the day because of the lack of public restrooms. 

The Roll of the Dice: Casinos in Atlantic City

     Everything you could ever want under one roof: fine dining, elegant clothing and accessory stores, spas, nightclubs, and gambling. It is paradise; once you enter you don’t want to leave. Time has no meaning in the vast windowless structures that house the lavishly appointed casinos.
    On any given day the casinos are filled with many different types of people from the fanny pack clad tourists with cameras glued to their hands, of which I am one sans fanny pack, to the blue haired old women playing the penny and nickel slots. Mingling amid the tourists and elderly are the serious gamblers, people who haunt the casinos night and day in hopes of winning a fortune.
    The atmosphere can be both jubilant and filled with desperation. Fortunes can be lost in an instant, but they can be won too. It all depends on the roll of the dice or the deal of the deck.
    I am not a big gambler, but I love going to the casinos to people watch and take in the atmosphere. I don't make special trips to the casinos, but if I'm in AC I'll usually go and gamble $5.00 in the slot machines. I never win, but $5.00 can last for a couple of hours since I walk around and try my hand at different machines. I have only visited the casinos on the boardwalk, but I find them all the same. Caesars and Trump Plaza both have an atmosphere of understated elegance with their plush carpet, marble floors, and huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, but there is nothing to distinguish them from each other. However, Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino and The Tropicana have themes and decorations that add to their allure.
    As you walk along the boardwalk outside of Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino there are various storefronts depicting old western general stores and saloons. Animated waterfalls, mines, a "49er" panning for gold, and a running stream greet you when you enter from the boardwalk.
    The atmosphere is carnival like with the kitschy decorations that sit on top of the various slot machines such as a man in a wooden bath tub pictured below.

    My camera is permanetly glued to my hand as I walk around and subtly snap pictures, with is not allowed and there have been several times where security has reprimanded me.
      While Bally's tackily decorated casino floor impressed me, The Tropicana's exotic, old Havana themed, three-story shopping area, The Quarter, left me in awe. Upon leaving the dingy, smoke filled casino section of The Tropicana I did not expect the pop music to turn to Latin salsa rhythm and the threadbare carpet to turn to faux brown bricks. Palm trees placed discreetly in corners and the ceiling resembling the sky, complete with clouds, give the illusion of walking in a Cuban town and made me feel like I was outside. There are several mosaic fountains nestled amid the eateries and shop lined halls that add to the sultry atmosphere. I have never shopped in a place like this before and, while I did not buy anything, I did enjoy walking around The Quarter and listening to the music.
    Not only do Bally’s and The Tropicana stand out among the bland casinos that fill AC, but they are in a central location. They are within walking distance of the AC Outlets and the Piers Shops at Caesar.  Every casino offers the same games, shopping, and excellent service so you might as well go to the ones with interesting décor and unique themes.

Links:

Shops in Tropicana's The Quarter 

Rainforest Cafe, Atlantic City

    There are so many delicious and varied eateries in Atlantic City. I, as a fan of cheap and entertaining, love eating at the Rainforest Café, which is located on the boardwalk in Trump Plaza. Since it is part of a popular restaurant franchise, you have to walk through a “retail village,” which sells rainforest themed merchandise, to get to the restaurant.

     Fog floats up from the “swamp” where the automated alligator resides. A wave of humidity hits you as you enter the restaurant. Vines fall from the ceiling, fake green tropical trees and plants cover the walls, automated monkeys rest among the tree branches, and automated parrots and insects rest throughout the dense vegetation. The ceilings are covered with stars and moving clouds. Upon entering the main dining room, you have to walk under the huge fish tank full of colorful fish and underwater plants. Last spring when I was there I saw a worker dressed in scuba gear enter the aquarium and interact with the fish.

     My favorite part of dining at the Rainforest Cafe is the thunderstorms. Every thirty minutes a simulated thunderstorm with fake rain, flashing lights, and loud bursts of thunder occurs. The animals come alive; the elephant snorts, the monkeys swing from the trees as they chatter, and the butterflies flap their colorful wings. The first time I did not expect the thunderstorms. I was startled when I heard the first boom of thunder because I knew it was bright and sunny outside. I loved the storm so much that I stayed for the next one so that I could snap pictures and take a video on my iPhone. 

     The atmosphere is the reason I love eating at the Rainforest Café, but the food is reasonable priced and delicious. My favorite dish is the chicken fingers and fries. The chicken is always warm and the fries are always crispy, which is the way I like them. Last year I was there for my birthday and my sister arranged for a volcano cake to be delivered to our table. The wait staff sang happy birthday and I blew out the sparkly candle at the top of my volcano. The chocolate pillars of the volcano were moist and covered in warm fudge and the vanilla ice cream inside the pillars looked good, but since I'm lactose intolerant I was unable to taste the ice cream for myself. 

Links:

• Rainforest Cafe Editorial Review