Move over Moondoggie, we’re coming to the beach!

Stone Harbor, New Jersey

We just got back from a relaxing week at the shore (or the beach depending where you are from). There is something about water that takes my worries away. The closer I get to water, the lighter I feel. Do people who live in a beach town year round enjoy the same effect. Or do they need to go somewhere else to relax and unwind. I sure hope not!

There are the lifeguards! Is it in the job description that they have to be hot, hot, hot? They make my lagging, sagging hormones surge! They get younger and better looking every year (or perhaps I get older and nearsighted). It almost makes me want to go into the water….almost!

This year we invited all of our siblings with spouses to join us at the beach house. Everyone arrived on different days but for about 12 hours there were eight people here partying as if they were teenagers. Awesome! Thank God for wine boxes!

There is a ritual to preparing for the trip.

The first part is packing the clothes. The shore is a funny place. It can be hot or cold or rainy or windy or all of those in the same day. Pack for that! I have a very small temperature range where I am comfortable — it’s maybe 3 to 5 degrees so I am usually hot or cold. I pack enough clothes for a normal person to go to both the North Pole and the hot equatorial rain forests for three months. Since it all goes in a car, the beloved husband doesn’t say much. He just rolls his eyes!

I have fluffy insulated socks and a fleece throw. The day we got there the beloved husband had shorts, tee-shirt and sandals on and was just fine. I was dressed in heavy jean crop pants, a tee-shirt, a lined hoodie with sneakers and socks and I was just fine too.

Here is one of our dinner guests! He preferred cheese and grapes.

Packing is done. Since we rent a house, we do most of the cooking. Restaurants in a beach town are very crowded in season, with large, loud families. On the other hand we can have an adult happy hour with drinks and snacks and dinner from the grill on the deck. That’s a no-brainer!

The last fun part of the prep is getting together the books to read. My beach vacations are all about reading and lounging. I don’t want to see any museums, historical sites or anything that would make me exert myself. I can read ten books on a shore vacation and still get some exercise. Ok, not a lot of exercise.

There are trips to book stores, research on the Amazon Kindle site and discussions with friends. There is a local book store there if the worst happens and I run out.

Now starts the anxiety about leaving my pets. They make sad faces when they see the luggage come out. Fortunately no one peed in it…this time.

I train so I can go without Starbucks mocha lattes for a week. The closest SB is about 30 minutes. Always good to know in case of a crisis.

The last great part of a vacation is coming home. You have toes in the water and sand in the crotch — it’s time to come home. There are three pets who will be anxious to see me with some form of punishment. The frog and the birds will be croaking and chirping (they are much nicer about trips). There is something pretty wonderful about coming home.

Goodbye beach!

PS: Y’all know who Moondoggie is don’t you? Remember the surfer from the Gidget beach movies from a long, long time ago?

25 thoughts on “Move over Moondoggie, we’re coming to the beach!”

Sounds Perfect! We love Stone Harbor . . . and Wildwood . . . and Cape May.
We grew up 30 minutes from the Jersey Shore ~ Point Pleasant and Manasquan.

Now we’re just 3 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
The minute I step foot on the beach, cares melt away. Aah . . . that’s better.

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