Jersey Girl Goes "Down the Shore"

Born and raised a Jersey girl, I’ve spent my share of summer days “down the shore,” as we Jersey’s like to say. It’s just not summer until you ear rhythmic waves and eye the masses tied with beach towels at the waist, flip flopping their way to the next concession stand off the boardwalk. A whiff of coconut oil was a mainstay when I was a kid. Nowadays you more often smell the likes of SPF 40 on passers by. Sounds like motor oil, doesn’t it? Still, there’s no place on earth like the Jersey shore in the summer time, or any time. Off-seasons down the shore are great too! It's not so hot or crowded. There's lots of room to stretch your body and to think while walking the water's edge.

At the moment, it is 91 degrees at Point Pleasant Beach and a perfect Jersey summer weekend. There are a few gulls flying over the stands. How do I know? The online “beach cam!” It provides live views of the action. I get to sneak a peak at the garb the girls are wearing this year before venturing out. Everyone looks sufficiently tanned. I see a couple of kids building sand mounds. I see tables, footprints, and umbrellas. I see lots of people on the boardwalk, some sitting on benches, others parading by. 

Sitting next to me is a jar of shells that I’ve collected over the years. It reminds me of the hours I spent canvassing the shoreline as waves caught my feet and left me sinking. A wave would pull out a good-looking shell and I’d try to snatch it before the next wave pummeled me. Exhausted bodies with sunburned shoulders and sandpapered knees, evidenced you spent a good day at the shore.