More Beach Time - With Bill & Kelly this time

Dorothy, New Jersey
Country Oaks RV Park



So much beach time!  Our Class of 2014 RV friends, Bill & Kelly are work camping at this campground.  It is a really nice place and they set us up in a really nice spot.  FHU.  They are both originally from New Jersey so we got the whirlwind tour of the South Jersey Shore area.  It was great to see them both as our paths have not passed much this past 3 years so we really enjoyed our time together.

Me, Steve, Kelly & Bill

Since things were so rushed this past week with Steve being in Arizona, we decided to save the High Point of Delaware until he returned.  We adjusted our route to drive past it on our way to New Jersey.  We found a street to pull our rig over at and walked to it.  I wish I got a broader view of the location.  It's literally 3 feet from the street, right in a residential area in town.  Too funny.

 

Our site, # 25.

Our first night Kelly had made a wonderful lasagna so we didn't have to worry about cooking.  It was delicious and very nice of her as she was working that day too.  Thanks Kelly!

 

And she promised there'd be someone famous there waiting for me.

Thank you.  Thank you very much Kelly!  He performed for the campground in the community bldg.

 

They both had to work the next day so Steve and I drove around a nearby Nature Preserve where there was a power cache trail (geocaching).

It was a pretty area with some deer and very quiet.  No one else there but us.  A suspicious storm rolled through quickly and made a real mess of the roads.  Here we are again with the mud.  At least it wasn't deep and the surface was mostly pebbles and sand.  Either way, we were glad to be out of it.

That evening we all drove over to the Jersey Shore.  Again, like Ocean City MD, Ocean City, NJ had a beautiful huge boardwalk.  This one does not have bars or allow alcohol so it's set up more as a family place.  There were a lot more rides here too.

 

We walked for a bit and then stopped at one of their favorite pizza spots, Manco & Manco.  We chose a large sausage and pepperoni.  It was very good!

 

 

You have to look close, but there were several kites out being flown.

The sun went down and all the lights came on and it was a great night to be on the boardwalk.  It was quite crowded even for a weeknight.  Even though it was hot during the day, it was very chilly once the sun went down so we picked up a long sleeve shirt for me to wear.

 

There are many chocolate and salt water taffy shops.  Above is some taffy coming out of the packager.

 

On our way out we saw this funny sign.

 

We all kind of slept in the next morning, at least I did, and Bill made us a famous NJ Pork Roll Sandwich.  It is Taylor ham, egg and cheese served on a hard roll.  Very good!

Served with a side of fried potatoes  So much I could barely finish it. They had the next two days off so back to the beach we went.  This time we drove to Mays Landing to see the lighthouse.

 

We drove through another wetlands area to get there.  There were people out fishing and crabbing.  These wild Hibiscus grow all around here.

The first Cape May Lighthouse was built in 1823 and was 63 feet tall.  That location is now underwater due to erosion.  The second one was built in 1847 and 78 feet tall.  It was poorly constructed so a third was built and lit in 1859 and stands  just over 157 feet tall and can be seen 22 miles offshore.

Bird House Row.

Kelly let me know that these bird houses are for Martins which are community birds. They eat thousands of mosquitos and like their homes in open areas.

 

There are 217 steps from the ground to the top.  It was a nice workout.

These little doors are actually floor vents to help prevent moisture build up.

Around and around we climb.

 

The Lighthouse has two separate walls.  The outside wall is cone-shaped, and is 3 feet 10 inches thick at the bottom, and 1 foot 6 inches thick at the top.  The inside wall is a cylinder with 8.5-inch thick walls which support the spiral staircase.  The walls were designed to withstand winds several times above hurricane force.

Looking out the thick porthole window.

Made it to the top.  Now for some beautiful views.

As you look straight to the ocean, you can't miss this big, beautiful old structure. This is St. Mary's by the Sea Retreat House.  It's currently a convent built in the early 1900s which now runs women's retreats.  There has been talk about knocking it down and returning it back to its natural state.  Seems a shame for such a beautiful place.

Looking slightly the other way, you see the old bunker. It was never meant to be permanent, but the massive concrete bunker was built as a military structure during World War II and is still sitting out on the beach. The concrete building, complete with walls that measure seven feet thick, was constructed on top of thick wooden pilings that are still standing.

 

According to a website, “This bunker or gun emplacement was built in 1942. The round turrets on either side held six-inch guns. The horseshoe-shaped structures which can be seen out in front at low tide are Panama Mounts. These were built in July, 1941, prior to the construction of the more permanent bunker, and held four 155mm coast artillery guns. A sister bunker stands across the bay in Lewes, Delaware.”  When it was built in 1942, the bunker was more than 900 feet or so from the ocean, on high ground. It was covered in sod to blend in with the surroundings, which explains why it’s not so pretty today, with the sides exposed. The tide has since changed, though, and it’s impossible to walk under the structure as you once could; the water is always washing up underneath the bunker, which, over the years, appears to be moving out to sea.

Other views show the marsh which has swans swimming in it.  I wasn't able to get a better picture of them.  They are the tiny white dots near the upper shoreline.

The beautiful lens of the lighthouse.

   

The building to the left is the Oil House which was used to store the whale oil which was originally used, then later kerosene.

Before we head out to dinner we stopped in at the Cape May Brewery for some samples.

Bill and Steve happily sampling the beer.  Steve is so happy that Bill is an IPA lover like him.  The hoppier the beer, the more they like it.  Kelly and I had a home brewed Root Beer.

 

I had photobombed the nice couple next to us earlier so when it was our turn for a picture, they returned the favor!  We had a great time talking with them.

Funny sign on the storage door next to us that apparently people keep trying to enter.

 

We were lucky to get a table on the waterside for dinner at The Boathouse Restaurant.

 

Great dinner, great views, great friends!

Fugettaboutit!

The next day Bill and Kelly took us to another boardwalk at Wildwood. There was a new attraction, The Ghost Ship that Kelly really wanted to go on.  Another huge boardwalk that took us most of the evening to walk to the end.

Who's in for the Ghost Ship?  We are!  It was fun and of course scaring the bejeezus out of the people right behind us was the best part.  For example, Bill put his hand in some hole and acted like it was being torn off which totally freaked out the women behind us.  Steve also participated in the fun and those women and kids were loving it.  There were some good scary moments and it was a good time as it's been a while since we've been in anything like that.

By time we walked to the end we were so tired we just hopped the convenient train back to the car.

On our last day the weather was perfect and we went to the beach.  These beaches are packed even mid-week.  If you look far to the back of the above picture you can see Atlantic City.

We walked down a bit and had a nice quiet spot practically to ourselves.

Some fun and sun.

 

 

There were some BBQ Ribs waiting for us back at camp so off we went.  Bill had made some Hot Wings and Steve brought out some Boudin Balls from Louisiana for appetizers. Some Jersey Corn on the Cob and a salad and we were ready.

We really appreciated all that Bill and Kelly did for us while we visited.  It's wonderful to go visit with people who grew up in an area and know it so well. We loved hearing all their stories of when they were younger, where they went and what they did. Thank you for the great time!!  See you in Quartzsite I hope!