It was me, Mr C, his brother, his wife, and our total of 3 kids, so we took two cars. There are two types of drivers. Some people get on the highway, pick a spot, and pretty much use cruise control until they get off the highway. Others get on, and consider it a personal challenge to pass any obstacle they come across (such as large trucks, etc...) or change lanes 50,000 times because they are driven to insanity by said obstacles.
These two types of drivers should never travel together in a mini caravan, under any circumstances. It is not fun for the person following the "passer", because the passer will change lanes without worrying about whether the follower will be able to change too. The follower won't know if the passer is coming back, or if the follower needs to get into that lane too, to exit soon, terse cell phone conversations will take place, and everyone will end up cranky. Boys are stupid. 'Nuff said.
Here are things you must bring when you travel by car with children:
- small squishy beanbag pillows for dozing off on the NJ turnpike (it's BORING)
- a portable DVD player - also, make sure you have enough headphones for the little darlings. (Some players can accomodate more than one set of headphones. Buy splitters if you must, because you really DON"T want to listen to their movies. )
- Sirius radio (for the grownups- you don't need me to elaborate on that one, do you?)
- a case of bottled water in a cooler (do not pay $3 a bottle at a thruway rest stop)
- E-Z pass (to cruise through toll stations without stopping to pay a cranky toll attendant... very awesome)
- snacks - preferably something that will leave crumbs all over the floor of the car
- a small tote bag for each kid is helpful too - they can bring whatever they want, as long as it's not food, and it fits in the bag.
When we got to the hotel we jumped into our suits on ASAP (having them in a separate tote bag helped) and went in the water! It was my first time in the ocean and I have to say "yechhhh." It's gorgeous -- the waves are beautiful, and they sound divine, but they swirl a cloud of muck around you, and then they pull away and leave you coated with a scratchy film of sand and salt. Revolting, and quick to creep into every nook and cranny of your personage. The sound of the waves is fantastic, but LOUD. I actually had to unlock my daughter's iPod and raise the volume limit. (Poor baby, I know...)
My brother in law had a boogie board, so I tried it. Hahahaha. It was awesome but basically the ocean knocked me off it, because I had no idea what I was doing. Then the sea tried to drag me back into its depths, and then it spit me back up on the beach. I loved it, sand rash and all, and I did actually ride a few waves fairly well.
We ate dinner at the hotel's poolside patio/ deck bar. It was the only one that I saw with palm trees all around the seating area. They were beautiful, if a bit out of place in Maryland. We listened to someone named Danny Dolan, who was performing there with a band. Never heard of him. The CD is called Sax on the Beach - no lie. He's a good saxophone player, so we bought a CD for $10. This page has a picture of him (upper left) and he was nice to my kid, so I won't make fun of the picture. Didn't see the chick, or the guy in the upper right.
We got pillaged by the service staff. Seriously, $178 for grilled cheeses, chicken fingers, etc for a total of 7 people?? I had a strawberry daquiri (that was what I drank for the remainder of the vacation; they had plenty of whipped cream which is a dairy product, and strawberries are fruit... so it was good for me. They forgot the rum in the first one so they gave me a double the second time. Wheeee!) We had the crab balls appetizer (hehehe) and they were excellent.
From our room balcony (we stayed at the Clarion) we could look one way and see the ocean, and look the other way to see the bay, so we saw a nice sunset. It kind of set suddenly, almost disappearing with a "plink". Weird.
After that some of us went for a night walk on the beach. Again, two types of people. People who walk far outside the waves, being careful not to get wet, and people who deliberately walk within the path of the waves and laugh when one splashes up over their feet and up their legs. Guess which one is me.
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