Cape May, NJ

We went to Cape May for the first time. Why anyone would want to go to over-built tacky Ocean City when they can go to Cape May is beyond me. It was so laid back. No amusement piers or monolithic hotels. No hoards of unsupervised teenagers. Just beach, sun, and families. It was also the boys' first time seeing the ocean. Getting there was half the fun -- for everyone but me. We took the Cape May-Lewes Ferry from Lewes, Delaware. Have I mentioned I hate boats? I was so relieved to get to the other side!

We were suppose to be staying in a rental I found on the Internet. The woman said she had A/C. We went by her house (probably a $2 million piece of real estate) and dropped our check off in her mailbox. We went to the 2-br townhouse to discover, to our dismay, that the only A/C was a window unit in one bedroom! John hates to be hot, so now what do we do? I run back to the woman's lighthouse mailbox and retrieve our check while John got our stuff and kids out on the porch. I "borrowed" the phonebook from the rental and called around to find a vacancies and then we drove around to see if we liked the looks of them.

Did I mentioned that Cape May has a historic district?!! We ended up staying in a pretty little hotel called Hotel Macomber. But was our A/C worries over? No! Apparently, the window unit in our room was on the fritz and we sweated all night! So the next morning I moved us down the hall to another room with an air conditioner that would make a penguin happy!

Did you ever see the movie Under the Tuscan Sun ? There is a scene where the plumbing was reversed and steaming hot water was in the toilet. Sandra Oh declared she didn't think it was a good thing "unless you want to give your ass a facial." Well, Sandra, I had a real ass facial at the Hotel Macomber! I was using the toilet when I couldn't figure out why my butt was getting warm and a little clammy. Then it suddenly hit me -- steam from the toilet! I touched the tank, and sure enough, it was hot! I started laughing and John was at the door asking if I was okay. I just said, "I'm getting a butt facial"!

Matthew and Jared couldn't get enough of the ocean! Jason, on the other hand, couldn't be far enough away! He stayed at the blanket and played in a little blow up pool we bought him. Matthew and Jared got their exercise hauling water up to him.

Jared had another first at the beach . . . He lost his first tooth! He was afraid the Tooth Fairy wouldn't find us in Cape May so I had to hold his tooth until we got home.







We made two stops on the way home. Our first stop was the Cape May Lighthouse. It was a short visit. The plan was to climb to the top of the lighthouse (100 steps). We lasted about 10 minutes. At the first landing, Jason decided he was afraid of the spiral staircase and Jared decided he was tired. John and Matthew kept climbing. They were about two landings from the top when Matthew decided he had to go to the bathroom...NOW! So down they came and that was the end of our lighthouse visit.

Our second stop was in Margate, New Jersey to visit Lucy the Elephant. Jared has had a long-time love affair with elephant. I found Lucy mentioned in a travel guide so we made a detour. Lucy is a 65 foot high wooden elephant built in 1881 to attract investors to the Jersey Shore. The kids loved being inside an elephant.

All in all, it was a great vacation!