SUMMER TIME AT THE JERSEY SHORE
Like most places of white sandy shore, summer is the busiest season in Ocean County. Unofficially, summer begins here on Memorial Day weekend in May and ends on Labor Day weekend in September. There are hundreds of vehicles coming and going throughout the mid-Atlantic beach resorts fondly called, the “Jersey shore”. This county’s beach line stretches for miles and miles for about 30 (+) miles. The school is out and the beach season begins. It is vacation time for most working class. Reunions, beach volleyball, kite flying, walking, biking, sunbathing, crabbing and fishing; all of these fun activities concentrate on or around the coastlines of the Atlantic ocean. From Point Pleasant to the north, down to Long Beach Island to the south, no one can visit the beach area without mentioning the boardwalk. It is usually made of (wooden) boards primarily as a beach walkway. For these two are intertwined no matter where you go. Only a couple of towns do not have the boardwalk next to the beach. The legendary boardwalk of Atlantic City, where the Miss America beauty pageant started, immortalizes this landmark.
Fuel cost is relatively cheap compared with the neighboring states of New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. So out of town folks travel via car, train, motorcycle, bus or even by boat just to get away, and head towards the Jersey shore. Population increases many times over during summer. The two neighboring counties down south, Atlantic and Cape May counties, fare no better when it comes to the influx of beach lovers during the season. The volume of traffic is enormous even in the “back roads.” Going home from work on a typical Friday afternoon usually takes 20 – 25 minute commute. Unfortunately, this is not the case during this time of the year. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes up to one hour during the summer months. So much movement is going on; in that anyone can sense that tourism industry is thriving at is best. It is a way of life, in our neck of the woods. Soon, Labor Day weekend will be here, and fall will follow. Slowly, Ocean County will return to its normalcy. But for now, surf’s up. It is summer time down the Jersey shore... Cheers!
Note: While I have the pleasure of writing about summer life in our county, I have no vested interest or hidden agenda in any beach property, fuel industry or bureau of tourism. I wrote this article along with the photo shoots for the sole purpose of sharing it with all our fellow bloggers. And of course, I’ve had numerous pleasure walks while working with my digital. My wish is that in a small way, I’ve encouraged our global friends to share their wealth of beautiful sceneries (love them beaches, enormous bays, great mountains and parks) as seen through their own camera lens. AAA (Auto Assoc. of America) and Atlas reference books showed me great beaches, magnificent lakes, bays, and just spectacular sceneries from places like: Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls, Canada side). Maryland has the Inner Harbor of Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay, the sail boat haven of Annapolis. They are magnificent. And how about Malibu beach of Southern California, along with San Gabriel Mountains (Cucamonga Wilderness/Day Canyon)) or the San Francisco Bay, up north? I am hoping that we can share some of the spectacular sceneries from the Philippines, especially from the neighbor islands of Luzon. Let’s not forget our friends from the land down under. Sydney is a given - the largest, the oldest and the best-known city in Australia. “This most enduring icon also has the Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a. k. a. The Coathanger”. But I’ve read an article or two about the Sunshine State and its great shorelines of Brisbane, some 44 mile-stretch of white sands along the Pacific and Gold Coast highways. My reference quoted this place as “Australia’s most popular holiday destination, the Gold Coast also known as Surfer’s Paradise.” I wonder who can validate this information for us without hooking up directly through the world wide web (www) via hyper text transfer protocol (http)? Let’s wait and see if we have any takers, dear friends!
Like most places of white sandy shore, summer is the busiest season in Ocean County. Unofficially, summer begins here on Memorial Day weekend in May and ends on Labor Day weekend in September. There are hundreds of vehicles coming and going throughout the mid-Atlantic beach resorts fondly called, the “Jersey shore”. This county’s beach line stretches for miles and miles for about 30 (+) miles. The school is out and the beach season begins. It is vacation time for most working class. Reunions, beach volleyball, kite flying, walking, biking, sunbathing, crabbing and fishing; all of these fun activities concentrate on or around the coastlines of the Atlantic ocean. From Point Pleasant to the north, down to Long Beach Island to the south, no one can visit the beach area without mentioning the boardwalk. It is usually made of (wooden) boards primarily as a beach walkway. For these two are intertwined no matter where you go. Only a couple of towns do not have the boardwalk next to the beach. The legendary boardwalk of Atlantic City, where the Miss America beauty pageant started, immortalizes this landmark.
Fuel cost is relatively cheap compared with the neighboring states of New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. So out of town folks travel via car, train, motorcycle, bus or even by boat just to get away, and head towards the Jersey shore. Population increases many times over during summer. The two neighboring counties down south, Atlantic and Cape May counties, fare no better when it comes to the influx of beach lovers during the season. The volume of traffic is enormous even in the “back roads.” Going home from work on a typical Friday afternoon usually takes 20 – 25 minute commute. Unfortunately, this is not the case during this time of the year. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes up to one hour during the summer months. So much movement is going on; in that anyone can sense that tourism industry is thriving at is best. It is a way of life, in our neck of the woods. Soon, Labor Day weekend will be here, and fall will follow. Slowly, Ocean County will return to its normalcy. But for now, surf’s up. It is summer time down the Jersey shore... Cheers!
Note: While I have the pleasure of writing about summer life in our county, I have no vested interest or hidden agenda in any beach property, fuel industry or bureau of tourism. I wrote this article along with the photo shoots for the sole purpose of sharing it with all our fellow bloggers. And of course, I’ve had numerous pleasure walks while working with my digital. My wish is that in a small way, I’ve encouraged our global friends to share their wealth of beautiful sceneries (love them beaches, enormous bays, great mountains and parks) as seen through their own camera lens. AAA (Auto Assoc. of America) and Atlas reference books showed me great beaches, magnificent lakes, bays, and just spectacular sceneries from places like: Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls, Canada side). Maryland has the Inner Harbor of Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay, the sail boat haven of Annapolis. They are magnificent. And how about Malibu beach of Southern California, along with San Gabriel Mountains (Cucamonga Wilderness/Day Canyon)) or the San Francisco Bay, up north? I am hoping that we can share some of the spectacular sceneries from the Philippines, especially from the neighbor islands of Luzon. Let’s not forget our friends from the land down under. Sydney is a given - the largest, the oldest and the best-known city in Australia. “This most enduring icon also has the Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a. k. a. The Coathanger”. But I’ve read an article or two about the Sunshine State and its great shorelines of Brisbane, some 44 mile-stretch of white sands along the Pacific and Gold Coast highways. My reference quoted this place as “Australia’s most popular holiday destination, the Gold Coast also known as Surfer’s Paradise.” I wonder who can validate this information for us without hooking up directly through the world wide web (www) via hyper text transfer protocol (http)? Let’s wait and see if we have any takers, dear friends!
Scenes of summer at the Jersey shore.
2 comments:
the way you describe your "neck of the woods", i couldn't help but wish that time would come na makapunta ako riyan. admittedly, i'm not a beach person, but the thought of photo ops is just so tempting.
you'll make a good tourism official, with your interests in photography, guiding tours and driving long distances, not to mention your patience and doing everything with gusto.
so paano, see you next year? hahaha
You're on, Josie! Our door will have a welcome mat for you and the rest of the family. Thanks for the feedback. See you in the cyberspace, for now.
Post a Comment