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Today was the absolute last day of my trip. I decided to do something that I haven’t done before. Here is some background.
For years I’ve had my LGBTQ friends talk about how much they loved vacationing in Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. That beach resort had long catered to LGBTQ people even in the days when same-sex relationships were frowned upon.
I was always interested in checking it out once but, until my marriage ended, my then-husband used to insist on the two of us vacationing in Ocean City with members of his family for a week each summer. One year one of his relatives wanted to take a side trip to Rehoboth Beach in the morning where we could do some shopping and she invited me to come along. So I agreed figuring that I could at least see what the place was like since so many of my LGBTQ friends loved it so much.
Unfortunately she wasn’t interested in going into downtown Rehoboth Beach itself. Instead she only wanted to shop in the many outlet stores that are located outside of the town. No matter how much I begged her to consider going into the town for at least a half an hour, nothing I said could get her to change her mind about spending all of the time at Rehoboth Beach shopping at the Playtex outlet store then the other outlet stores to buy clothes and kitchen gadgets.
I remember the Playtex outlet the most because there was a bin full of bras which had a deal where if you buy three you get the fourth one for free. Not only did she insist on going through that bin, she pressured me to do the same. You wouldn’t believe how time-consuming it was to go through a tall bin full of bras that were all mixed together so you might pull out a 38C sized followed by a 28A size followed by a 42DD size and so on. So I eventually found four bras where I could take advantage of the “buy 3 get one free” offer. All of those bras I purchased at the Playtex outlet store that day ended up literally falling apart six months later. That’s pretty pathetic considering the fact that the bras I usually purchase at discount big box retailers like Target and Walmart can last at least five years (if not longer). Let’s just say that I haven’t shopped for any bras at the Playtex outlet store since then. I also gave up on the idea of actually going into downtown Rehoboth Beach with either my ex-husband or any of his family members.
That was then and this is now. Since I was vacationing by myself, I had the option to actually go into downtown Rehoboth Beach and skip all of the outlet stores. So I decided that this year was going to be the year where I finally get to step foot inside of Rehoboth Beach itself.
Once I checked out of the motel I took Coastal Highway north until I hit downtown Rehoboth Beach. I parked close enough to be within a short walking distance of that town’s Boardwalk. I took a couple shots of the beach.
Like the day before, the temperature was in the low 90s with high humidity. The only reason why I didn’t even go into the ocean on that day was because I was due to go home and I didn’t have a place to stay in Rehoboth Beach. I would’ve had to go through the effort of searching through my packed suitcase for my swimsuit, coverup, and beach towel, searching for a place where I could change into my swimsuit/coverup, finding a place to park my stuff on the beach while I went into the ocean, then search for a place where I could take a shower before changing back into my street clothes then walking out to the car to put my beach things away. It really wasn’t worth the effort for just a few hours.
So I decided to focus on the Boardwalk instead. Compared to the one in Ocean City, Rehoboth Beach’s Boardwalk is relatively less crowded and quiet. It’s smaller than Ocean City’s and it seems to be way more laid back and less raucous. (Unlike Ocean City, I didn’t hear any stores play loud music.)
I ate lunch at Grotto Pizza, where I ordered this personal size white pizza that was excellent. The service was excellent as well.
Here are some more shots of Rehoboth Beach’s Boardwalk, including a business with a rainbow flag (which indicates Rehoboth Beach’s longtime reputation of being LGBTQ friendly).
Rehoboth Beach has an amusement park on the Boardwalk known as Funland, which has a variety of different rides.
Like Ocean City, Funland has its own haunted ride that’s known as the Haunted Mansion. The line was long but it moved very fast. I went on that ride and I have to say that it might be better than Ocean City’s Haunted House ride. Maybe it’s because I’ve been on the Haunted House ride numerous times since I was a child and it was the first time I’ve ever ridden the Haunted Mansion ride so everything is new. In any case, I enjoyed it.
When I was a child and teenager I remember that the Boardwalk in Ocean City used to have fortune telling machines that purported to tell you the future. I haven’t seen any of those fortune telling machines on my most recent trip to Ocean City so I was pleasantly surprised when I found one in Rehoboth Beach. This one is known as Zoltar Speaks and he’s basically an animatronic who moves his head and hands when you put money into the machine until a piece of paper comes out with your fortune.
I got a kick out of using a fortune telling machine for old time’s sake.
Like I wrote earlier, Rehoboth Beach has long had a reputation for catering to the LGBTQ crowd and they even have t-shirts especially for them.
Even the stores in a supposedly pro-LGBTQ place like Rehoboth Beach sold Donald Trump t-shirts. At least this particular store sold one anti-Trump shirt (the “Pendejo” one). It also sold a “Fuck Putin” t-shirt with the lettering done in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag. But the majority of t-shirts I saw were obviously catering to the MAGA Donald Trump-loving crowd.
There were also t-shirts that had nothing to do with either LGBTQ people or politics.
At one point I decided to walk about a block on a side street away from the Boardwalk where I saw all kinds of cool things. I saw this neat dolphin statue.
I also saw this really cool building that housed a British fish and chips place that was called Go Fish! Unfortunately I was still full from lunch and it was too early for dinner so I just took this one photo of the outside. (At this point I began to kick myself for not trying to get a hotel or motel room in Rehoboth Beach so I could stay for one or two nights and I could actually go swimming in the ocean and eat a meal in a place like Go Fish!)
During my time at Rehoboth Beach I made only one purchase. I bought a pastel the-dye souvenir t-shirt at a Sunsations store.
Shortly before I left I noticed some ominous looking clouds were starting to come in. The next picture showed how cloudy the weather became. I saw on my phone app that it was calling for rain again! I decided that it was time for me to leave Rehoboth Beach before the rain started.
I was in a laid-back mood so I decided to just continue taking Coastal Highway north until it became US 113. I continued north until I hit Dover then I took Delaware Route 1 and I arrived at the Christiana Mall. By that point I was hungry so I ate dinner at the Shake Shack. By the time I finished my meal it began to drizzle. Plus it was getting late in the day and I really wanted to be back in Maryland by nightfall.
Unfortunately the rain was a bit heavier but the good news was that it didn’t rain as hard as when I was driving to Ocean City. But I felt very nervous after sunset and I was driving along I-95 in northern Maryland and everything was unfamiliar, the roads were very dark, and, on top of it, I was dealing with very wet streets and tons of drivers who were speeding as if there was no rain at all. I began to wish I hadn’t stayed so long in Rehoboth Beach while a part of me felt glad that I had stayed as long as I could.
I began to relax a little bit when I reached Baltimore and there were plenty of bright lights. My GPS suggested taking the exit on to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway as a quicker way of getting home. I didn’t mind that suggestion because there were so many crazy people driving on I-95, including truckers, that taking the parkway would at least have me avoid the crazy truck drivers who were driving so recklessly in the rain. (The Baltimore-Washington Parkway is restricted to cars, buses, and motorcycles only.)
So I reached the exit only to find that there was construction on that exit. A sign said that the exit would be closed on the following day for renovations. At least I was lucky that I could still use that exit.
Here is where things became harrowing. There were traffic cones and giant steel drums set up along half of the road so the exit ramp was way more narrow than usual. One misstep while driving and it would’ve been total calamity for me. So I was driving very slow in the hopes that I could avoid hitting a cone or steel drum with the sky continuing to rain.
This went on for several minutes until I reached the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful for me. By the time I got home it had mostly stopped raining.
The next day I was unpacking my suitcase when I found something pretty amusing with the deodorant that I had brought with me to the beach. I had the suitcase in the truck and it was hot back there. It caused my deodorant to literally change its shape as these photos show.
The deodorant is still usable. I just have to remember that the stick is narrower than usual.
In any case, that’s a wrap for my 2022 beach vacation. I really enjoyed myself this time despite the frequent appearance of rain. Having the opportunity to go to the beach on a bright sunny day made up for the rainy periods. My only regret was that I underestimated how cool Rehoboth Beach was because it’s one of those places that warrants at least two days in order to appreciate it. Otherwise I felt it was the perfect vacation for me.
I’m thinking that if I were to do this again, I would definitely spend at least one night in Rehoboth Beach so I could have the chance to leisurely enjoy the beach and the ocean. Well, there’s always next year!
Other Posts in My 2022 Beach Vacation Series
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day One: July 25, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Two: July 26, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Three: July 27, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Four: July 28, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Five: July 29, 2022
If there was a day where I can say that it was a very perfect beach day, my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland was it.
My day began when I decided to drive into the neighboring town of Fenwick Island, Delaware where I could go shopping without paying any state sales tax. (That’s right, Delaware does not charge sales tax on anything.) The first thing I did was to purchase some caramel popcorn at Fisher’s Popcorn.
The next thing I did was to go to a two-story building that I attempted to go to on my last visit to the area last year only to find out that it was closed on Wednesdays. This time I went on a Thursday and it was open.
The lower floor of the two-story building houses Sea Shell City, a store where you can purchase all kinds of sea shells along with assorted souvenirs like t-shirts, toys, and decorative items (such as framed art). The upper floor houses the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, which specializes in items that were retrieved from actual shipwrecks. I haven’t been there since I was married so I was very happy that I got to visit it again.
Unfortunately the only photo I have to show for it is this one featuring two pirates that are situated at the front entrance to the steps that lead to the museum.
That’s because the museum has rules regarding photography and videography. Shooting video is not allowed. Taking pictures is okay as long as they are for your own personal use. You cannot post any photos you shoot online without permission from the museum.
So I ended up just viewing the exhibits. That museum is just as I remembered it when I last visited it in 2011. It’s so fascinating seeing coins, books, and even china that were retrieved from shipwrecks. My personal favorite is the broken china that had coral growing through it, which made it look like a piece of avant-garde sculpture.
After I finished touring the museum upstairs and checking out the store downstairs, I decided to drive back to Maryland. On the way back I briefly stopped at the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, where I took this picture.
On the way back to the motel I decided to stop at the nearby bagel shop, Shmagels Bagels, where I ate a lunch featuring a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of potato chips, and a diet soda.
After lunch I went back to my motel room where I changed into my swimsuit and walked to the nearby beach. It was the perfect weather. The temperature was in the 90s and it was very humid. But getting into the ocean was totally refreshing and I was able to cool off quickly. On top of it I had sunscreen with me so I had the absolute perfect beach experience. Here is what the beach looked like that day.
For the next couple of hours I alternated between getting in the ocean then going back to my beach towel and read a trashy paperback novel that I had brought with me. (I purchased it at Five Below for only $5. It’s one of those novels that is so bad with cliched dialogue that it’s funny.) Towards the end of my stay at the beach I saw some nasty clouds starting to move in so I decided to return to my motel room where I took a shower and changed clothes.
Since it was my last night in Ocean City, I decided to go to OC Wasabi, which is a sushi restaurant that’s located near the motel. As I parked my car and started to walk to the front door it started to rain. At least I had this excellent dinner that was artfully arranged, as you can see in the next photo.
I decided that—rain or no rain—I was going to spend my final night on the Boardwalk. By the time I reached the parking lot it had stopped raining and I saw the remnants of this rainbow that appeared in the sky. Here are the photos I managed to take before it completely disappeared.
The Boardwalk was incredibly crowded that night. The next photo shows a long line of people waiting to get on the Haunted House ride. I got in line after I took that picture. I enjoyed the ride so much that I wanted to ride it again but I saw that the line was nearly twice as long so I decided to drop that idea. (I once shot a video years ago showing how lame the ride was but that ride has definitely improved since it underwent renovations a few years ago. One of these years I’m going to actually film the ride so I could do a comparison “before and after” video of that ride.)
The last time I was on the Boardwalk I didn’t have much energy to do a lot of walking because I had spent the afternoon walking around the Salisbury Zoo. I came up with an idea which enabled me to see more of the Boardwalk. I got on the Boardwalk train where I rode it until it reached The Kite Loft then leisurely walked back until I reached the parking lot where my car was parked. While I was riding it I was treated to a bunch of lovely sunset photos where the clouds turned a variety of very pretty pastel colors.
I finally reached The Kite Loft, which was another store I haven’t been to since 2011. (I didn’t visit that store last year because I had to cut my Boardwalk visit short due to the hurricane remnants that arrived in Ocean City.) As you can guess from the name, The Kite Loft specializes in kites and related products (such as wind socks). Here are a few photos I shot while I was in that store.
As I was walking on the Boardwalk I noticed a Hooters restaurant that wasn’t there the last time I was in that particular part of the Boardwalk back in 2011. Ocean City had long prided itself on having locally-owned mom-and-pop businesses on the Boardwalk and Hooters is a national chain. (I’ve only eaten at Hooters twice and both times I found the food to be not very memorable. I only ate there because I was with guys who wanted to eat there. That’s what happens when the owners focuses more on hiring sexy young women to wear skimpy uniforms so men and boys can ogle them and less on having tasty food that would actually entice people to come back.)
I saw this guy dressed as Batman on the Boardwalk.
There was another store on the Boardwalk that I wanted to visit. Ocean Gallery is an art gallery that has been on the Boardwalk as far back as when I was a child. I remember my parents going there where they purchased two paintings that hung on the living room walls of the house that I grew up in when we lived in Glen Burnie. It was such a fun place with seeing the eclectic outside and the walls literally covered with art. I had looked forward to visiting it again only to find out that it’s no longer open in the evenings, which was a bummer. I don’t know how much the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Great Resignation had to do with the now-limited hours. It looks like the next time I go to Ocean City I’ll have to go in the daytime. At least I shot some photos of the outside so you can get a general idea of how unique that store is.
For years there have been an artist who makes these giant sand sculptures featuring Christian images. You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate how amazing these sand sculptures are. This person spends so much time on each sculpture that is destined to eventually melt away by the wind and the rain.
I took a photo of some of the t-shirts that were on sale on the Boardwalk.
Here are a couple of photos of the 9/11 Firefighters Memorial.
Here’s the Esskay Clock. (Esskay was a local Baltimore-area manufacturer of hot dogs and sausages. The face of the clock includes a hot dog graphic. The company has since been taken over by Smithfield Foods and it discontinued the Esskay line. The clock is one of the few Esskay relics that still exists.) When I was a child and my family used to go on vacation with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, we kids were instructed that if we ever get lost while we were on the Boardwalk, we were supposed to wait at the Esskay Clock. I actually got separated from the family once when I was young so I waited by the clock for a few minutes where my mother found me. I remember she praised me for doing what I was instructed to do.
I ended my evening on the Boardwalk with a visit to Dolle’s Candy shop. Dolle’s specializes in making salt water taffy in a variety of flavors, including exotic ones like coconut, peach, and piña colada. I purchased a small bag of taffy in chocolate, vanilla, key lime, lemon, and cinnamon.
The last photos show what I purchased that day. I purchased a the-dye Fenwick Island, Delaware t-shirt from Sunsations that morning.
I also purchased two tiny sea shells from Sea Shell city for only 98 cents each.
They are perfectly scaled for my Disney Nuimos.
Other Posts in My 2022 Beach Vacation Series
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day One: July 25, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Two: July 26, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Three: July 27, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Four: July 28, 2022
The weather was cloudy yet was very humid and my phone’s weather app couldn’t decide on whether it was going to rain or not. (Sometimes I would refresh the app saying that it was going to rain in the afternoon and other times I would refresh it and it said that it wasn’t going to rain until the evening.)
But then I had this idea. Years ago my then-husband and I had visited the Ward Museum in Salisbury. It’s a museum that’s dedicated to painted duck decoys and wildlife art in general. I found that museum to be very fascinating and my husband enjoyed it as well. I had always wanted to revisit that museum but my husband was into taking beach trips with members of his own family. I had the idea of using that museum as a backup plan in case it rained on one of the days and, well, let’s say that no one else was interested, including my now ex-husband, who previously said that he enjoyed going to that museum the one time that he and I went together. So I decided to go to that museum for the first time in a number of years. I had forgotten that there is a 40-minute commute between Ocean City and that museum so it was a longer trip than I expected. By the time I reached Salisbury I needed gas and I was hungry. I went to Royal Farms because I love their fried chicken. Most Royal Farms locations tend to be carryout only but this particular location had tables and chairs on the inside so I was able to eat my meal in air conditioned comfort. After lunch I went a few feet to the pumps and got gas and I was on my way again.
I arrived at the Ward Museum only to discovered that it was closed until further notice because the building’s air conditioning system was broken. I was totally bummed by that and I also kicked myself for not calling the museum before I left Ocean City.
I was reluctant to immediately make the 40-minute drive back to Ocean City. I did a few Google searches to see if there was any other places in Salisbury that was worth visiting. After all, it is a college town (home of Salisbury University) so I thought that there had to be more attractions.
There weren’t a lot of places for out-of-town tourists to visit. The best option I saw was the Salisbury Zoo, which is located just a few miles from the Ward Museum and it has free admission. I decided to check it out.
So I arrived at the zoo and I found it small yet quite charming. They had some awesome landscaped gardens.
Of course the zoo has animals, such as these pink flamingos.
The weather alternated between cloudy and sunny while the high heat and high humidity was constant the entire time I was there. I came across an area dedicated to animals from Australia (such as a wallaby) but they were all sleeping when I was there. That gate was pretty cool looking though.
There was one section of the zoo that I couldn’t get to because it was roped off due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The sign in the next photo explained how cats can get COVID-19 and that was why that particular area was closed.
I saw some ducks in enclosures.
They even had a beehive in one of the landscaped gardens.
I saw these large flightless birds walking around. At first I thought they were ostriches or emus but a sign said that these birds are known as the greater rhea and they are native to South America.
I also saw a group of prairie dogs.
And I saw a bald eagle as well.
I spent about an hour and a half at the zoo until the heat got to me (despite taking frequent sitting breaks in the shade) and I left. The Salisbury Zoo is small compared to other zoos I’ve been to (such as the National Zoo in DC) but it’s still pretty nice. It’s definitely for people of all ages and it’s a good alternate attraction if you’re someone who wants to spend a day doing other things besides the beach.
It was late afternoon and I had a 40-minute return trip to Ocean City. I decided to just drive straight to the Boardwalk and walk around that area. The Boardwalk was a bit crowded in the late afternoon but I still decided to stay since I had a seriously truncated visit last year due to the remnants of Hurricane Ida and I just wanted a normal laid-back visit this time.
The shops on the Boardwalk has long been notorious for its tacky t-shirts and it was the case this year, as this next photo shows.
There were a disturbing number of pro-Trump t-shirts available that a MAGA fan of could buy for his wardrobe.
There were a number of anti-Putin/pro-Ukraine t-shirts for sale as well.
I don’t recall seeing this many political t-shirts on the Boardwalk in previous years. It seems like the events of the last few years have inspired the shops to sell more than the usual apolitical raunchy t-shirts (such as the notorious Big Johnson shirts that I used to see many of the stores carry). In a way it seems sad because seeing a Trump t-shirt on sale is the LAST thing I want to see at any beach resort.
I made a couple of videos during my time on the Boardwalk. One was a street musician who played this really cool looking electric violin. He was incredibly talented. I uploaded that video on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
The other was this incredibly talented artist who used spraypaint and a variety of stencils to create really cool works of art. I shot a short video showing how he used his art supplies which I uploaded on to TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
I decided to eat dinner at Tony’s Pizza. The restaurant was crowded so I ordered two slices of cheese pizzas and a diet soda to go.
I sat on a nearby bench where I ate my pizza slices as I watched the beach and the ocean. Here’s a shot I took of the beach.
I had wanted to walk a little further down the Boardwalk but I was became exhausted. Between my earlier trip to the Salisbury Zoo and walking around the Boardwalk, my legs and feet were totally sore. I decided to walk back the way I came. I took a couple of photos of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium.
I briefly thought about going inside but my legs and feet had grown so stiff and sore that I decided against it. Instead I went to the parking lot, got in my car, and drove back to the motel. I basically stayed in my room the rest of the evening.
Other Posts in My 2022 Beach Vacation Series
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day One: July 25, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Two: July 26, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Three: July 27, 2022
I devoted my last post to my three-day and two-night trip that included Ocean City and Berlin in Maryland along with Fenwick Island and Dover in Delaware. I packed a few toys on that trip, mainly my 15-inch Ariel the Little Mermaid doll and my Disney Nuimos.
I packed Ariel because the box that she came in said that one can actually take a bath with her and engage in other types of water activity, like a pool. I tried dunking her in the ocean where I had her wait along the shore until a wave rushed over her while I filmed the whole thing. I uploaded the video on TikTok and YouTube.
I did another trip related video featuring both Ariel and the Disney Nuimos. It’s basically a slideshow I shot of the various toys in various places in Ocean City (the beach, the motel room, and the Boardwalk), Fenwick Island (the Fenwick Island Lighthouse and a dolphin-themed wall mural that’s on the side of a Sunsations store) Berlin (the Mermaid Museum), and Dover (the Johnson Victrola Museum). I uploaded that video on TikTok and YouTube.
This year is the fifth anniversary of this blog. For the first year I was unsure about how many photos I could actually upload because of the free WordPress.com blogging account has a space limit. So I kept photo uploads limited to just my arts and crafts along with any photographs that I actually exhibited in a show. Over time I learned such things as graphic optimization so I was able to upload more photos that way than I thought I could. So for the rest of the year I’m going to devote Throwback Thursday to photos from previous blog entries (along with links to the original posts) that I should’ve uploaded five years earlier but I didn’t.
In late June 2010 my then-husband and I went to our annual trip to Ocean City, Maryland. We usually went with his sister and any other friend and/or relative who wanted to tag along. (We originally started with the two of us, his sister, her teenaged son, and one of his friends. Once the son grew up and joined the U.S. Navy, one of my sister-in-law’s friends would join us. Although there was one year or two when it was just the three of us.) That year I thought it would just be the two of us because his sister’s son was preparing to get married just two or three weeks later and his mother was busy with helping out with the long-distance wedding preparations. (She lived in Pennsylvania while the wedding was taking place in Connecticut, where her son was stationed.) I was surprised when I learned that she was going to take a break from the wedding preparations to go down to the beach with us. In fact, I would later hear her brag to other relatives about how she managed to make time to go to Ocean City with us despite her son’s wedding taking place so soon afterwards.
It turned out that I wrote just two blog posts on that trip. One was on June 28, 2010. Here are the photos I took on June 28-29.
Some of what one can ride on one of the carousels instead of horses on the Boardwalk.
Some paintings.
The Boardwalk after sunset.
A local sand sculptor who, for many seasons, have done sand sculptures based on the life of Jesus and various scenes from the Bible.
The other post I wrote about that trip was on June 30, 2010. Here are the rest of the photos I took between June 30-July 2.
The Boardwalk in daytime.
Some surfers trying to catch the perfect wave.
Ocean City Firefighters 9/11 Memorial.
Wall paintings based on old photographs and postcards of Ocean City circa 1890-1920.
An unusual store clerk. LOL! (The dog belonged to the owner of the jewelry shop.)
A young couple rests on the Boardwalk benches with their latest oversized winnings from the various midway games.
A coin-operated kiddie dolphin ride.
The Fenwick Island Lighthouse located just over the border from Ocean City into Fenwick Island, Delaware.
A stone marker marks the state border between Maryland and Delaware.
For the last three or four of my annual trips to Ocean City (before my divorce), my husband, sister-in-law, and I would go to the Angler Restaurant for dinner at a certain time because that time had this bargain: You get a free half-hour boat trip when you eat dinner there. So we would arrive in time to eat dinner then we would board a boat where I would take some really cool sunset photos.
Just a few hours before we had to check out of our condo on July 2, I went down to the beach for a last early morning walk along the shoreline.
Early morning seashell hunting is a really big thing in Ocean City.
It was also during this trip that I saw street performers on the Boardwalk who portrayed living statues. I shot this short video so you’ll know exactly what I mean. (I have to admit that they were a hoot!)
Yesterday was my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland and I was determined to make the most of it. It was also one of the few days that had no rain in the forecast and it was sunny and hot all day long. That morning I finally was able to do the one thing that I couldn’t do earlier either because of my back problems or the weather or both—go for an early morning stroll along the beach. Aside from a few early-morning swimmers and angler fisherman, the beach was mostly clear, as you can see in this photo below.
After my brief stroll, I returned to the condo for some breakfast. After that my husband, sister-in-law, and I decided to make a last visit to The Bookend Cafe where we had some drinks, browsed the gifts and books sold there, and did some web surfing using the cafe’s free wi-fi. On the way back from the cafe, we stopped off at the same Fenwick Island lighthouse that I took a nighttime photo of just a few days ago. Here is what the lighthouse looks like in daylight.
After lunch we spent some time in the afternoon at the beach where we took a few last dips in the ocean then did some final book reading on the beach. Then we changed out of our swimsuits and headed to the Boardwalk for one final time. Unlike the last time I went to the Boardwalk, the day was much brighter and I was able to do some more walking than I was before since I didn’t have to worry about raindrops. Here’s a photo I took of the landmark Esskay Clock. When I used to go to Ocean City as a child with my extended family (including my cousins), we kids used to be instructed to wait by that clock if we somehow became separated. I remembered when I did just that one crowded night when I got separated by my family and they were all happy that when they found me at the clock.
Next to the Esskay Clock is a newer Boardwalk landmark. This is the Firefighters Memorial and it was erected to honor the firefighters who perished in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Here’s a different kind of landmark. For many years a sculptor and minister Randy Hofman has been creating these gigantic sand sculptures based on events in the Bible. They are really a sight to behold.
If you want to see more of Randy Hofman’s work, check out his website right here.
The Boardwalk have long been home to would-be artists and musicians who try to ply their trade among the vacation-goers. Sometimes you’ll see someone who is both an artist and a musician, like the guy in the photo below.
After walking around on the Boardwalk, we headed to the Angler restaurant to take advantage of its dinner and sunset cruise. We ate a wonderful dinner in the restaurant then we went out on the dock in the back of the restaurant where we boarded a boat. I took a whole bunch of sunset photos. Here’s one of the sunset over the Route 50 bridge that leads into Ocean City.
Here’s another sunset photo, this one over Assateague Island.
And here’s sunset over West Ocean City, Maryland.
And here are a few sunset photos of the Boardwalk, where you can see the bright lights from far away.
In this photo, you can see the kites that are located right outside The Kite Loft. The kites are flown day and night during the summer.
Towards the end of the boat trip, things took a really dramatic turn. Our boat got word of another boat that had literally run aground and the boat I was on decided to go over to see if it could offer some help. By the time we arrived, the Coast Guard had already arrived to offer aid to the boat. I managed to take a few photos of that ship that ran aground but it was really dark and my camera had a hard time picking up the image so the next two photos are blurry. Here is the white boat that’s stuck among the rocks.
The blue lights in this photo are the ones from the Coast Guard boat.
Yesterday was another one of those days that started off nice and hot before it turned into yet another thunderstorm. My husband, sister-in-law, and myself all went down to the beach while it was still hot and sunny. I managed to stay in the shallow end of the ocean again before returning to my chair to read a few chapters from my book, then returning to the ocean for one last swim. I read some more from my book and I thought about going back in the ocean until I saw some nasty clouds come in. The lifeguards then closed the beach because of reports of lightning further south.
The rain came in really hard then it tapered off to a drizzle. At one point I decided to do some driving around Ocean City, which I hadn’t been able to do earlier in the trip because of the huge mass of people who came for the Fourth of July. (Most of the crowds left after July 4, which made the trip more pleasant.) I made a brief stop by the Boardwalk but I ended up cutting the trip short because it started to drizzle again. I took a few photos before I called it quits for the day.
Here’s a mix of the old and the new. This plaque describes a carousel that has been running continuosuly in Ocean City since 1902 with a newer sign underneath it that contains one of those smartphone codes that probably provides more information about the carousel. (I don’t know for sure since I currently don’t own a smartphone.)
Here is the carousel itself. All of the animals were hardcarved and each one is a work of art.
Not only does this carousel have the traditional horses but it also has a variety of other animals that people can choose to ride, such as this rooster.
Here’s a claw machine that’s offering prizes based on the very popular video game Angry Birds. (Yes, I have a copy of it on my iPod Touch and I was addicted to it for a while until I hit a level that—no matter how hard I try—I can’t seem to master.)
During my trip to Ocean City, Maryland a few years ago, I was talking a walk on the Boardwalk when I came across this bizarre street musician. He/she was dressed in a Sponge Bob Square Pants costume while playing a piano. This person was playing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" despite the fact that it was June when I filmed it. This person then segues into "If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands". You have to see it to believe it.
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