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I’m going to set the tone for this blog post by embedding this music video for a song that’s about Ocean City, Maryland. It’s called “It’s a Shore Thing” and it was written by my late high school guitar teacher, Tim Landers, who was also the lead singer and guitarist on this track.
If you like “It’s a Shore Thing,” you can either download it or stream it online (depending on the platform in question) from AllMusic, Amazon, Apple Music, Shazam, Spotify, and Qobuz. If you’re more interested in learning about the life and music of Tim Landers as well as my days when I was one of his high school guitar pupils, you can read this blog post I wrote back in 2017.
I’ve wanted to make a return trip to Ocean City for the first time since my marriage ended for a long time but I wasn’t able to do it until recently. The first few years were due to tight finances. Last year I received the payout from my late mother’s life insurance policy and I was working on the 2020 Census so I was able to feel financially secure enough to consider making at least a one-day trip. But then the Coronavirus arrived followed by reports that several bars and restaurants in Ocean City were closed due to employees testing positive for COVID-19 and I decided against going there.
This year I got vaccinated and I decided that it was time for me to revive my dream of returning to Ocean City. The main reason why making a return trip was on my mind is because of what happened the last time I was there back in 2011 (which was just five months before my husband literally ran away from home). And my last trip had been under a dark cloud for me. Starting in 2001 my husband and I used to take an annual week-long trip to Ocean City with his sister, her son, and another person. (Some years it was a friend of my nephew while other years it was a friend of my sister-in-law.) This went on until my nephew graduated from high school then joined the Navy. From then on until 2011 it alternated between just the three of us some years and being joined by a friend of my sister-in-law’s other years. My husband especially looked forward to making that trip and he wanted me to come along. Even in 2008, when my hip began to deteriorate so much that I ended up getting a hip replacement that year, my husband was adamant that I went to Ocean City despite the fact that I had a hard time walking around. I really wanted to stay home that year but he pressured me so much that I gave in. I really didn’t enjoy the trip that year because of my hip.
After my hip replacement we continued to make the annual trip and I felt well enough to enjoy that trip. But then early in 2011 I had two falls over a one-week period. The first fall (which happened during a trip to Florida) I managed to recuperate from but it was the second one (where I slipped on a patch of ice during a trip to Annapolis) that had really started to affect my walking. I really didn’t want to go to Ocean City that year because of my health problems but, once again, my husband pressured me into going. By then I had started this blog and I wrote this blog post about how my health problems had affected my ability to enjoy going to the beach. It didn’t help that before I left for the trip the doctor diagnosed me with a bad back. However, that turned out to be a misdiagnosis and after the trip I was initially diagnosed with the fact that the two falls I went through had misaligned my hip replacement by the surgeon who did the original hip replacement back in 2008. That surgeon said that I would need more surgery but, for some reason, he was very reluctant to perform it on me while also saying that I was a big girl. (Yeah, he was an asshole.) So I got a second opinion from a different orthopedic surgeon who agreed with the initial diagnosis and he ended up being the one who did the second hip surgery. I underwent hip revision surgery in late 2011 in order to put my hip replacement back into alignment.
And if all that weren’t enough for that 2011 trip to Ocean City, I ended up with a buildup of excessive ear wax, which wasn’t as bad as my mobility issues but it added to the misery I felt throughout most of this trip. Plus the weather was frequently rainy during that trip. And then there was an unexpected encounter on the Boardwalk from someone who had recognized me from my high school days but I had lied to her about attending that high school because I wasn’t sure who she was and I didn’t want to risk the possibility that she might have been someone whom I never wanted to speak with again.
Then there were the times in the condo when I felt like the third wheel as my husband and his sister cooked these elaborate meals that required lots of prep work, which was the opposite of when I used to go to Ocean City as a child and we basically ate cereal, Pop Tarts, and frozen meals that could be prepared very quickly. While they were preparing these elaborate meals my husband and his sister would reminisce about their childhoods, which I couldn’t get into because I didn’t know them until my early 20’s.
In any case, I really regretted letting my husband pressure me into going to Ocean City that year. It felt like he valued that trip more than my own well-being. I’ve always felt that had I been diagnosed with a terminal illness where the doctors warned my husband against making me travel because it would shorten my lifespan, he would’ve had me go to Ocean City anyway because that annual family vacation was THAT important to him.
So for the past few years I’ve really wanted to go back to Ocean City so I could replace those crappy memories with something better. I was encouraged in making an effort to travel on my own while I attended weekly meetings of the support group for people who are separated or divorced and I was told that traveling alone could really increase my self-esteem while learning how to have fun on my own.
In addition, for years I would see posts from my friends on Facebook about their cool trips to places like Myrtle Beach, the Jersey Shore, Greece, Italy, and so on. I would secretly get envious and jealous of them because they were having the time of their lives going on these carefree trips and for years I was too broke to do anything like that. I had to make do with taking day trips to places like North Beach while returning home by sunset.
Finally I decided to go on that trip to Ocean City. Due to uncertain finances and the ongoing pandemic, staying there for a full week was out of the question but, thanks to the life insurance payment, I could actually afford to stay at least one night in a cheap motel instead of trying to make a day trip out of it. (It would’ve meant getting up between 5-6 a.m., getting out the door between 7-8 a.m., make the four-hour drive to Ocean City, spend the full day there, then leave no later than between 7-8 p.m. in order to return home by a reasonable hour.) I also decided to take a break from my online IT program after finishing my second course on networking because I just didn’t want to deal with taking video lessons and exams while I was at the beach because it would’ve detracted from my enjoyment of this trip.
Basically I waited until I finished with my second IT course (on networking) before I made the arrangements. Due to things like room availability, I wasn’t able to book anything until the last week in August. I decided to make my trip from August 31-September 2. I timed it where I would leave Ocean City the day before the start of the Labor Day weekend because I know that holiday is among the worst times to be in Ocean City due to the increased crowds everywhere, complete with difficulty in finding parking or an uncrowded restaurant to eat a meal. (The other two worst times are Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.) And being in a crowded situation in the middle of a major pandemic would even be a far worse idea than usual.
It would be only the second time in my life I had made hotel arrangements myself. That’s because when I was growing up, my parents used to make all of the arrangements. I got married just 10 months after graduating from college and my husband became the one who made all the arrangements. It wasn’t until 10 years ago that I finally did it myself. It was before my husband abruptly left me. What happened was that my husband had made arrangements to go to Phoenix to go through some more of his deceased mother’s things because his step-father (who has also since passed away himself) decided to move to a retirement community. I would stay behind due to my bad left hip. But then Hurricane Irene abruptly showed up and it was heading towards our area. I really wanted my husband to postpone the trip because I didn’t want to face a hurricane with a bad hip by myself but he refused and flew out to Phoenix just before Hurricane Irene arrived. So I was home alone when the power outage happened. I decided to spend the night in a local hotel that still had power because I didn’t want to spend the night by myself in a darkened home with a bad left hip. My night at the hotel went pretty smoothly as I booked my stay there using the wi-fi from a nearby Wegmans (which still had power). The power was restored at my home by the next day so I was able to return. The worst of Hurricane Irene was over by the time my husband returned from Phoenix.
This time I booked a motel through Expedia, where I got a bargain at around $50 per night so I booked a two-night stay. The big irony is that I booked a room on my own around the same time as another hurricane decided to show up.
Basically Hurricane Ida had showed up to wreck havoc on Louisiana and Mississippi just a couple of days before my trip. I didn’t pay it any mind since I was in Maryland. I was just looking forward to a nice laid-back trip. So here’s a rundown of what I did on my first multi-day trip by myself since my divorce.
Day 1-August 31, 2021
I spent the last few days trying to prepare for everything. The biggest change on this trip is that, for the first time in my life, I had to pack face masks along with my clothes and swimsuit. That’s the cost of traveling during a major pandemic. I received an email from the motel after I booked a room saying that I would need to wear a mask when I went to the office to check in and check out. And I know that there will be other indoor places where wearing masks is required so it made sense to pack masks.
Then I learned that taking Route 50 to the Bay Bridge had totally changed since my last trip to the Eastern Shore 10 years earlier. The bridge now only accepts the EZ Pass transponder instead of cash like before. I once had an EZ Pass when I was married but my husband took custody of that one as part of the divorce settlement. The EZ Pass Maryland website mentioned that Giant carried the transponders but when I went to the Giant located near me, I was told that they hadn’t received any new EZ Pass transponders in over six months.
I could’ve gone to the MVA in Beltsville but I got diverted with taking my online classes and I didn’t purchase one in time for the trip. I learned on this website of an alternate way of getting to Ocean City without taking the Bay Bridge. It involved taking I-95 until you reach the Christiana Mall in Delaware then take Delaware Route 1 South until Dover then get on US 113 South until you reach the Eastern Shore. I thought I would take that route instead. I knew from a previous one-day trip to Hershey back in 2013 that there are some stretches of I-95 North that are toll roads so I packed a small bag full of coins that I would dole out as I reached the toll booths.
After I ate breakfast at home I hit the road. As I traveled on I-95 North I realized to my horror that all of the toll booths in Maryland are now EZ Pass only. I had no transponder on me so I had no other choice but to go through those EZ Pass gates. It’s only a matter of time until the MVA tracks me down and I’ll probably have to pay a fine.
I ate lunch at one of those fast food places in Maryland House, which is one of those giant travel plazas located in Aberdeen then I went back on I-95 North where I had to endure going through a couple of more EZ Pass gates without a transponder.
It wasn’t until I reached Delaware that I had a choice of either the EZ Pass lane or the traditional toll booth. I chose the toll booth at each of the Delaware toll roads and I felt relieved that I could at least pay those tolls.
So I went through Dover and took US 113 South until I hit the town of Berlin, Maryland, whose greatest claim to fame is that the 1999 Richard Geere-Julia Roberts movie Runaway Bride was filmed on location there. I had heard about a new museum that had recently opened known as the Mermaid Museum and I hoped to visit it while I was there. Unfortunately I had arrived late enough that the museum had closed for the day. In fact, a lot of the local shops tend not to stay open after 5 or 6 p.m. I found Berlin to be such a charming town that’s full of art so I took a couple of quick photographs before I decided to head on to Ocean City.
So I headed on to Ocean City where I stayed at the Thunderbird Beach Motel. I found it to be a nice motel for the price. I wanted a basic room without the extra fancy trimmings of a 4-star hotel but still relatively clean and I got it. I would definitely stay there again.
This motel had all the basic amenities, including free wifi, a TV with basic cable, a safe where I could lock my valuables, a small refrigerator, and even a microwave oven. I was so thrilled by the refrigerator that the first thing I did was to go to a local grocery store where I purchased a box of Cocoa Puffs cereal and a small quart of milk. Even though both were expensive compared to what I could find back home, they were still cheaper and much quicker to prepare and consume than eating breakfast at restaurants so I was able to eat in my motel room in the morning.
The most charming thing about my motel room was this tile in the bathroom that had a single tile depicting a fish in the middle.
Once I settled in my motel room I went to the nearby OC Wasabi restaurant where I had a sushi dinner. I loved the fact that it was so artfully arranged, complete with a flower. (The food was also excellent.)
After dinner I returned to the motel room where I did some web surfing and read a library book that I brought with me until I went to sleep. I thought it was important for me to rest up from a long day of driving since tomorrow I had planned an extended beach and boardwalk day and I wanted to be well-rested for that.
Day 2-September 1, 2021
My original vacation plan for that day was to eat breakfast in my motel room with the cereal and milk that I purchased the day before, go on a morning walk along the beach in my street clothes where I would dip my feet into the ocean, then eat lunch, followed by going on an early afternoon driving tour followed by going back to the beach in my swimsuit where I would do a full body immersion into the ocean. After that I would take a shower, dress back into my street clothes, eat dinner at a nearby restaurant, then spend the evening on the Boardwalk. It was a great plan. The only thing was that I didn’t include any kind of contingency plans for dealing potential monkey wrenches that would interfere with that vacation plan, such as the arrival of the remnants of a major hurricane.
So breakfast went off okay. Afterwards I took the walk along the beach. The weather was very sunny and it was already hot and humid. It was also incredibly windy, which was annoying at times, but still manageable. I felt this incredible joy at being able to dip my toes into the ocean at long last and I felt thrilled. I also took a few beach shots that morning, which showed how the day started off very lovely.
I had packed my 15-inch Ariel the Little Mermaid doll mainly because the package she came in indicated that one could take a bath with that doll. (You can even see the original package that indicated that she could be plunged in water in this video I shot when I originally purchased that doll.) I thought it would be a bit wacky to plunge that doll into the ocean while filming it for a short video. I ended up just placing the doll along the edge of the shore and let the ocean waves roll over her while I shot the video. Then I ran quickly to scoop up the doll before the next wave arrived because I didn’t want to risk having the doll swept out to sea. Once I finished with making the video, I dipped my feet into the ocean a few more times before I decided to return to the motel room where I quickly edited that video and uploaded it on to TikTok and YouTube.
For lunch I went to Shmagels Bagels, which was located in the same shopping center as OC Wasabi (where I ate dinner the night before). I had a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of chips, and a diet soda. The bagel place didn’t offer indoor seating due to the pandemic but it had a couple of tables outside where I was able to eat lunch and soak up some sunshine.
After lunch I wanted to take a digestion break before going back to the beach. I decided to use that time to take a driving trip around the island. I traveled north on Coastal Highway until I crossed the state line into Fenwick Island, Delaware. I went to Fisher’s Popcorn, where I treated myself to a bucket of caramel popcorn without having to pay sales tax. (That’s the main allure of shopping in Delaware.)
I originally thought about going to Sea Shell City where I would browse whatever that shop had for sale and I would go to the upper level where the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum is located. I always went to that place at least once on previous trips so I thought it would be good to revisit it for old time’s sake. Except I arrived and I discovered that the entire place was now closed on Wednesdays, which was a bummer. I don’t ever recall that place being closed at all during the summer season but now that is the case.
As a consolation I stopped at a nearby Sunsations where I purchased a souvenir t-shirt for myself.
I decided to return back to Maryland. On the way back I stopped off at one of the many lighthouses that dot the Delaware shoreline where I took these pictures.
By that point the direct sunlight along with the constant wind, the high heat, and the high humidity was getting to me. I decided to go back to the motel and rest for about a half an hour then get dressed in my swimsuit and head down to the beach. When I went inside of my motel room it was still sunny outside and it looked like a great day for swimming. I had the curtains drawn while I was in my motel room for privacy reasons so naturally I assumed that the weather would remain the same. After I rested for a little while I changed into my swimsuit and coverup, grabbed my beach bag, chair, and towel and stepped outside of my room.
I soon became shocked at what I saw. These intense grey storm clouds suddenly came and it was even windier than before. In any other situation, I would just go back inside of my room and cancel the idea of going on the beach. However I only had one day in Ocean City and I really wanted to experience the beach as much as possible. I began to hope that these clouds would just be fleeting and the sun would come back. So I continued on to the beach. On the way there I saw this sign urging people to practice social distancing, which was yet another reminder that we were still in a major pandemic.
When I arrived at the beach, I saw how bad the situation was. Many people were starting to leave and I saw no one swimming in the ocean. I also saw the waves getting way rougher, as this next picture shows.
The wind was blowing even harder than before. In fact, the wind was kicking up so hard that it was starting to blow up sand. Grains of sand was hitting my skin so hard that they literally stung. I tried reading my book along the beach but the wind and stinging sand made it impossible. When I got up from my chair, the wind had knocked it down. I also noticed that the seagulls weren’t flying at all. They basically stayed on the beach. In fact, there was one seagull that was very close to me.
I took that chair being knocked over as a sign that I should just give up on doing any kind of swimming in the ocean on that day (or any other kind of beach-related activity for that matter) and just return to my motel room. The first thing I did was take a shower. Afterwards I decided to eat an early dinner then go out to the Boardwalk since that was another thing I wanted to do while I was in Ocean City. I saw that there was a crab place called Higgins Crab House located across the street from the motel. I decided to give that place a try so I walked over.
I ordered the soft-shell crab sandwich with french fries and a diet soda. I found the whole meal delicious and the service was excellent as well.
After dinner I walked back across the street, got in my car, and decided to head towards the Boardwalk. The wind was so high that it was blowing my hair around to the point where I was totally annoyed. I decided to stop at CVS and buy a pack of scrunchies so I could tie my hair back. I managed to tie my hair back but the wind was still determined to blow my tied up hair around while I was still on the Boardwalk. At least it was better than not having my hair tied back at all.
So I parked at the Boardwalk and started my walk at the inlet, where I took this sunset photo. The giant wave on the left side of the photo is the only indication of how bad the weather had become.
The only ride I went on that night was the Haunted House ride. It was running that night because most of the ride is indoors so it wasn’t affected by the high wind. The last time I rode it was back in 2009. At that time I felt that the ride was a pale reflection of my earlier memories of going on that same ride as a child. I shot a video titled Lame Haunted House Ride on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland and uploaded on to YouTube. It had gotten a lot of views over the past 12 years along with a lot of comments, some of which are hostile. I still stand by my assertion that it was a lame ride when I last rode it in 2009.
Anyway, I saw this sign that said that the ride was refurbished in 2012. I decided to ride it again partly for old time’s sake and partly to see if the ride was still lame or if it had improved.
Having gone on the ride I have to say that it has improved a lot since my last ride in 2009. They added some really cool effects, including ones that looked like ghosts were about to approach you. I really enjoyed that ride. I didn’t shoot any video because I just wanted to see for myself what the ride was like and I just wanted to enjoy myself. I could have ridden it again a second time just to shoot video but I really wasn’t in the mood that night. Having the high wind constantly whip around me had put a damper on my mood. If I ever make it back out to Ocean City again, I will shoot a new video showing how improved this ride had become.
I was determined to enjoy the Boardwalk despite the weather-related obstacles. I noticed that the Boardwalk Train that usually carried passengers up and down the Boardwalk wasn’t running at all that night. I suspected that the wind had a lot to do with that. As I walked I noticed that there were far fewer people than there would be on a late summer evening.
I stopped in a few stores and I purchased a couple of Ocean City souvenir face masks at one of them. I also stopped at Dumser’s Dairyland where I purchased a soft vanilla ice cream cone with a chocolate dip top. I sat on a bench and ate my ice cream as the wind was whipping around me.
After I finished my ice cream cone I decided that I needed a break from the constant heavy wind whipping around me so I decided to ditch inside of the indoor part of the Trimpers Amusements amusement park. The only rides that were operating that night were the indoor rides (such as the aforementioned Haunted House). These rides were mainly kiddie rides along with warped mirrors and trashcans like this clown one in the next photo.
I sat on a bench while I was recuperating from outdoors. I also took a look at the carousel, which is the same carousel that I used to ride on as a child (when my family used to take vacations in Ocean City). As an adult I can appreciate the artistry of the carousel, which not only has horses but also different type of animals like a giraffe and a sea monster.
I decided to go to one of the video arcades. In the past I would spend quarters playing the various video games, some of which were the vintage video games from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (such as Space Invaders and Donkey Kong). But I saw that the arcades on the Boardwalk have changed. They decided to emulate the newer arcades like Dave & Busters and The Main Event by now requiring people to get a plastic card where you’d load it with cash then use it to swipe the machines in order to play the game. I didn’t think that it made sense for me to get a plastic card just to play a few games since I was leaving Ocean City the following day and I’m not going to be able to return there too often. Here is one of the machines where one can get the plastic card.
Most of the stores and restaurants on the Boardwalk were open despite the weather although there were a few places that were closed down, such as these two fast food places.
All of the outdoor amusement park rides weren’t running due to the intense wind. But they still kept the lights on despite that.
A lot of stores were starting to close down around 9 p.m. I was getting so tired of having the wind whip around me that I decided to go back to the motel. My decision was further solidified when it started to drizzle. I arrived at my car and proceeded to drive back to the motel. At that point, the heavens opened up and it began to rain really hard. I drove my car very slowly in order to avoid any accidents and fortunately most of the other cars on the same road were also driving slow as well. I was so glad that I had a relatively short commute because that rain was intense. By the time I reached the motel, the heavy storm had slowed down to a drizzle once again. I was so glad to reach my motel room.
Here are a couple of photos of the stuff that I purchased that day, including a tub of Fisher’s Popcorn, a the-dye souvenir Ocean City t-shirt, two souvenir Ocean City face masks, and a pack of scrunchies.
I wound down from the crazy weather by surfing the Internet. I learned that the crazy weather in Ocean City was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida that struck the Gulf Coast states a few days earlier. So I was frolicking around Ocean City in the middle of a hurricane remnant. But I have to admit that Ocean City was pretty much unscathed despite the high wind and the bouts of rain. I later learned that Annapolis and Edgewater bore the brunt of Hurricane Ida as a tornado struck the area. Here’s a tweet from Governor Larry Hogan as he checked out the area on the following day.
As the remnants of Hurricane Ida went north, there was even more damage. Here is what happened to Philadelphia.
Here is how the remnants of Hurricane Ida impacted New Jersey.
New York also suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Ida.
Those reports of what happened in other parts of the Mid-Atlantic Region really made me pause and think that I was relatively lucky that day. Had one of the more damaging remnants of Hurricane Ida hit Ocean City, I’m sure I would’ve seen flooding and other kinds of life-threatening situations. I was so lucky that Ocean City was unscathed. The Wikipedia has listed Hurricane Ida as being the second most-damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana and the sixth-costliest cyclone on record.
Day 3-September 2, 2021
I admit that I was disappointed that I couldn’t do a full swim yesterday due to Hurricane Ida. I had thought about making up for it by doing another walk along the beach in my full clothes while I dip my toes into the ocean just like I did on the morning before. I ate breakfast inside of the hotel room then I started to pack thinking that I would make my walk once I loaded everything in the car and formally check out of the motel.
But when I stepped outside to load my things into the car I saw that the weather had dramatically changed. The weather was very sunny but the temperature was much cooler and the humidity was also way lower than the last few days. The temperature had gone no higher than 73 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a lovely day to be outdoors but it felt way too cold to be doing any kind of barefoot walking along the shoreline. I decided to just give up on doing any kind of ocean plunges on this trip and get out of Ocean City.
Since it was such a lovely day I thought it would be a cool idea to eat an al fresco lunch outside somewhere. I decided to stop at Shmagels Bagels once again and get a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of chips, and a bottle of diet soda to go.
Once I got the food I drove the car along Philadelphia Avenue then I crossed the Route 50 bridge to West Ocean City. The first thing I did was stop at Candy Kitchen, which has a big store in West Ocean City. It is also dotted with some candy-themed sculptures outside.
As you can guess by the name, Candy Kitchen is full of candy. (I purchased a bag of chocolate licorice, a bag of dark chocolate nonpareils, and a bag of pretzels covered in dark chocolate.) Candy Kitchen was also loaded with all kinds of stuffed animals, especially the currently popular Squishmallows.
Candy Kitchen also carried Squishmallow-like plushes made by other manufacturers, which was how I learned that Ty, the company responsible for the 1990s Beanie Babies craze, have its own line known as Squish-A-Boos.
Candy Kitchen was located near the White Marlin Mall, which I briefly stopped at but it was mostly the same chain stores that I could find back home. It even had a Five Below, which I actually went inside but I didn’t stay long because it sold pretty much the same stuff as the Five Below stores located close to my house.
I decided to drive back to Berlin just so I could visit the Mermaid Museum, which was closed when I previously went there just two days earlier. This time the museum was open so I was able to visit.
The Mermaid Museum opened last year and it bills itself as the first museum dedicated to mermaids. Unfortunately I don’t have too many pictures mainly because I saw a sign saying that photography and videography was prohibited with the exception of two designated selfie areas. The museum takes up just one large room and I was able to go through it in an hour. There is plenty of mermaid art including a few sculptures, drawings, and paintings. They had one of P.T. Barnum’s notorious Fiji Mermaids (which is really the upper half of a monkey sewn on to a fish tail). They had one wall that listed mermaids as they appeared in various cultures (such as ancient Greece, Haiti, Africa, and Asia) along with books (such as Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid) and movies (such as Disney’s adaption of The Little Mermaid). Another wall listed people who claimed to have actually seen mermaids. They had smaller display cases with a few mermaid-related items, such as a photo of actress Darryl Hannah when she famously portrayed Madison the mermaid in the film Splash and it was autographed by Hannah herself.
There was even a movie screen that showed two mermaid-themed shorts on a constant rotating basis. Both of those shorts can be found on YouTube in case you’re interested. One is the 1904 film La Sirène made by the early French director Georges Méliès.
The other is a vintage 1961 promotional film for the mermaids at the Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida.
One of the designated selfie areas had a bathtub that one could crawl into in an effort to recreate Darryl Hannah’s famous bathtub scene in Splash. I decided not to try going in because I was feeling a bit on the stiff side after doing a lot of walking along the Boardwalk the night before. But it was a cool selfie staging area that would make a great Instagram post.
The other designated selfie area was larger and it was located near the front entrance. It featured a wall that invited visitors to draw a mermaid.
Even though there were provided art supplies that people could use, I ended up not drawing anything because that wall was so completely filled with drawings that I had a hard time finding an empty space.
That designated selfie area had a small altar made from seashells and a starfish with a sign inviting people to place their hands over it to receive a “mermaid’s blessing.”
When I placed my hand over it, I got a puff of water. I thought it was quite cute!
The Mermaid Museum had a tiny gift shop located just outside of the front door of the museum. They had mostly t-shirts and postcards although I did purchase this hardcover book because I fell in love with it. It’s called The Mermaid Handbook, which is written by Carolyn Turgeon, and it features a mix of mermaid literature, mermaid-themed recipes, and mermaid craft projects. I’m currently reading it now and, so far, I’m enjoying it.
After my visit with the Mermaid Museum I stepped back outside where I saw a couple of wooden adirondack chairs. I decided to eat my bag lunch from Schmagels Bagels there while I enjoyed the lovely weather. After lunch I briefly walked around the downtown Berlin area and even stopped in a few stores before I decided to head out of town.
I took US 113 North into Delaware then I merged on to Delaware Route 1. I headed to Dover where I visited this really neat little museum called the Johnson Victrola Museum.
Eldridge Reeves Johnson was a Delaware native who co-founded the Victor Talking Machine Company and was instrumental in popularizing the Victrola (which was an early record player). That museum had plenty of Victrolas on display.
The museum also had stuff related to the famous dog Nipper. He was originally a mascot of the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States until that company was sold to RCA and RCA subsequently adopted Nipper as its own mascot.
I was given a guided tour by a young man who demonstrated one of the Victrolas. I also learned that the phrase “put a sock in it” originated with the fact that if one wanted to lower the volume of a Victrola, the only way to do it was to place a rolled-up sock into the horn, which muffled the sound. That’s a pretty cool piece of trivia that I can drop at a future party. (LOL!)
The upper level of the museum had later Victrolas that were redesigned as pieces of decorative furniture. The tour guide told me that the company felt that making the Victrolas that way would entice more women to consider buying Victrolas. (Apparently men were more likely to purchase a Victrola than women.) The company even offered Victrolas in cabinets that could be customized and painted to what the buyer wanted. These one-of-a-kind Victrolas were far more expensive than the mass-produced models.
As I was doing some research for this blog post, I found that the Library of Congress has digitized many of the records that were released by the Victor Talking Machine Company through its Victor Records subsidiary and one can listen to them online for free at the National Jukebox website.
After my visit to the museum I decided to hit the road again. I traveled north until I reached Newark where I decided to stop at the massive Christiana Mall. This particular mall is located close to the Maryland border and the big allure of this mall is the opportunity to do some sales tax-free shopping. The only thing is that if you’re expecting locally-owned stores, you’ll be disappointed. All of the stores in that mall are chain stores, such as Spencers Gifts, Target, Nordstrom, JC Penney, Pottery Barn, Lolli & Pops, and H&M. I walked around hoping to find a place where I could eat dinner but I found the food court to be very lacking.
So I got back in my car and drove to the Christiana Fashion Center, which is a giant open-air shopping center that’s located across from Christiana Mall. That shopping center had more chain stores, such as Trader Joe’s, Best Buy, REI, Ultra Beauty, and Famous Footwear. I ended up eating at the Shake Shack.
My take on both the Christiana Mall and the Christiana Fashion Center is that both places have many of the same chain stores and restaurants as elsewhere. The only real appeal is the chance to go shopping without paying sales tax. But, to be honest, unless you are planning to spend a huge amount of money in one day (at least $500 or more), I don’t think it’s really worth the effort to make the two-hour drive from the DC area. The gas and tolls would erase whatever money you saved on not paying sales tax unless you end up buying a huge amount of stuff.
While I was at the Shake Shack I went into Google Maps on my smartphone in order to figure out a way of going back home while avoiding toll booths because I just didn’t want a repeat of driving through EZ Pass lanes without a transponder once I was back in Maryland. Basically it involved taking the direct exit from the mall on to I-95 South then getting on the Baltimore Beltway and, finally, going on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It added an extra half-an-hour on the trip but at least I didn’t have to deal with gritting my teeth as I drove through an EZ Pass gate without a transponder.
So I arrived home at around 8 p.m. where I felt tired but happy because I finally made it back to Ocean City. I wished that Hurricane Ida hadn’t showed up but, otherwise, I was content with my trip and I arrived just in time for the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
UPDATE (December 14, 2021): As I wrote earlier in this post, I ended up going through a few EZ Pass gates in Maryland despite not having a transponder. I didn’t get a notice from the State of Maryland until just a couple of weeks ago when the envelope finally arrived. Today I managed to pay the tolls online, which turned out to be a total of $18. I’m definitely going to get an EZ Pass transponder for any future trips since EZ Pass seems to be the wave of the future.
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.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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