Your Shore Weekend

Before we get to my final "Your Shore Weekend" of the summer: I'm doing a little happy dance of glee this morning. Why? Because my article about West Wildwood is in today's New York Times. I pitched this article last August, but by then it was too late to get the article done for summer 2007. It's almost fitting that it made it in the last weekend of Summer 2008 -- a great cap to a wonderful shore season, journalism wise (and many other ways wise) for me.

And on with the show:

This is it, cats and kittens: the last official weekend of Summer 2008. So load up the car, pick your favorite backroad and head down the shore for one last gasp of summer (unless you're like me and vacation there in the fall).

To start, I'll be signing books at Sun Rose Words and Music (756 Asbury Ave., Ocean City) on Saturday from 11am to 1pm -- after which I will be seeing if I can scoop up any end-of-summer sales at the fab shops on the Avenue.

Foreigner's at the Trump Taj Mahal on Saturday night.

Smashmouth plays the House of Blues on Saturday.

The Hooters will be at the Borgata on Saturday.

Carlos Mencia's at the Borgata on Sunday night.

If you're in Sea Isle, check out the Heritage Surfing Competition happening on Saturday and Sunday. It'll be at the 40th street beach.

Ocean City's having a big Labor Day crafts festival on Saturday at the Tabernacle Grounds (6th & Asbury) on Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

There's also a 5 mile race in Ocean City -- this one's on Labor Day.

But the big race -- at least to someone like me who spent a lot of time in Avalon -- is the Tim Kerr 7 Mile run, which covers the seven mile island of Avalon and Stone Harbor. That's on Sunday, and there's also a 5k if you're not up to seven mile distances. I was very tempted -- my training schedule calls for six miles on Sunday -- but I will be home by then and probably not wanting to head back down the AC Expressway.

And that's it! Well, not quite it. We've still got a few days left. I made my way down the shore yesterday and will be here until that last book is signed on Saturday (and probably after a stop at Dixie Picnic for some upcakes). I'm not sure how I'll feel when it's over because, well, I'll be back soon -- maybe even next weekend. I had my contemplative moment, I think, and accepted that it's almost over. My brain's already geared up for fall, too, and the temperate weather we had this week has helped transition my mind to September.

So stay tuned -- Labor Day may be here, but the best is yet to come.

If you wanted to see that Hot Blogger calendar picture I mentioned yesterday, click here.

UPDATE: I'm not sure if the picture ran or not -- I can't get to the blog on this computer. Oh, well. Vote for me anyway!