Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Cape May Day

What a beautiful day in Cape May yesterday! I made it into town around 10:45 a.m., and when I left at 7 p.m., the sun was still shining and the weather delightful.

It was a work day, for the most part. I toured a house in North Cape May for an article, wrote the story in the offices of Exit Zero, then hung out at the Cape May Chamber of Commerce May Social & Mixer -- a sort of kick off to summer for the folks whose livelihoods depend on it. The event was held at the newly renovated Chalfonte.



You can't see many of the renovations to the old hotel when you're downstairs -- a bump out for air conditioning in the dining room is about it.



The real changes are upstairs. The Chalfonte was a hold out -- a hotel that didn't have air conditioning and whose rooms all didn't have private bathrooms. The owners wanted that way, and when they decided to sell, they were very careful in selling to someone who would keep the spirit of the place the same. The result was that, over the summer, the layout of the guest rooms were changed so that they have AC (which is centrally controlled -- not per room) and private bathrooms. The hotel now has two suites.

It doesn't officially open until Memorial Day Weekend, so the long timers -- the people who liked not having AC -- haven't had a chance to give the place a review. I'll be interested to hear what they say.

The only non-work thing I did was get a manicure and pedicure at the Cape May Day Spa. It's not something I usually do, but have you seen runner's feet? I soak mine weekly to keep things under control, but I needed some help. I liked the spa a lot. My only complaint was being forced to overhear a conversation about baby poop between the person who got a pedicure before me and whoever gave her the pedicure. I almost had to leave the room.

I also saw a copy of the article I did about the Wonderland Pier carousel:

-- the article that accompanied this photo shoot (you're not surprised that the Uggs picture was axed, right?) Neat book. I don't have my own copy just yet, but will write more when I do.

And with that, I'm off to Key West tomorrow. I won't be blogging while away (I won't even bring my computer), but stay tuned for more on Monday -- we're almost to the start of the summer!

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3 comments:

HeatherP said...

I knew they were doing work on the Chalfont but wasn't aware of the extent... I'm so looking forward to seeing all that has changed since I was last down in November!

Only 2 more days until I'm on the way to Cape May!

Rob Wilson said...

What I want to know is......who has it better then you?

Anonymous said...

I, for one, have always passed on staying at the Chalfonte during the summer because of the lack of air conditioning. And I've always wanted to eat some of that Southern food there I've heard so much about. I will now have to give it a go. I've spent way too many HOT summers in Cape May where air conditioning was a necessity.