Seven Shore Rainy Day Activities

Anyone got an ark? Because it's STILL raining here in New Jersey.

If you're down the shore this week, I feel for you. Really. I still remember being stuck inside during what should have been a fun, sunny trip. So here's seven places to go until the weather clears up:

1. Ripley's Believe it or Not in Atlantic City. Yes, it's cheesy and weird, but it's a fun thing to do with the kiddo-s.
2. Water show at the Pier Shops at Caesars. Another cheesy thing to do, but pretty. Plus, you can start scoring summer clearance deals. Yes, already -- throw together a recession and those "transition" fashions that came out around Easter, and you can get yourself a deal (and a drink if you head up the third floor).
3. Lucy the Elephant in Margate. How could a wooden elephant NOT cheer you up?
4. Ocean City Bayside Center. A big ol' home turned into an education center with plenty of things for the kids, including displays on shore ecosystems and ships. Head to the third floor for a knock out view.
5. Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about turtles -- key now since it's turtle season! There's lots of other things to do, of course. It's a complex ecosystem out there.
6. 3J's Wildwood Bowl. Who doesn't love bowling on a rainy day? This is why you should call ahead -- no point getting ready to knock things down with a heavy ball if the place is mobbed.
7. Beach Theatre in Cape May. Yes, it's old. No, it's not going to have the latest movie technology, but it'll be a throwback day for those of us who remember what it was like for a theatre to only have two or three offerings instead of twenty.

Of course, you can also try out that restaurant you've been dying to get to. I plan on parking myself by the fireplace at the Brown Room in Congress Hall this afternoon (working down there today and tomorrow). Who thought I'd be writing about fireplaces in June?