News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Hey I'm back! I'm sorting through a TON of emails, so let's put up some news in the process.

Check out these Shore made duck decoys.

The Ocean City bike path is riding ahead.

This is bad. And so, of course, is this.

The Beach Theatre was demolished today. BAD MOVE CAPE MAY.

The West Cape May Lima Bean Festival is on October 8. I'm NEVER in New Jersey for it. Bah.

North Wildwood plans on removing the seawall.

A sit in in Sea Isle.

Boardwalk Empire's second season premiered last night. Here's more about AC from the 1920s.

The Ocean City Half Marathon is on Sunday - and yes I'll be there, probably wearing purple.

I will NOT be at the Asbury Park Relay Marathon this year, but if you are, please note that the start time has been moved from 10am to 7am. Early birds will like that one. If I could run the race, I would.

This is awful - and I will have much more to say about this at another time this week.

My trip was fun. I was underwhelmed by OBX, but that's not a big shocker, is it?

Jersey Shore Fact of the Day 98: You can visit alpacas in West Cape May

I've written about this on the blog before, but since someone else just did a story about it, I'll make it today's fact of the day: alpacas! In West Cape May!

Bay Springs Farm is a working alpaca farm that you can visit on weekends. They're funny creatures, which makes for a fun visit. There's an attached farmhouse store, too, with plenty of alpaca wool goodies for sale.

You pass it right on you way to Higbee Beach, which I wrote about yesterday.

And with that, I'm off to a short trip to the Adirondacks in a place with no electricity and I'm told no cell phone service (HOORAY FOR A TECH BREAK!). I'll be back in the middle of next week. That means pre-written Facts of the Day. So if something big happens - the ghost of Frank Sintra shows up at the White House Sub Shop or something - and I'm not writing about it, that's why.

Jersey Shore Fact of the Day 32: Higbee Beach was once a nude beach

It was! Really! Higbee, which is known now more for being dog-friendly and birder-popular, used to be a nude beach. That ended in 1999, though as I mentioned in this piece in the June issue of New Jersey Monthly, not everyone honors the ban.

I learned that in September when I took a post-book-deadline trip down the shore to sit on the beach and do nothing. I tried Strathmere first, but the bugs to got to me, so I headed down to Higbee with what may or may not have been an alcoholic beverage.

And this happened.

Emily is also a fan. She learned how to swim in the teeny waves on that beach. I'll try to bring her back down to Higbee this summer.

I am back from my shore tour and am working on a post of all that happened. A few highlights: a broken toe (not mine), a casino salon, Bar Tampa's 1999 club mix and Lucy the Elephant's new tail. VERY interesting weekend.

Update: He's a Keystone Cop!

Thanks to everyone who commented and emailed me about this picture. I guessed it was from Fun City in Sea Isle (RIP). But several of you told me you thought it was a Keystone Cop from Hunt's Pier in Wildwood (also RIP).

I emailed Jack Morey of Morey's Piers in Wildwood (they now own what used to be Hunt's Pier), and he said he thought it was a Keystone Cop, too, and pointed me in the direction of Anthony's Mr. Boardwalk to verify. Unfortunately, the email bounced back, but I'd go with Jack's hunch. So thanks everyone for your help!

The Keystone Cop, by the way, is located at Media in Motion, a sign design shop. As far as I know, it's not for sale (sorry, dad).

Winter Wonderland

Oh, how fun that was. I spent the weekend in Cape May for a mini winter getaway. I stayed at Congress Hall, which is doing a bunch of "Winter Wonderland" themed events through December, including running a kiddie sized train around the grand lawn. I almost paid $3 to ride, but by Sunday, which is when I thought about actually doing it, the wind was so bad that the train didn't appear to be running. This photo is of the tree in the Congress Hall lobby. It's nothing compared to the 40 foot tree outside! Tip: if you want a great room, as for a corner room. I was in 432, and got to watch the sun rise from bed. It was stunning.

This is really odd, but I had some terrible service this weekend in Cape May. Exceptions: Congress Hall (of course); the Ebbitt Room, which was offering a $60, four course tasting menu, which is a STEAL there; and the bar at Elaine's Dinner Theatre. I went there to meet a friend and was surprised to find a fabulous old wooden bar inside that you could go to even if you weren't going to the dinner theatre show. This is absolutely going to be added to my must-visit bar list.

The other thing I took care of this weekend was Christmas shopping. I am now done. But check out what I saw while going out to Flying Fish Studios:

This has GOT to be from Fun City, the old amusement pier in Sea Isle City. Of course I forgot to write down the name of the store, which is right next to Flying Fish. So, my Cape May and West Cape May people, what's the name of this place? I MUST find out how they got their hands on this

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Atlantic City club update. I haven't been out until sunrise in AC for a while, so this is probably your better guide at this exact moment in time.

Here's a nice piece about AC's Chicken Bone Beach.

WHERE ARE THE FLUKE?!

Update on a new gaming plan for New Jersey, which of course includes Atlantic City.

Interesting article about HBO's Boardwalk Empire in the Wall Street Journal.

For a .25 square mile town, West Wildwood has some political issues right now.

New cheese shop in West Cape May!

Midnight Knitter!

What a great name for a mystery novel - Midnight Knitter! Not a slasher/vampire kind of mystery novel, but a sorta funny, light and fluffy beach reading kind.

Alas, it's not a book title, but mystery of sorts playing out in West Cape May. Someone's going around town knitting scarves and sweaters for trees and lamp posts. Delightful! Though police are looking into it because it's, well, illegal.

Will this caper ever be solved? Will police find the perp under the cover of darkness in the shadow of the moon? Will four teenagers in a bus with a big silly dog unmask the knitter as the owner of the local amusement park? (Jack Morey, you're on alert) Or is this just a guerilla marketing stunt for the next Terry O'Brien yarn?

Find out, on the next episode of the Midnight Knitter.