{"id":3275,"date":"2012-08-08T11:30:55","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T15:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catchingfireflies.com\/blog\/?p=3275"},"modified":"2016-09-22T22:44:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T02:44:00","slug":"exploring-the-beaches-of-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.catchingfirefliesgifts.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/exploring-the-beaches-of-new-jersey\/","title":{"rendered":"exploring the beaches of new jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the summer slips away, Steve & I wanted to squeeze in a little road trip & decided on the New Jersey coast.\u00a0 It’s just a day’s drive away & is full of festive beach towns & shopping areas… a perfect combination for my exploring soul.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was Ocean City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I don’t know what it is about amusement rides paired with beaches that makes me happy… but they do.<\/p>\n

\"ocean<\/p>\n

I’m also a sucker for pretty painted shops that have garage doors as their entry way.<\/p>\n

\"ocean<\/p>\n

The 2 mile long boardwalk really comes alive at night & offers loads of entertainment options, a variety of shops & all kinds of eateries.<\/p>\n

\"ocean<\/p>\n

Like this place that serves ginormous pies… have you ever seen such a large piece of pizza!?\u00a0 It was quite tasty too :-)<\/p>\n

Next we headed south to Cape May<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This very popular beach town has many streets lined with colorful Victorian homes.<\/p>\n

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And lots of sweet storefronts.\u00a0 The layout reminds me of something Disneyland would try to recreate… but this is the real deal.\u00a0 One of my favorite stops was Bath Time<\/a>… their displays were dynamite!<\/p>\n

\"cape<\/p>\n

It was an overcast day while we were there, but the beaches were still beautiful.<\/p>\n

Next we turned north to hit the classic Seaside Heights<\/a> boardwalk.<\/p>\n

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This boardwalk had more of a fair feel because it was full of those games where you play to win insanely large stuffed animals.<\/p>\n

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But my favorite part of this stop was the skyride.<\/p>\n

\"seaside<\/p>\n

And the free fun house mirrors were quite amusing too.\u00a0 What can I say… I’m a kid at heart.<\/p>\n

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Another 25 minutes north and we hit Point Pleasant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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More cute shops (my favorite was Stella Luna<\/a>) & another boardwalk.\u00a0 Turns out they have fireworks on the beach every Thursday night so we bought a bag of salt water taffy & enjoyed the show with sand between our toes.<\/p>\n

Two smaller towns not to miss are Stone Harbor<\/a> & Avalon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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After soaking in the sun & jumping some big waves, we headed over to Pirate Island for a mini golf dual.<\/p>\n

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And what would a summer vacation be without some delicious ice cream from the local creamery, Springers?\u00a0 Plus can I say that pretzel cones are the best invention ever!?\u00a0 I need to scope out if any ice cream parlors offer these in Metro Detroit.<\/p>\n

I hope you enjoyed this instagram tour<\/a> of our time away.\u00a0 If this type of vacation looks like fun to you, check out this great website<\/a> that describes all the great beach towns in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Like to see where I spend my time away from catching fireflies<\/strong><\/span>?\u00a0 Then sign up to receive blog posts like these in your email inbox <\/span><\/strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n