Tram-itized in Wildwood - Our Father's Day Jersey Shore Getaway - Updated 7/7 About This Page:

[Chrissi]

Tram-itized in Wildwood, NJ

June 17 – 20, 2007

Travelers: Walt: age 35, Chrissi: age 28, DJ: age 4 11/12
Hotel: Sandy Cove Inn and Suites
Room Type: 1 Bedroom Suite
Celebration: Father’s Day (and belatedly, Mother’s Day)

Are we there yet?

After a late start (don’t get me started on living with a night-shift worker ), we did actually get out of the driveway Sunday morning. At 11:35 am. BUT – the house was clean, everything except DH’s clothing was packed (again - procrastinate much? ), and I was running on three hours’ sleep when I dragged my tired, sorry butt out of bed at 9 am and began the ritual harassment of DH to get him up and moving so we could enjoy a full day our first night of vacation. EVENTUALLY, the boys saw things my way and cooperated. Threats may have been involved.

DJ woke up and got dressed and promptly fell right back to sleep where he sat on the couch.


While DJ napped, Walt and I finished packing up the last minute stuff and piled up the loot in the kitchen to assess the probability of actually cramming it all in my little Mazda.


Here’s DJ, patiently waiting on Daddy to get his butt in gear and get out to the car so we can go already!!!


Two quick stops on the way out of town procured us some gas ($20 for a half tank! ) and cash from the ATM.

We had a relatively uneventful drive. I ‘navigated’ the first 50(ish) miles before we hit the Parkway South and tried to ignore DH while reading my current romance novel. I used to get headaches from reading in the car, so Walt took it upon himself to try to talk to me nonstop to prevent me from reading my book. :sigh: I finally got fed up. “Do you not see my nose in a book?! Do I not have my prescription sunglasses on?! Am I complaining about headaches?! SHUT UP!!!” He laughed and continued to talk. I threatened him with bodily harm that night while he slept and he subsided to just muttering under his breath about how he always gets stuck driving and I get to read a romance novel. Then I reminded him that he doesn’t like to read and wondered if he even knew how. Every trip begins this way. It’s a portent of good things to come. This is most definitely our pattern and we like it.

We did pass one accident, but thankfully, we couldn’t see much. Though we were nearly sideswiped once as one car swerved to avoid another and swerved towards us. There was much muttering coming from the driver’s seat. I was able to ignore such grumpiness.

This was the first time DJ would be riding in his car seat as a booster seat and he had lots of room to move in the backseat and was quite comfy. He even dozed off wearing his little dinosaur kiddie travel neck pillow. Then he woke up and decided to raid the car trip emergency bag. He ate a little of every single snack I packed. Where does a 36 lb. boy put it all?!

The weather was bright and sunny and Walt and I got a little too relaxed. We forgot to slather on sunscreen for the drive and both of us got a sunburn. Walt’s left arm got a nice pink burn and my right arm got a matching sunburn. AND we both have similar reactions to sunburn – upset stomachs. (This will come back to haunt us after lunch. Remember it. )

Coming up – Are we there yet? PART II


Check out my review of our hotel on Trip Advisor: Wildwood: Sandy Cove Inn - Traveler Reviews - The Sandy Cove is our home away from home... - TripAdvisor

[iamgrumpy]

uh ohhhhh hopefully that sunburn doesn't come back to haunt you!

Great start!

Are we there yet?

[Chrissi]

We pulled into the Inn’s parking lot at 3:10 pm. The sign reflects the old name before it was bought and renovated several years ago. It's now called Sandy Cove Inn and Suites and the suites are much nicer than I remember them being when I was a teenager.


A miracle in itself that we made such good time, didn’t get lost, and didn’t kill each other enroute. We checked in and settled up the bill, picked the Innkeeper’s brain for directions and suggestions, then unloaded the car. I was dying of thirst and hot and remembered that Garden State Liquor Store was right across the street.



Ran over and picked up what would become the first half of the ingredients in a new drink we dubbed Chrissi’s Boozalicious Twisted Half & Half & Half. (Yummy and positively boozy. Also got myself a Melon Tooter – a melon shot in a test tube. About $10 for the 6 pack and shot.) Right here and now is when I should have called debe, but DJ was “starving of hungry to death”, so we decided to take a quick walk down around the corner to the deli for some lunch. Besides, the Twisted Tea I’d bought at the Liquor Store was so strong - I had half a bottle and began to slur my words. I needed to pick up some real iced tea to cut it with if I were to survive the week.

Off to Bonelli’s we went, DJ in the stroller and Walt and I checking out all the changes and renovations currently underway on our block. (Wildwood is booming again!!!) Bonelli’s has the BEST hoagies in Wildwood, possibly the best in South Jersey. Really fresh ingredients and great prices. Footlong hoagies any way you like them for about $5 each. We picked up some essentials and some lunch. The bill came to a little less than $29.

We loaded up the stroller (which was squeaking like mad by now ) and decided to walk the rest of the way around the block to check things out on our way back to the Inn. The Innkeeper was kind enough to prepare for our arrival by turning the AC on before we checked in, so we made our way back to the Inn to eat our lunch in our blessedly cool suite. Nice!

Walt had an Italian hoagie with chips and some kind of grape soda thing.

I had a turkey and swiss hoagie with cole slaw and a raspberry Arizona tea.

DJ had a cold, ungrilled, cheese sandwich with some grapes and a juice box.


Coming up – Home, Sweet Home Away from Home PART I

[chezp]

Your Boozalicious Twisted Half & Half & Half sounds like a great way of enjoying your time away! I'm a bit worried about how the sunburn is going to come back and haunt you, but aside from that, it sounds like it's going well so far!

[iamgrumpy]

Ok how can you have 3 halfs? that would be thirds but with that much booziliciousness who would or could tell

Can't wait to hear more!

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by iamgrumpy

Ok how can you have 3 halfs? that would be thirds but with that much booziliciousness who would or could tell

Can't wait to hear more!

I bought a 6 pack of Twisted Teas Half & Half (1/2 lemonade, 1/2 iced tea, lots of booze). It was so strong, I bought a gallon of Arizona Iced Tea to mix it with. So it was half iced tea and half Half & Half. Three halfs. See? Makes sense to me.

[Chrissi]

Home, Sweet Home Away from Home

We had a great suite that seemed a little small at first, but a little exploring quickly proved us wrong. We have lived in much smaller spaces, the three of us, and this was more than enough room for 3 days. The bedroom and bathroom are both bigger than what we have at home. Bonus!

Our suite had a studio (eat-in) kitchen, pull-out sofa, 2 TVs, 2 full size beds, and is newly renovated. The best part is the location – we had a pool view and were on the first floor. (Twice the blessing at midnight when rolling a tired boy in a loaded stroller back to the room. ) We would definitely request a first floor room again. The views are contradictory however. From the front, we had a lovely pool view with easy access to the patio. The view from the rear (bedroom window view) is of the residence next door and the neigh-bores are…umm…they have a blanket (poorly) tacked up to the window frame. We thought it best and extremely fortunate that we didn’t need to open those particular drapes. Walt likes it dark being a night-shifter and we’ve learned to live with it.

Click the thumbnails below for exterior and interior slideshows (I’m a scrapper! I took lots of photos!):




Coming up – Day 1(ish) PART I

[Chrissi]

Day 1(ish)

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer at the Sunset Cinema

Thinking back, I should have ignored the icky-blanket-over-the-window thing and left the drapes open. DJ was hot and tired and getting crabby. I knew there was no way I could hold an intelligent conversation or make plans to meet debe if DJ was caterwauling throughout the entire phone call. So I read him a story, drew the drapes, and tucked him in. And - tired myself - passed right out next to him. I woke up half an hour later sick as a dog. I didn’t realize I’d developed that nasty little sunburn in the car and sunburns always make me sick. Lunch did not stick around long. I had some Immodium and lay back down with every intention of just laying there awake until my stomach settled. I fell right back to sleep, not realizing Walt had dozed off after cleaning up the mess from lunch and he had no idea I was sick, too.

I woke up at 7:30, horrified that I’d slept the day away and realized we had to get it together if we planned to make the 8:30 showing of Fantastic 4 at the Sunset Cinema. I all but tossed Walt off the couch, dressed DJ while he was still half asleep, and poured iced tea into both of them to wake them up.

We were out the door by 8 or so, and managed to get to the convention center around 8:15 to buy our tickets. We made a quick potty stop at the convention center (where DJ made the first of many gripes about beach bathrooms being too dirty for him ). We were worried we’d be too late to find a good spot on the beach for the movie, but there was hardly anyone there. We rearranged our positions a few times to make sure DJ wasn’t being blocked by some knothead who’d brought an extra-tall lawn chair while the rest of us sat in rented, low, beach chairs. (For $3, it’s worth it not to have to haul your own chair out there or be a nuisance to others if you bring an overly tall chair. )

Sunset Cinema was a very pleasant surprise. Admission was $16 total. $8 each for Walt and I and DJ was free! (All kids, 4 and under are free. This was WONDERFUL for us. We hate paying full child’s pricing for a movie we’re just not sure DJ is going to be in to.) We were able to bring his stroller out to the “theater” easily, so we only needed to rent 2 beach chairs. (We'd brought a beach blanket, but realized the sand was a little hard-packed to get comfortable on for 2+ hours.) Walt grabbed a bottle of soda ($2) from the concession trailer for us to share and we settled in. (Total cost: $24 – cheaper than any movie back home for this family of three!) I have so much to say about Sunset Cinema, I could write a thousand word article about this experience. And maybe I will, but in the meantime, suffice it to say – families with young children will love Sunset Cinema in Wildwood. Walt and I both spoke separately and together with the proprietor and he emphasized that they were always looking for ways to make movie-going more family-friendly. They have succeeded! 5 stars to the folks at Sunset Cinema. I would recommend to others who try it - bring lots of small bills and lean in close when speaking to the employees at the rental place and the concession trailer. The ocean is loud and many of the kids are here from Russia and Bulgaria to work for the summer. They are mostly college age students and their english is sufficient to get by, but they can be hard to understand and large bills are difficult to break when everyone brings a $20 and the poor kid has very few small bills with which to make change in the first place (which he did struggle with a bit, but we worked it out to everyone's satisfaction ).





We were - dare I say - rather enchanted by the whole experience. Something about watching a movie about the Silver Surfer on the beach, with the sound of the ocean as a backdrop was kind of surreal. Walt and I took turns sitting with DJ so we could walk away from the other guests for a smoke before the movie began. The "theater" is set up about 100 yards from the high tide line, so you really get the sound of the ocean there.

Walt sat with DJ while I wandered around before the movie. This was the closest DJ had ever been to the ocean and Walt was curious what he thought about it as we weren't sure if it would make him nervous or excited. Walt asked DJ, "Do you see that, over there? That's the ocean, buddy. What do you think of it? It's pretty big, huh?" DJ, shaking his head, "No. It's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really BIG. And fish poop in it."

The movie began late as we waited for sunset, but that was fine because we enjoyed a little treat (I will not spoil it for others ). (DJ got a little antsy midway through the movie and decided first to bury his own feet in the sand, then to bury mine. ) Consequently, the movie did run a little late and we nearly didn’t make it to the convention center potties before they closed for the night at 10:30! Just in the knick of time!

Coming up – Day 1(ish) PART II: Dinner and Dessert

[Chrissi]

Day 1(ish) PART II: Dinner and Dessert

From there, we made our way down to Angelo’s Pizza for a very late dinner. My tummy had seemed to settle and there was some yummy-looking pizza on display. Walt had one mushroom and one pepperoni slice, DJ had one plain slice, and I had 2 slices of white pizza with garlic and broccoli. Fantastic pizza! ($15 total with tip.) We did take a few pictures at dinner, but the lighting was bad and they all looked really blurry, so Walt deleted them that night. (I think our batteries were getting low.)

We made our way down the boardwalk in search of a hat as I’d forgotten mine at home. I found one that had a nice wide, wired brim with a seashell band around it. ($12.99) DJ began chanting a kind of litany, “I want cotton candy. I want cotton candy. Iwantcottoncandy. IWANTCOTTONCANDY!” So we stopped for some Dippin Dots for me (Large Mint Chocolate) and a super jumbo bag of pink cotton candy for Walt and DJ. (Total $10.85) At which point, DJ’s chant changed, “I want more cotton candy. Iwantmorecottoncandy. IWANTMORECOTTONCANDY!!!” It’s a sickness he inherited from his father.

Sugared up and stuffed to the gills, we made our way back to Adventure Pier. (Our Inn is on the same avenue as Adventure Pier.) T’was at this point, I realized I’d never called debe. It was one thing after another and here it was 1:00 am and calling then was certainly not an option. We made our way back to the Inn and I made a note for myself to call debe first thing in the morning while DJ was still asleep. Stayed up late talking with Walt, had a ‘conservation’ shower , and went to bed around 5 am.

This would become the pattern for the rest of our stay and as crazy as it sounds – it worked great for us. The boardwalk is a ghost town before noon. We had some milk and cereal in the kitchen – knowing we’d never get up in time to go out to have a real breakfast most mornings. We’d wake up, pick at last night’s leftovers or have some cereal and head out to hit the boards. We’d have lunch around 4 pm and dinner between 8 and 9 each night – off-peak meal times, so no trouble with long waits or crowded restaurants. (DJ started us on this weird schedule so he could spend more time with Walt so Walt wouldn’t have to change his schedule to suit us when he’s off of work.) Wildwood is a great vacation destination for night owls like us for just this reason. The boardwalk is up and running at noon and most shops close at midnight. We’d be off the boards by 1:00 am most nights and head back to the hotel to shower up, make TR notes, and watch tv for a few hours before going to bed.

Coming up: Day 2 PART I: “Alas, no debe. Just lions and tigers and the fattest bear I’ve ever seen! Oh my!”

[disneyprincess]

Chrissi glad to hear that you had a great time! Sounds lilke you were in my neck of the woods at the Zoo! Can't wait to hear about that trip! As us locals like to say "best kept secret in Cape May County!"

[krisk11]

Great trip report. My dd & I love Wildwood. We went down for the day for Mothers Day. I hope to get in at least one or two more day trips this summer. I think we will check out the movie on the beach some time.

[wdwlovers]

This sounds like so much fun! Sorry to hear you had a case of the bad tummies from the sunburn. That movie place is awesome!!!

MORE please!

[JoanW]

I've never been to the Jersey Shore, but I may have to add that to my list!

[lauren-roxy]

Great upates Chrissi!! Sounds like you guys are really having a wonderful time!!!

[RobDVC]

Sounds like you're off to a great start!
Looking forward to hearing about your first "TRAMitizing" experience.