The Jersey Shore

Vacation time for Eric and Noelle and so we packed up our bags and flew out east for a little R&R at the Jersey Shore. Yesterday we flew from Minneapolis to Philadelphia. My parents picked us up at the airport and we drove straight down to beautiful Ocean City, New Jersey. Growing up the only place we ever went for a family vacation was the shore. I thought that everyone went to the shore on their vacation. It never even occurred to me that there might be other vacation options. Now, however, I am a more seasoned traveler and know that there's more to a good vacation than mini-golf, sunbathing, and playing in the waves. Still, I thought it would be fun to relive my childhood and spend some time with my family. I also thought that if anyone could make a trip to the Jersey Shore adventurous, it was Noelle and me.

This morning we woke up, ate breakfast and immediately headed to the beach to see what we could find.

We started out on the 54th street bridge and headed south. Almost immediately we found some interesting things washed up on the beach like dead crabs, kelp, and seashells.

We passed an interesting old pier and soon entered into Corson's Inlet State Park.

The beach inside the state park was even more interesting than the city managed beach, probably because it is not raked every morning like the city beach is. There were a lot of shells washed up at the surf line. We also started to see lots of little holes in the sand with little tracks leading into them. Then we saw what was making the holes: ghost crabs.

They were everywhere and really interesting to watch! 

We ended up walking all the way to the boat ramp at the state park and decided to return to our rental house by walking the road. In the afternoon we went to the beach and enjoyed a more traditional day at the shore.