Vaycay
Woke Saturday morning very groggy with little sleep behind us, but I was so excited I didn't care. Decided to bring along my new GPS which ended up being plenty useful. I got my first caffeine fix (love coffee butIgota low caffeine tolerance, so it's my drug of choice). And I tried my first Berger cookie! Sorry, the ganache-to-cookie ratio is much too high for me. I'm just not a true Balmerian.
I've come to the conclusion, after extensive testing that only requires more extensive testing, that the car ride is just as much a part of the vacation as the destination experience.
The Beatles, Best Coast, David Bowie, and Sam's own exclusive environmental album (my boyfriend is so groovy) were among the chosen beach music.
Rehoboth! It had been too long! Not much to say except that we did what every other Rehoboth tourist does - we walked around and browsed the shops and ate vacation/beach food. For me, this includes a lot of FroYo and a good dose of dark chocolate, plus some hummus and of course the coffee. For Sam, this is Thrasher's fries and Grotto pizza and also some dark chocolate, plus a variety of specialty licorice for which I've also developed quite a keen taste. I also satisfied my rainbow quota at a store called Out Gear which caters to the thriving queer community in the area.
Also, games! Skee ball, racing games, plus that thing where you press the button and try to "trap" the light in the bulb between the two arches in front of you...called the hurricane or something.
Winnings: A giant deck of cards (oh how comically large! Guffaw!), one of those plastic split-heart "BEST FRIENDS" (or "BE FRI / ST ENDS") necklaces, a paper-and-plastic fan, a rainbow slinky, a few army men, and several tootsie rolls.
And I also bought a string of rainbow-colored butterflies to put somewhere in my still-barren room (well I haven't spent much time in it!). I may need rainbow-rehab.
There were also several-hundred more milligrams of caffeine consumed. I especially enjoyed an Irish creme iced latte.
Headed to Ocean City when the sun went down, checked into the hotel (which was small and old but it worked just fine), and went to the boardwalk.
I finally went into the Ripley's Believe it or Not! lol oh my god, the kitsch. I loved it. I think my favorite was the art at the end.
More gaming, lots of deciding whether or not I actually wanted a funnel cake (I didn't, and instead got a veggie-burger-stuffed soft pretzel, yum), and also lots of busker-ogling and drunkard-marveling (hell, we'd seen people drunk at Grotto Pizza in the early afternoon when we arrived). It was Saturday night, after all. Ocean City still holds a lot of nostalgic happiness for me, and I think it always will.
Checked out the next morning and went to Bayside Skillet for some sweet breakfast crepes. Still awesome, and according to Sam, they lived up to all the hype.
Mini-golf at a great indoor sea-themed place (we opted out of the outdoor round - our poor, sensitive skin). I won, 41 to 44!
Then we decided we just wanted to go back to Rehoboth. Stopped on the way at Sea Shell City, another source of nostalgia for me. We'd stopped the night before, but the upstairs was closed, which is the best part! Sure there's the shells and hermit crabs and kitsch, but upstairs is a museum of all the stuff found by the owner - a certified diver - and his crew! It's really cool, and this was one of the times where one of the divers was up there to answer questions and be really helpful. Yay, I'm glad we went back.
Walked around Rehoboth for a couple more hours, baking a little in the heat but wishing to enjoy the last hours of beach we had.
We both finally had some Smith Island Cake! So many layers...and it was red velvet, how could either of us resist. I loved that the frosting wasn't buttercream, but instead a really thick whipped cream that wasn't too sweet.
Ended the day with a dip in the ocean, Kohr Brothers' Frozen Custard for him, Fisher's caramel popcorn for his mom, and more FroYo for me.
A sunset drive home was a perfect end to the best vacation I can remember. There are no words for how grateful I am for such a full, happy summer. No sunburn, I'm just aglow (just a glow).