We are going to let you in on a little travel secret today here at Livebreathemove.com. The absolute best time to go to the beach on the Atlantic is in the weeks immediately following Labor Day weekend. The weather is still good, the water is warm and the hoards of people and kids are back to wherever it is all these hoards of people go after Labor Day. Even rules such as whether or not dogs are allowed on the beach often change in our favor right about this time.
After New York, we had to decide if we wanted to take the inland route south and visit Baltimore and Washington DC or if we wanted to hug the coast and bum around the beach for a few weeks. Since we spent a months worth of eating out money in a weekend in New York and because we have both already visited Baltimore and DC, we decided to check out some beaches that were new to us. We stared in Tom’s River, Near the famous Jersey Shore. The warm water small crowds and big surf were a fun challenge for swimming.
From there we researched and decided to take the rig on our very first Ferry boat ride. We made reservations for a spot on the Cape May Lewis Ferry from New Jersey across the Delaware Bay. The one and a half hour trip was actually easy and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Even the dogs.
Once you take off you are free to roam about the boat’s three decks and even an upper deck bar. When you get out of your car you have to shimmy your way between the other cars to get out to the stairs up to the passenger areas. Not many people shuffled by our rig and the ones that did seem to get a surprise.
The metal stairs were a little steep for Hank so he hung out down on the main deck with the bikers. Rufus made the trip up to the top deck but he was looking a little green so we didn’t hang out up there long.
After the ferry our desitnation was the unique and beautiful Delaware Seashore State Park in the shadows of a large suspension bridge across the Indian River Inlet to Indian Bay. We stayed at the more dog friendly North Campground. Despite constantly battling the chiggers and bugs we had a particularly enjoyable week here. The water was still pretty warm and much calmer than the Jersey Shore but without the fun of the big waves to play in. We worked most of the week but made a point to get down to the beach each day as well. Our morning dog walks were great and the adjacent Marina with Bar/Grill provided a couple of spectacular happy hour excursions for drinks and some amazing sunset gazing.
From there we continued our beach cruise south along a peninsula in our country that, to be quite honest, we knew very little about before about a week prior to our trip. That is the other great thing about this time of year. You don’t have to have reservations made months in advance. We did have our first flat tire on the trailer but our Coachnet Roadside assistance had us back on the road wiht a tire change in under an hour.
Our final beach destination was the Kiptopeke State Park in Virginia. We had another great couple of days on a dog friendly beach. Hank swam and had a blast while Rufus had a mild panic attack in knee deep water so he just sat on the beach. The unique feature of this beach was the large concrete WWII battleships that create an artificial barrier reef of sorts.
We soaked up the sun and surf for a couple of last days for the year and prepared for our journey back inland!
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