Beach Living

Another fun day at the beach. It's a lot different living three houses from the beach rather than three miles. Walk, bike ride, played pickle ball for the first time, cocktails on the beach, beer can chicken, Big Little Lies Season 2. Exhausting!

LBI Marine Mist

The sunshine left with the weekend visitors. LBI cleared out Monday and was a noticeably different and calmer scene. It was a grey day with intermittent showers and misty skies. We were still able to grab hold of sea shore sights, exercise and fun with a pickle ball lesson, a pleasant walk and a long bike ride. Pat and Glenn had us for dinner and a continuation of our Spades game from the cruise. It's a simple life.

Water on Both Sides of the Road

Sunday morning was pretty quiet on LBI Blvd. I enjoyed peaceful contemplation during my three mile walk; taking in Holgate and the beach front. This narrow 18 mile strip of land is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Manahawkin Bay on the west.

Bill stayed close to the house while I ran around the island shopping for the June and July special occasions in the family.

Our landlords, Pat and Glenn, retuned to the shore after a long weekend in PA. We invited them down to our place for a shrimp scampi dinner. We talked and talked and talked for hours. Good to see them again. After all, it's been almost three weeks since the cruise.

Saturday at the Beach

Although we lived in Jersey for 23 years, our getaway weekends consisted of a quick flight or long, harrowing drive on I-95 to Martha's Vineyard. We loved our Vineyard Haven summer home of nearly 20 years. Many of our NJ neighbors, however, would escape to their stateside summer homes; leaving work and city vibes for the carefree scene at the NJ shore.

Saturday morning we finally witnessed these weekend warriors enjoying a small dose of relaxation. Runners, bikers and beach-goers took to the roads on LBI. Cars had to navigate carefully. Bikes rule. Bill and I enjoyed exploring on our bikes. We did twenty miles from Holgate to Ship Bottom before taking to our books and enjoying the pleasant temps in the afternoon. Meanwhile, it's hot as hell in SWFL.

Book note: I breezed through the memoir by Tara Westover, Educated. It was good; thought provoking and somewhat disturbing. Read it.

Summit to Shore

The ride to LBI was smooth sailing on the NJ Turnpike Friday morning after rush hour. Patty and Owen sent us off with another hearty breakfast and some big hugs.

It was good to unload the packed car and spread out in our cozy rental by the beach! Pearl Street Market was a great suggestion for lunch. After provisioning up and a home-cooked dinner for two, we ventured over the dune to view the waterfront. It's going to be a pleasant couple of weeks in Beach Haven.

Thursday in Summit

Patty prepared a lovely breakfast and we covered a lot of ground during a lazy morning of conversation. Owen, Patty's baby, now 22 years old, just returned from a celebratory college graduation trip in Thailand. We enjoyed his adventure stories and marveled at his ambition.

Patty and I hit a few consignment shops and grabbed lunch at Marigolds before my blow-out appointment in town.

Bill and I were honored to attend Jorge's Deloitte retirement party at Baltisrol Golf Club. Jorge and Patti are longtime friends and travel buddies, soon to be spending a lot more time at their home in Naples! I have no pictures of the nice event, just memories.

Charlottesville to Summit NJ

Wheels were rolling Wednesday morning after a lazy night in Charlottesville. We avoided the mayhem of DC on I-81 and pulled into Summit at 3:30pm. North central Jersey never really filled me with the warm and fuzzies until I moved to Florida. Now, I have only fondness and feelies for my former home of 23 years. I grew up in Chicago, but it was in NJ that I really grew up through marriage and motherhood.

Patty welcomed us into her beautiful home and we chatted over refreshments in her lush and lovely yard. Sarah stopped by for a hug, too. Old friends become the best friends.

Our table for 14 at Benihana's in Short Hills was a tad crowded but very joyous as we were reunited with the kids for a loud and entertaining dinner. We missed a few kids, but they were with us in spirit.

Jefferson’s Monticello

Thomas Jefferson wanted to be remembered for his contributions to the USA, not his titles, jobs or what the country gave to him. His gravestone at Monticello makes no mention of President, Vice President, Secretary of State or US Ambassador to France. The same man who wrote the iconic words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," owned more than 600 slaves and never acknowledged his six children from enslaved mistress Sally Hemings. Ugh. Greatness is in doing.

We had a thought provoking day in Charlottesville.

Charlottesville VA

An uneventful day on the road, over the byways instead of the highways, had us rolling into the hilly landscape of Charlottesville in the mid afternoon on Monday. The Country Inn and Suites by Radisson was highly rated on the forums but disappointingly farther from town than the advertising indicated. Oh well. It’s clean and reasonably new. We showered and consulted the internet for dinner venues. Sushi was on the agenda. The restaurant TEN offered fresh fish in a funky, romantic setting. After dinner we strolled the pedestrian mall and enjoyed people watching and window shopping in a vibrant college town. UVA is always looming in the background.

Beautiful Beaufort

After a delicious breakfast consisting of Bill’s homemade Greek whipped yogurt with granola, nuts and honey, we hit the Spanish Moss Trail. It was good to stretch our legs and explore Lowcountry on the well-maintained, partly-shaded, 10-mile scenic bike path. We ventured on and off the trail for hours, stopping at a dockside lunch place, Fish Camp, in Port Royal. Bill had to refuel with the chicken and waffles and I opted for a strawberry salad sprinkled with jalapeño bacon. Gotta love the south. Back on the bike to burn off the calories, just after mile 26, I found myself peddling on a flat rear tire. Ugh. Suddenly on a business trip, we were back in leisure mode, with a fixed bike, in no time.

Lowcountry SC is hotter than SWFL now. It reached 97° in the afternoon. It was good to cool off back in the hotel and plan our next meal. 😂 Bill found a most amazing restaurant on OpenTable: Saltus River Grille. A great spot in Historic downtown Beaufort. We shared wood fired oysters, mussels, truffle French fries and then, the star of the dinner, shrimp and grits, of course. I’ve been working on my own recipe for this iconic dish but realized Sunday night, I have a long way to go.

It was a spectacular 48 hours in Beautiful Beaufort all around! Even getting the tire fixed was just another adventure. Another story, too.

The Paris Seamstress to Beaufort SC

With a couple of weeks to catch up with family in friends in Florida, clean the house and do laundry, we hit the road in our SUV for another adventurous road trip. Bill installed the Thule rails at the last minute, but as it turned out, we didn't really need the rooftop storage. We rolled out of town around 9a. Immersed in my current novel, The Paris Seamstress, miles flew by while enjoying breaks in shotgun. It’s always a tedious drive out of the state. East, west and in between, there’s no easy way out of Florida.

Beaufort, SC has been a destination on our radar. However, it’s just slightly out of the way when we’re in serious Interstate driving mode. With this trip up north, we decided to make Beaufort part of the fun. We pulled into our Holiday Inn on Boundary St. just in time for a quick shower before dinner. According to Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google, the top place in town is Old Bull Tavern. Luckily, we were able to get a 6:30p reservation on a Saturday night in June. Dinner was very good. Afterwards, we strolled along the waterfront, plopped on a swing and took in the beautiful sunset at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. The present heat wave in Low Country made for a perfectly comfortable evening outdoors.