Wildwood Vacation Day 1

Well hello!  We have returned from our mini anniversary trip to the beach and are still trying to roll back into routine.  Nothing like the brute force of a Monday to kick the vacation vibe out of you.

We had a splendid time on the Jersey Shore for a few days which I'll recap in a couple of posts this week.  Thanks for your patience.

Thursday morning Dan and I packed our bags and grabbed donut motivation to get on the road.

We were really fortunate this year that Dan's boss offered to let us borrow his car.  This was so nice because we didn't have to take public transportation into New Jersey and then rent a car.  It saved us time and money and we love that.

For our homey-moon last year we stayed in Cape May which is just the cutest town ever.  We had a blast and stayed at an old Victorian home turned bed and breakfast.  While planning our trip this year, we wanted to go to the same area but felt like we had done most everything in Cape May.  Wildwood New Jersey is about 15 minutes away from Cape May and had a boardwalk and lots of other attractions so we decided to check that out.  The idea was to stay someplace new but be close enough to go back to where we were last year.

We found a bed and breakfast online and took a risk.  It is called Summer Nites and was 1950s themed.  It looked cute, had great reviews, was about the same price wise as Cape May, and seemed fun.  I was a tad bit nervous that it would be totally tacky and gross.  We were both pleasantly surprised when we pulled up.

The b&b we stayed at in Cape May was an old Victorian house that was shabby-chic, to put it nicely, and had no amenities.  This year the b&b was in a fully renovated home with fun 1950s details everywhere and perks galore.  Sheila invited us in and showed us around right away.  Everything had 1950s memorabilia and decor.  There were jukeboxes and the kitchen was diner style.  In the basement there was an old fashioned coke machine and a game room with old pin ball games. So fun!

Each room in the house has a different theme like Elvis, music, or movies and it is fully decorated in that theme.  Our room was the Marilyn Monroe room and it was perfect.  Pink walls, Jacuzzi tub, and a painting of Marilyn on the wall.

Everything was so clean and nice. The bed was comfy and there was a flat screen TV for watching cable or picking a DVD from the house collection of vintage movies.  The A/C worked and the floors were level.  We were so happy with our find.   There was a lot more to check-out about the b&b but we wanted to get to the boardwalk!

We threw our swimsuits on and headed the two blocks to the boardwalk.  Now, Wildwood is wild.  It is exactly what you image a boardwalk on the Jersey Shore would be if you ever watched the show Jersey Shore.  It was 2 miles of arcades, fried food, ice cream, and people yelling at you to buy their crap and I say crap because that is what it is.  It was not quaint or cute like Cape May but they had three water parks and Dan and I were craving a lazy river.  We got the reduced admission price for it being after 3 pm and we did the lazy river five times as well as a bunch of water slides.  It was fun but let's face it, we aren't kids anymore so some of the slides we only did once because they were too fast or uncomfortable, like the one that spit you out 15 feet above water.  It felt like a full body belly flop.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the our room and tried out the Jacuzzi and games.

For dinner, Sheila recommended we try Jersey Girl.  We had hot crab dip with tortilla chips for an appetizer and then shared a chicken Caesar salad.  The hot crab dip was my favorite eat from the trip.

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk to explore and then got tickets to see the Doo Wop neon tour.

Apparently, Wildwood was a really hip and happening place to be in the 1950s.  The motel trend started in Wildwood and it was the place where American Bandstand was broadcast in the summer.  It has a history of rock n' roll and doo wop music so a lot of that 1950s charm has been preserved.  That tid-bit made our b&b even more fun.

Ever heard the song "Wildwood Days" by Bobby Rydell?  Neither of us were familiar with it but we sure know it now because they blasted that darn song on the boardwalk and beach all day.

There was a cute little museum we looked at and then we got on a school bus for the tour of all the neon doo wop motel signs in the town.

I have no pictures from the actual tour because we couldn't see out of the bus windows.  Here are a couple of signs I took pictures of during the day.  Just imagine lots of neon signs and fake palm trees.  

Most of Wildwood is motel style lodging with original 1950s charm.  Dan and I both think motels are tacky but some were really nice looking.  

After the bus tour we walked back on the boardwalk which was super crowded and like Vegas with all the lights.  We rode the giant Ferris Wheel to see the boardwalk from above next to the pitch dark abyss of the Atlantic Ocean on the other side.  What a juxtaposition.

We enjoyed some "polish water ice" on the boardwalk for dessert.  It was the same as Italian Ice.

In bed we watched The Seven Year Itch starring Marilyn Monore.  The caliber of movie plots have really improved since the 1950s.  That's all I have to say about that.

Stop by tomorrow for Show and Tell Tuesday and then Wednesday I'll share Day 2 of our trip.