May 15, 2002

Vel picked me up around 11:30 AM and we were off. Decided to head south since we had been up to see Barb last week. After all we don't want to go in the same direction, yea, sure, Was driving south on route 9, a beautiful sunny day, but very windy and around 64 degrees. Thought we might go to Cape May, but half way down there, saw a side road, actually a county road, rt 83, and decided to take it. We had been on it before but forgot where it went, So what else is new? The sign said Goshen, Vel said she was never there, haha, I told her to take a deep breath and we will be through it. There are so many little towns down in this area, You wouldn't know you were even passing through, but most of them have small fire houses with the names on them. That is how we find out where we are. Anyway at the end of route 83, it merged into route 47, LOL, been her a zillion times. Didn't want to go north west cause we know where that takes us. Biog decision, so went south. Passed through Goshen, just riding along talking about everything in general, you know us, really don't have to talk about anyone in particular, we both have big families so we have some interesting discussions. Kids, grands, greats, and on and on. Anyway, we saw a sign to ???? some beach, Been there before, but it has that crooked house made out of windows, doors,pieces of aluminum, snow fencing, and anything else you would find in a dump.

It really is an interesting place, and you should see the yard. LOL, the fences held up with logs of fire wood, old bicycles, looked like old fish nets and anchor rope from big fishing vessels. Took couple of pics, but you can't see the beauty of this place, haha, It is situated right on the corner as you drive onto the main road, actually the only road, not paved and not sidewalks, mostly covered with beach sand. On either side of the road are old houses, but across the street from this "mansion" is a beautiful brand new house. Can't see why anyone in their right mind would build a home on this out of the way, windblown town, or whatever you want to call it. No fire dept, city hall, no nothing, I think some people may live there year round, but most of the houses are summer places, No grass, lots of meadows, but the beauty of the place is it is situated right on the Deleware Bay. there are bulkheads built along the whole length of the place. Might be a mile or so long and only wide enough for the street and houses on each side. Meadows on one side and the bay on the other. It is also known as a great birdwatchers area. We saw quite a few people down at the end where there is platforms built on the sand dunes so they can sit and watch with their binoculars. actually a neat place.

We took some pics, but in one of the place the water was splashing up on us, it was high tide and the wind was so strong. Saw lots of shore birds, and dead horseshoe crabs. Yuk, they are so ugly, We found a live one on it back and Vel turned him over and lifted him to the edge of the water.

His legs were moving as was his long sharp tail. The shore birds stop there on the way to Canada and eat them. These shore birds migrate from South and Central America, says they fly 3000 miles, and stop off here to feed and rest. Then in the fall they start back to SA. It is very interesting. we read a sign about them, took a pic, but not very plain, sort of weather beaten.

We took a couple of pics of the horseshoe crab too. After exploring the shore and seeing hundreds of the birds all lined up at the waters edge, facing the wind and eating gosh know what, we decided to take off. It was really fun but chilly. Back in the car and on the way to Cape May, Saw another sign, Reed's Beach, now this is known to be a beach for gay guys and nudist, We drove into the parking lot, There were so many paths we didn't know which one to take as we really didn't want to end up on the nudist beach, it was too cold, for sure, but quite a few cars were there and one guy was just sitting in his car. We had stopped at a WaWa's and got a sandwich to eat at the beach, haha, but after sitting there about 10 min, we decided we would leave and find someplace else. Sort of got a funny feeling, LOL, didn't want to be mistaken for a couple. Hahahaha. So off we go and this time we are really heading to Cape May by the back way. OOOPS , forgot to tell you, as we were driving along we were looking for any side road just to see something different, found a little dirt road and there was a big sign, PRIVATE, NO TRESPASSING. or something to that effect, Does that stop Vel, Ha, no way,

She drives right on in, quite a distance from the entrance. It was really pretty and lots of natural landscape, but at the very end of the road was a beautiful house, in fact I think there were 2 of them plus a building with a high chain link fence, with 2 huge dog houses inside the fence. Wow, these dogs live in luxury. Looked like the building was the dogs home and the dog houses were for when they were outside. All of a sudden we heard dogs barking, Wow, did we hightail it out of there. One of them was running behind the car. Did we laugh. One of these days, someone is going to call the cops and we will be calling you grannies for bail money. Now, we are finally heading to Cape May and Vel was very confused, didn't know which way we were heading. and I wasn't much help but I did have a better idea of where we were, since my son had lived in this area. We came out on the road that lead to the ferry but we wanted to go to the lighthouse, but first we went to Cape May Point where there is a sunken iron ship, Lots of people were out and about, walking on the beach etc. We are still on the Deleware Bay. It is so pretty on the beach. Anyway, too windy so we finally ate our sandwich in the car. Sat there and enjoyed the scenery. Saw several trawlers way out on the horizon. Must have been 5 of them. This point is a nice place, Little hamburger stand, gift shop etc. After a while we decided to go to the lighthouse. This park faces the Atlantic Ocean. Has a neat pavillion to sit on, and thank goodness a restroom. Wow good thing too. If we ever have kidney problems you will know why. <> Couldn't help but notice, when we got out of the car, it was really warm, no wind, and very sunny, and the ocean was so calm, no waves, compared to the Deleware bay which was so rough with waves that looked like the ocean should have been. Funny how the wind affects the water. We took a picture of the lighthouse and hung out there for quite a while, then decided to stop by my son's house just to surprise him since he lives in Cape May.

Of course, we couldn't find it right away, I am not used to going there from the back way and neither of us can get the layout of Cape May in our minds. It is confusing. Anyway after a few dead ends we finally retraced the way we came and found it. He was happy to see us, offered us coffee but we didn't plan to stay because we knew it was near dinner time and his wife would be home from work, so we declined the coffee. Did see Chase and Devyn, she played the piano for us, does pretty good, (the proud gram talking).

Anyway Pat came home and after some hugs and small talk we took off and headed home. Going north on the parkway it is about 30 miles to reach home. We had a wonderful day, lots of laughs, dead end roads and no outlet roads that lead to nowhere, but saw lots of beautiful scenery, water, birds, boats and of course the Cape May Lighthouse. Hope you didn't get worn out reading this book, I know it is long but you can always send it to yourself, then discard, so it doesn't take up so much space. Lots of love and hugs to all. Oh got to get the pics. Will send them on next e-mail.