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| Anna & Dad ready to boogie board |
At long last, June 17 marked the last day of school for Anna. She is officially a rising 5th grader! After a very long winter, the Fagella family decided there was no better way to kick off summer break than a beach vacation. This trip involved two new things: a trip to Cape May, New Jersey and vacationing with a dog. The trip also featured some very unexpected adventures and unique experiences.
While researching beach options, Cape May jumped to the top of the list as a place we wanted to explore. It is a beautiful old Victorian town at the southern tip of New Jersey right at the point where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. The entire trip was about 3 1/2 hours from Virginia. Theresa managed to find a beach cottage on the Delaware Bay side that allowed dogs.
The first surprise of the trip was the cottage, which was completely renovated. Apparently we were the first renters for the new owners. It was located one block from the bay beach, which had spectacular sunsets. The community had several retirees living there, which meant we had great resources for everything to do in the area. Storm the dog, who really enjoys car rides, was quite happy to settle in to the temporary home for the week and made the most of walks on the beach.
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| Rescuing horseshoe crabs on the Delaware Bay |
On the first morning, Theresa went to the beach and found it covered with hundreds of horseshoe crabs. They were everywhere! After some research (and thanks to a trip to a local wetlands nature center), we found out that the Delaware Bay is the top spawning ground for horseshoe crabs and it happens during the week of the full moon in June when the tides are higher. We also learned that horseshoe crabs date back prior to the dinosaurs and are a key component of the food chain. Like many animals, the population has decreased dramatically. One of the things the folks at the wetlands center suggested was to help rescue those crabs that were stranded and put them back in the water. Theresa led the Fagella family horseshoe crab mission for the week - enlisting Anna and Joe to help move stranded crabs on morning beach walks. Anna was more enthusiastic about putting the crabs in the water. Joe preferred to turn them over and see if they could make it on their own power. All told, hundreds of crabs were saved (well maybe not hundreds....but we helped put a lot of crabs back in the water).
Speaking of a full moon, one of the unique experiences of the trip was seeing the full moon, which this year coincided with the summer solstice. Apparently this only happens once every 45 years or so. We were also able to climb the steps of the Cape May lighthouse to view the moon over the beach on a clear night. It was a spectacular site! In an attempt to impress upon Anna how big this moon event was, Joe informed her that the next time it happened she would be the same age as her Dad. Let's just say that generated a lot of conversation.......
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| Anna & Mom at the Wetlands Center |
The biggest adventure of the week was not swimming in the ocean or boogie boarding or building sand castles. The biggest adventure of the week was the epic storm that pounded the area Tuesday afternoon. Storm the dog was a good indicator of impending disaster as he refused to come out from under the bed all day - including when it was sunny. It turns out he is a better weather forecaster than the professionals. By the afternoon, we cleared the beach as the storm clouds gathered and made it back to the cottage just as the rain was starting. We then got some quality family time together in the bathroom (with the dog shivering beside us) thanks to the tornado warning. Fortunately our place was fine and we had power. There were massive trees down throughout the Cape May area and everyone was talking about it. According to reports, it was the worst thunderstorms since the early 1970s. Lucky us.
The rest of the week was much less dramatic and included more traditional beach activities. We enjoyed cooking many great seafood dinners. Anna had opportunities to jump waves and boogie board and play mini-golf. We managed to make it through one beach vacation without going to Wal-Mart (we hit the dollar store instead). We enjoyed ice cream at the local soft serve venue. There were many things we never quite made it to do, which simply means we will need to visit Cape May again.
A fantastic way to kick off the summer!
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| Sunset on the beach with Storm |
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