To celebrate the last weekend of summer, my husband and I headed “down the shore” to The Wildwoods, New Jersey, Sept. 17–19. Visiting the Jersey shore at least once per summer is a rite of passage for those of us who grew up in our area, so we were happy to squeeze it in before summer ended this year!

It had been decades since we’d last visited The Wildwoods, which comprises Wildwood Crest (where our hotel was located), Wildwood, West Wildwood, North Wildwood and Lower Township. I’m pretty sure we managed to include some time in each community.

We drove to Port Royal Hotel after work on Friday, checking into our spacious suite, boasting a bedroom, living area with kitchenette and deck overlooking the ocean, before grabbing dinner at Dogtooth Bar & Grill.

We had a jam-packed Saturday planned. We started the day with breakfast at The Surfing Pig, followed by a visit to the Doo Wop Experience. Wildwood is known as the Doo Wop Capital of the World, particularly with architecture. Next up was some much-needed time on the beautiful beach; we really lucked out that weekend with the weather. We ended the day with dinner at Coastal Blue Oceanside Bar & Grill, then checked out the boardwalk and Morey’s Piers.

On Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast at our hotel then a seven-mile bike ride on the boardwalk, with bike rentals from D R Bradley’s Bike Rentals. We played a quick round of mini golf at Starlux, then grabbed some Mack’s pizza before heading home.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with a great taste of all The Wildwoods has to offer! We can’t wait to return.

— Kim Krol Inlander, editor in chief